Planning for Rural development through enhancing Agro-processing: a case of Munger district in Bihar.

Abstract

Agriculture is still the most important source of livelihood and employment in India. 66% of the total population in India lives in rural areas and their prime source of income and main engagement is agro-based activities. Considering their role in economic growth, agriculture and industry have traditionally been viewed as two separate sectors. However, over few decades, food processing industries has rapidly expanded as an organized industry with an important role to be played in socio-economic development of a country. As India comes under high structural transformation and low rural transformation category, and these transformation process at the national level set a basic parameter for rural development. The food processing industry in India is undergoing a significant transformation by accounting 35% of the Indian food market and 14 % of gross value addition in agricultural sector. Though it is low level of processing and market share which suggest an untapped opportunity to capitalize on India’s enormous raw material base and propel exports, they also indicate critical challenges to be trounced to sustain continual growth of agro-based industries. The creation of rural opportunity space, linking agro-production and processing would help to achieve economic sustainability and better opportunity. The study adopts a systematic methodology includes background study, need for the study through literature review, formulation of aim, objective and methodology, site selection, data analysis, and recommendations. The study endeavors to put an insight on the current agroproduction level, potential of agro-processing industries, available supporting facilities, incentives, technological development, etc. by interviewing farmers, agro-enterprises, SelfHelp Groups, and related officials. The study concludes some key inferences through different technique of participatory rural appraisal and data analysis of questionnaire survey, and also uses technique like, land use land cover analysis and land suitability analysis to identify best suitable area for agro-based industries in the study area. Based on the all inferences and conclusion, I proposed a cooperative model to foster the economic growth, livelihood enhancement and job security in study area and it could create a win-win situation for all