Springer Secondary Agriculture: Upgrading Agriculture for Jobs and Income

A first of its kind, this authored book marshals data and logic that necessitate the agriculture sector to transcend beyond its conventional role of securing food, fodder, and feed. It examines India's growing working population and juxtaposes it with the declining labour demand in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy, on account of the deployment of disruptive suite of labour-substituting technologies. Therefore, the conventional developmental models that hypothesize the shifting of surplus manpower from agriculture to non-agricultural sectors may not stand the test of scrutiny in the twenty-first century. Hence, the need for remandating the agricultural sector to generate gainful jobs and supplementary incomes in an ecologically synchronous manner for sustainability. The book draws the readers' attention to the importance of bioeconomy and circular economy. To enhance the biologically dependent cumulative agri-output, it recommends the adoption of supplementary and complementary activities. These interventions, along with processing (food and non-food), aid in minimizing food loss, enhancing value capture in favour of the farmers and other value chain stakeholders, and creating gainful jobs and linked incomes resulting in higher enterprise-profits. This progresses the agricultural sector into a bioeconomy anchored around secondary agriculture. Agri-processing being integral to secondary agriculture can be practiced at various scales beginning from micro to small to medium to large. The book highlights both the scope for such enterprises in India and the challenges they are vulnerable to. In the context of sub-par levels of jobs and income in the farm sector, the book emphasizes on micro-enterprises, and suggests the clusterization of entrepreneurs and digitalization along the value chain to achieve competitiveness. The book also deliberates on market-led production matrix, and value chain-based extension services to meet the feedstock demands of secondary agriculture. This book is of relevance to a range of individuals and organizations concerned with agriculture. They include academics, researchers, professionals, universities, domestic & international organizations, bankers & financial institutions, FPOs, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and students.