Agriculture Can Fuel the Next Economic Revolution

Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru has been conferred the “Padma Vibhushan” by the Government of India in 2017

- Sadhguru, Isha Foundation *

There are many scientific achievements and great enterprises in our country that bring us pride. Our scientists have sent Mangalyaan into orbit around Mars. In industry and commerce, many things are being built in the country. One of the greatest achievements among all of these is that our farmers, without any technology or infrastructure, are still managing to feed 1.3 billon people using just their traditional knowledge.

Unfortunately, the farmer who provides us with food has children who are starving, and he wants to take his own life. In the last ten years, over 300,000 farmers have committed suicide. That many people did not die in all the four wars this country has fought. I hang my head in shame about this.

Our nation has the blessing of being able to become the “Annadatha” of the world, as we have the needed latitudinal spread of weather, soil, climatic conditions and, above all, a large population that has the intrinsic knowledge to perform the “Magic of Transforming Mud into Food”. We are the only nation to have these blessings. But we cannot hope for the next generation to go into agriculture if we do not transform this sector into a very lucrative activity. Only this will sustain and retain the population in rural India. Urbanising rural India will remain a dream if agricultural income does not multiply in the next few years.