Even individuals have multiple occupations. A woman may, for instance, take care of her children, help on the farm, roll beedis, help deliver a neighbour’s child, collect firewood, and for three months in a year migrate temporarily to take part in a construction project. One contributory factor behind varied income sources has been the inability of agriculture to throw up significant opportunities for all in the recent past; rational households are therefore increasingly diversifying their sources of incomes.

The point is that agriculture is only one element in India’s economy; and it is only one element in the income source for an increasing number of households. The dependence on agriculture is less now both for the economy, as well as for households. This should, of course, be seen as another opportunity, and not a reason for de-prioritising the agriculture sector. Re-invigorating India’s agriculture sector would be easier in an environment where the other sectors are growing rapidly, rather than one where agriculture with its low surpluses is the predominant income generating activity. Technologies, infrastructure, surplus generation, markets are all being created outside this sector but that could benefit it — both from the economy-wide and household perspectives. Given this, couldn’t we aim higher than 4 per cent?

The writer heads Indicus Analytics