Who killed the golden goose ?

A person was searching for something beneath the lamp post.
Another person who was looking at him asked what are you looking for?
Oh! I have lost my ring.
Where?
It has fallen in the lane 500 meters from here.
Then why are you searching here?
How can I search there, that lane is dark.
This is the story, which I have read when I was a kid.

The same story is being repeated with changed characters in agricultural development today. Agriculture is going through a sea change from traditional to high-tech in terms of Agri-inputs, production process, post harvest operations and then its marketing.

New technical knowledge is not being transferred to the farmers. Public extension system has almost gone defunct and the private extension system has limited coverage.
Changing social dynamics is not favoring farming as a profession; return per human resource is low. Knowledge of agricultural operation which was transferred from father to son is not taking place. Gradually the indigenous knowledge is being lost. New breed of farmers are at the mercy of agri-input retailers, who will obviously pass on products which are available with them and assures them a higher margin.
These unfavorable developments are compounded by climatic aberrations, leading to increasing incidences of crop failure.

Amid this tumultuous scenario, Golden goose has been cut for election campaign.
Instead of strengthening dilapidated Agri-extension network the government has chosen the easy and election winning path of loan waiver.

Bankers are washing the hands in the holy river; they booked most of the NPA accounts in rural areas as Agri loan and cleaned their books.

Now, farmers have become untouchable in the formal financial system and have no option but to go back to the money lenders or grease the hands of bank branch managers.