This has reference to the article "Agriculture: Still hoping for succour," (Business Line, June 7). The author has clearly highlighted the Achilles heel of our economy.

No amount of excitement generated with our achievements in technology or the services sector can substitute the stark reality of hunger and poverty among the rural folk. We would be living in a fool's paradise to think otherwise.

There is a wide gap between what can be achieved with the country's abundant natural resources and what is harnessed at present. Yet our highly paid scientists wallow in dramatics. It is time the government and the tax-payer made them accountable by seeking their practical contribution to agricultural growth other than publishing papers and monographs.

As rightly pointed out by the article, we have to learn from the role played by agricultural scientists in China, given the similarity in the rural socio-economic conditions in the two countries.

J. Menon

Chennai

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