Rural Development Class 12 Notes Economics

Rural Development ( Definition ) :-

        The term 'rural development' refers to the developmental initiatives undertaken for the economic and social upliftmen of the rural areas that are lagging behind in developmental aspects. In other words, rural development imply the economic and social growth of of rural areas with some effective developmental initiatives.

Objectives of Rural Development -

    In general, the main objectives of rural development are the following 

1. Increasing production and productivity in the agricultural sectors.

2. Generating alternative sources of livelihood in the rural sectors.

3. Promoting education and health care in the rural areas.

4. Infrastructure development.

5. Poverty alleviaition

Rural Credit:-

       Rural credit refers to the amount of loan that is taken by the rural farming community. Farmer requires credit for various reasons like buying agricultural machinery and tools, high-yield seed, fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation purposes, etc.

Sources of Rural Credit:-

1. Non-Institutional Sources-

       Non-institutional sources of rural credit is basically the traditional sources of credit availability in the rural economy. This very source includes money lenders, relatives, traders, commission agents etc.

2. Institutional Sources:-

       The institutional sources of credit includes cooperative credit, cooperative bank, regional rural bank, land development bank, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development(NABARD), self-help groups, etc.

Agricultural Marketing:-

        Agricultural Marketing in general refers to the process of storing, processing, transporting, packaging, grading and distributing various agricultural commodities and agricultural related products throughout the country.

Problems of Agricultural Marketing in India:-

         There are lots of problems associated with agricultural marketing in India some of these are as follows-

a. Insufficient storage facilities-

        There is acute shortages of good storage facilities for crops and foodgrains which resulted in serious crops loses due to damaged by insects, rat and rain.

b. Lack of proper transportion:-

      Due to lack of proper transport facilities couple with insufficient all-weather roads the farmers more often are unable to reach the marketplace to sell their agricultural produces at a fair price.

c. Lack of market information:-

     There is lack of adequate and reliable information regarding the prevailing prices of the agricultural produce in the different market as a result of which the farmers more often are denied of decent price of their agricultural produce.

d. Lack of grading and standardization:-

       There is lack of grading and standardization of the agricultural produces as a result of which the farmers are not able to get the required fair price of the goods.