has already increased substantially. However problems related to over- fishing and Fig. . Poultry has the largest share of total livestock in India Fig.
. Women in rural households take up bee- keeping as an entrepreneurial activity pollution need to be regulated and controlled. Welfare programmes for the fishing community have to be reoriented in a manner which can provide long-term gains and sustenance of livelihoods. Horticulture has emerged as a successful sustainable livelihood option and needs to be encouraged significantly.
Enhancing its role requires investment in infrastructure like electricity, cold storage systems, marketing linkages, small-scale processing units and technology improvement and dissemination. Other Alternate Livelihood Options: The IT has revolutionised many sectors in the Indian economy. There is broad consensus that IT can play a critical role in achieving sustainable development and food security in the twenty-first century. Governments can predict areas of food insecurity and vulnerability using appropriate information and software tools so that action can be taken to prevent or reduce the likelihood of an emergency.
It also has a positive impact on the agriculture sector as it can disseminate information regarding emerging technologies and its applications, prices, weather and soil conditions for growing different crops etc. Though IT is, by itself, no catalyst of change but it can act as a tool for releasing the creative potential and knowledge embedded in the society. It also has potential of employment generation in rural areas. Experiments with IT and its application to rural development are carried out in different parts of India (see Box .
). . S USTAINABLE D EVELOPMENT AND O RGANIC F ARMING In recent years, awareness of the harmful effect of chemical-based fertilisers and pesticides on our health is on a rise. Conventional agriculture relies heavily on chemical fertilisers and toxic pesticides etc., which enter the food supply, penetrate the water sources, harm the livestock, deplete the soil and devastate natural eco-systems.
Efforts in evolving technologies which are eco-friendly are essential for sustainable development and one such technology which is eco-friendly is organic farming. In short, organic Box . : Adoption of Village by Parliamentarians