Agriculture key focus area of development strategy in India: NITI member

Agriculture has been a key focus area of development strategy in India, and the country has achieved the highest growth rate of 5 per cent in the farm sector during the seven years from 2016-17 to 2022-23, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand said on Saturday.

Addressing the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE), Chand said that according to the World Bank data, India achieved the highest growth rate in GDP agriculture in the world in the last 10 years.

"Agriculture has been a key focus area of development strategy in India, and the country has achieved historically the highest growth rate of 5 per cent during the seven-year period from 2016-17 to 2022-23," he noted.

The agriculture economist pointed out that the share of agriculture in the world GDP has risen from 3.2 per cent in 2006 to 4.3 per cent in recent years.

"Agricultural growth in the last 15 years has saved many countries from economic collapse. Due to the poor effort of industry in pulling the labou