Attracting and retaining youth in farming

There appears a general consensus that agricultural sector in India requires to be revitalized to enable it to respond effectively to the multitude of challenges that it now faces, and include assuring food security and environmental sustainability against the background of declining natural resources, hanging climate and needs to become increasingly competitive.As Rural youth constitute a numerically dominant, potentially resourceful and also adventurous segment of the population, similarly the urban youth are mostly educated and organized in many forms and have access to facilities and institutions meant for youth services, it is the need of the hour to orient themselves to go along the mainstream of the development process of the country.It is well clear that, to engage this youth resources in farming,, it must be intellectually satisfying and economically rewarding so as to enable youth to involve in agriculture. Priority entrepreneurship is another way of helping youth since 20% of unemployed youth have the potential to become entrepreneurs despite the potential hitherto not exploited from more than 5% of them. The factors like Vagaries of monsoons aggravated by failure to conserve the received rainfall, scarcity and high cost of labourers, un remunerative income are responsible for migration of the farm youth. Strategies like Exposing the rural children towards their basic livelihood agriculture, Assurance of sustained income, Insurance against risk, Guidance and support during natural calamities, Modernization of technologies, and also gender equity are to be adopted to make the farm youth to stay back in villages and pursue farming as a profitable profession. It will definitely pave the way to shape the lives of the farm youth to be socially responsible, professionally sharp and nationally proud and ultimately change the agricultural scenario in the progressive and desirable way.