(a)OR(b)

“IT can play a critical role in achieving sustainable development and food security in the 21st century in the country.”

Justify the given statement with valid arguments.

Information Technology (IT) plays a crucial role as it can help the government to predict areas of food insecurity and vulnerability. Using appropriate information and software tools, timely action can be taken to prevent/reduce the likelihood of an emergency. It helps in disseminating information regarding emerging technologies and their applications, prices, weather and soil conditions for growing different crops etc.

Growth of rural economy depends primarily on infusion of capital, from time to time, to realise higher productivity in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. As the gestation period (duration between crop sowing and realisation of income after production) is quite long, hence rural credit is required to meet their initial investment needs of seeds, fertilizers, implements, etc. along with other family expenses.