Secondary Agriculture

This book on'Secondary Agriculture' discussesthegoal ofdoubling farmers' incomes. Theterm 'secondary' has a bearing onclimate change adaptation and its mitigation, small farm viability and profitability, food security, nutrition, sustainable utilization ofnatural resources, and optimal usage ofproduce fromprimary agriculture and farm incomes. Promoting secondary agriculture has implications onattaining sustainable development goals, which aim toconnect primary, secondary and tertiary sectors byusing slack/idle factors ofproduction, such as land and labour, contributing toprimary agriculture production, capturing 'value' in primary agricultural activities, and generating additional income attheenterprise level. In context tosame, thechapters ofthis book have been designed topromote secondary agriculture through low-cost skills and technology applications in agriculture and byupscaling knowledge via integrating primary, secondary and tertiary sectors ofagriculture. Themotivation behind this book is to address thechallenges ofbiotic and abiotic stresses facing thefarming community; to increase farmers income through low-cost skills and technology applications in agriculture; to upscale knowledge byintegrating primary, secondary and tertiary sectors ofagriculture. Thefood processing sector in India is still in a nascent stage withonly 8 per cent oftheproduce being processed as against 80-98 per cent in case ofhigh-income countries (Government ofIndia,2008,2010). Thefood processing sector is now receiving theboost withtheannual growth of13.2 per cent in registered food processing units during2004-10 (Government ofIndia,2011). Against this backdrop, there is a strong need tostrategically handle thesituation in order tofacilitate a self-sustainable and long-run growth ofthesector, which is felt possible byfocusing onSecondary Agriculture. Though not a panacea forall ailments oftheprimary sector, butit can definitely drive thegrowth.