Planning for sustainable agricultural development

The book has tried to explain the concept of Sustainable Agriculture. It explains how decision of farmers for selection of crops and of cultivation technique influences their achievement of sustainability in agriculture. The book has suggested many alternatives which can take Indian farmers on the path of sustainable development. It has explained that neither commercial agriculture, (with use of high yielding variety of seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, surface irrigation, mono culture and mechanization) nor traditional agriculture (with use of local seeds, manure, plough, rain water, and multiculture) is sustainable. Degradation of land has been assessed with the help of remote sensing imageries, in both commercial and traditional agricultural areas. The book examines whether only increase in income in commercial agricultural areas could achieve the development or it has distorted the life style of the people. The diffusion model is tested in a unique manner by considering physical, economic, social, communication and administrative distances. It has come up in the book very clearly that there is a need to adopt some intermediate technology with traditional wisdom and modern scientific knowledge. The book is different in its approach to explain the problems of sustainable agricultural development from different angles. It is very interdisciplinery and can be used by Geographers, Economists, Sociologists, Agriculture planners and Rural voluntary workers.