Impact of Bottom up planning on Sustainable rural development in Kerala, India
Impact of Bottom up planning on Sustainable rural development in Kerala, India
Dr.T.P.Sethumadhavan
As far as India is concerned, more than 80 percent of the people are living in rural areas. Being one of the developing countries rural development plays a key role in the country. Sustainable development is the main challenge in rural India.
As part of agriculture, livestock sector plays a key role in sustainable rural development of the country. Short gestation period, easily marketable commodities, chances of quick returns, better productivity, high nutritive value of the products, etc are some of the advantages of livestock sector. Organic manure from livestock sector enriches soil and increases crop yield. Thus agriculture and livestock sector are interrelated. Sectors like irrigation, electricity, marketing, housing, fisheries, etc are also related to rural development. A coordinated planning coupled with implementation of programmes will hasten the sustainable rural development.
Recent statistics revealed that of the total income, livestock sector contributes more than 40 % of the income from agriculture. More than 80 percent of the workforces in livestock sector in the country are women. Govt of India through Agricultural Technology Management Agency-ATMA is implementing programmes to uplift the rural economy. Decentralized planning is given outmost importance. Self help groups; especially women self-help groups are undertaking agriculture and animal husbandry related programmes through group approach to achieve the goal of sustainable rural development in the country. Agriculture and veterinary universities, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Dairy development, Rural development, Fisheries and other line departments are involved in implementing programmes through decentralized planning programmes in the country.
Since livestock sector plays a key role in rural development, to augment research and micro level planning projects on rural development will hasten the process. A state like Kerala, which occupies only 1.18 Percent Geographic area of the country, has unique advantage of total literacy. The state is implementing bottom up planning processes through local self-government institutions. Through Participatory rural appraisal, peoples planning programmes like bottom up planning programmes are implementing in this state. Complete network of veterinary and agricultural institutions and local bodies are major strength in the state.
Even though the state is fully under bottom up planning processes there are so many issues related to sustainable rural development in the state. In adequate people’s participation, poor transparency of the programmes, insufficient fund allocation, untimely implementation, poor monitoring, improper marketing strategies, problems with micro finance, improper infrastructure facilities, poor credit facilities, environmental and conservation issues and documenting farmer’s traditional knowledge are some of the major constraints in this sector. Strategic livestock development programmes and need based extension programmes will hasten sustainable rural development for the farming communities. Technology transfer is also a major issue in this sector. It includes implementation of the extension programmes, entrepreneurship development programmes, lab to land and land to lab programmes. In order to hasten adoption of new technologies, we are utilizing media through farm columns.
Dr.T.P.Sethumadhavan
As far as India is concerned, more than 80 percent of the people are living in rural areas. Being one of the developing countries rural development plays a key role in the country. Sustainable development is the main challenge in rural India.
As part of agriculture, livestock sector plays a key role in sustainable rural development of the country. Short gestation period, easily marketable commodities, chances of quick returns, better productivity, high nutritive value of the products, etc are some of the advantages of livestock sector. Organic manure from livestock sector enriches soil and increases crop yield. Thus agriculture and livestock sector are interrelated. Sectors like irrigation, electricity, marketing, housing, fisheries, etc are also related to rural development. A coordinated planning coupled with implementation of programmes will hasten the sustainable rural development.
Recent statistics revealed that of the total income, livestock sector contributes more than 40 % of the income from agriculture. More than 80 percent of the workforces in livestock sector in the country are women. Govt of India through Agricultural Technology Management Agency-ATMA is implementing programmes to uplift the rural economy. Decentralized planning is given outmost importance. Self help groups; especially women self-help groups are undertaking agriculture and animal husbandry related programmes through group approach to achieve the goal of sustainable rural development in the country. Agriculture and veterinary universities, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Dairy development, Rural development, Fisheries and other line departments are involved in implementing programmes through decentralized planning programmes in the country.
Since livestock sector plays a key role in rural development, to augment research and micro level planning projects on rural development will hasten the process. A state like Kerala, which occupies only 1.18 Percent Geographic area of the country, has unique advantage of total literacy. The state is implementing bottom up planning processes through local self-government institutions. Through Participatory rural appraisal, peoples planning programmes like bottom up planning programmes are implementing in this state. Complete network of veterinary and agricultural institutions and local bodies are major strength in the state.
Even though the state is fully under bottom up planning processes there are so many issues related to sustainable rural development in the state. In adequate people’s participation, poor transparency of the programmes, insufficient fund allocation, untimely implementation, poor monitoring, improper marketing strategies, problems with micro finance, improper infrastructure facilities, poor credit facilities, environmental and conservation issues and documenting farmer’s traditional knowledge are some of the major constraints in this sector. Strategic livestock development programmes and need based extension programmes will hasten sustainable rural development for the farming communities. Technology transfer is also a major issue in this sector. It includes implementation of the extension programmes, entrepreneurship development programmes, lab to land and land to lab programmes. In order to hasten adoption of new technologies, we are utilizing media through farm columns.
Comments