As the Finance Minister gets ready to present the budget for next year, the sector which causes him the greatest anxiety must be agriculture. The past year has been relatively good in terms of rain fall and the Rabi yields should be encouraging. But in general, for over a decade now agricultural growth has been sluggish, stuck at about 2%. And there are four good reasons to be concerned about low agricultural growth rates.

Most economists across the world generally agree that India can grow faster if only certain impediments to prosperity are removed. India’s growth at a reasonable 6-7% per annum, and being the world’s fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity terms testify Indian entrepreneurial energies and ambition of the ordinary citizens. True, China continues its scorching pace of growth, but there is every reason to believe that we have the potential to match China's growth in the coming years.

The union government’s announcement of the Rs.17,000 crore rehabilitation package for farmers in the 31 suicide-prone districts of AP, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra focuses attention on the plight of agricultural sector in a fast-growing economy. Emphasis on irrigation, interest waiver, watershed development, seed replacement and dairy industry is welcome.