COMMERCIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE: FORMS, SIGNIFICANCE, CONSTRAINTS, AND SOLUTIONS
ABSTRACT
Agriculture commercialization has proved to be both a boon and a curse for poor household farmers. It has various forms like market-oriented farming, agribusiness, organic, and technological commercialization, etc. Agriculture commercialization helped the farmers through diversification of crops and livestock, research and extension, technology adoption like precision agriculture, fertigation, machine transplantation, improved market access to goods and services, economic development, poverty reduction, rural employment, and food security. Similarly, it has major drawbacks like land fragmentation, shortage of capital, lack of technical expertise, government incentives, and subsidies, export limitations, high input costs, lack of research and extension networks, inadequate education and training centers, traditional religious beliefs, and gender discrimination, catastrophic events like landslides, floods, droughts, and earthquakes, etc. Several efforts have been made by the government, NGOs, and INGOs, and at the individual level. Agriculture commercialization is the need for the 21st century to cope with the growing population and ensure food security. Agriculture commercialization with systematic management can play a driving role in mitigating deep-rooted poverty in developing and underdeveloped countries and achieving quality of life for the farmers.