Agriculture Sector Requires the Most Attention from Govt.: Assocham

If there is one sector which needs the maximum of the government’s attention and the top most priority in the ensuing Budget, it is the agriculture which has seen a major setback in Kharif production, leading to overall laggard growth of the farm sector in the country’s GDP performance for the second quarter of the current fiscal, one of the leading industrial body ASSOCHAM said.

While the year to year agriculture GVA (Gross Value Addition) growth for the July-September quarter of 2017-18 dropped to 1.7 per cent from 4.1 per cent, measured on basic prices, the fall looks quite sharp at current prices from 10 per cent to 3.7 per cent. It is attributed to a decline in foodgrains production by 2.8 per cent in second quarter of the current fiscal from a handsome growth of 10.7 per cent in the similar period of 2016-17.

“Surely, shortfall in the second leg of the Monsoon seems to have its impact on the Kharif production. Besides, distress in prices of several agri commodities would have also played a role in lower realizations as seen in the growth deceleration on the current prices,” the ASSOCHAM said.