Today, it is accepted that farm mechanisation is an unavoidable imperative. For productivity must be increased. But

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Government delivery programmes provide little support to farmers

Managing yields without pesticides

But it is better to take Andhra Pradesh as a challenge

"The strategy for agriculture will certainly create new jobs, especially in the allied sector. However, agriculture's share of employment will actually reduce, from the current 70 per cent to 40-45

SOPAN JOSHI travels through Andhra Pradesh, only to find that beyond the immediate crisis of state wide farmers suicide lies one decade of neglect. Of agriculture, which sustains 70 per cent of its people, actually rendered unproductive and life denying.