Agriculture plays a very important role in India’s economic development. The country is predominantly agricultural with 62 per cent of popluation depending directly on agriculture. It contributes about one-third of gross value added in India. Its role in economic development apart, it is a way of life and, therefore, in its development lies the general well-being of the people.
Role of agriculture
India is a predominantly agricultural country. This predominane has continued over the century and in terms of percentage sheres there is only a marginal shift downward from aout 76 per cent of the population depending on agriculture in the beginning of the century to about 62 per cent now. But in terms of the total number of people depending on agriculture there is a big increase which must have affected the availability of land per capita. This sector contributes around 29 per cent of GDP. Thus, the country continues to be predominantly agricultural.
Agriculture has a big role in the development of industries specially the agro-based industries such as textiles, sugar, tea, paper. There are several other industries like handloom weaving and other cottage industries which also depend upon inputs from agriculture. The prosperity of these agro-based industries is directly dependent upon the availability of inputs from the agricultural sector. The prosperity of industries depends on agricultural prosperity from another angle also because the demand for industrial products depends upon the income of the farmers which in turn depends upon agricultural production.
The country’s foreign trade specially in the export of traditional commodities like jute, tea, tobacco and coffee depends a great deal on the supplies of the agricultural sector. In case of crop failures the country becomes a net importer of foodgrains. Therefore, the balance of trade in the country is affected a great deal by the performance of this sector.
The cost of living of the people in the country is also linked with agricultural prosperity. Agriculture is said to be a gamble in rains because of uncertainty of the monsoons. In case of agricultural drought the availability of foodgrains is directly affected which leads to rise in prices of foodgrains. In a poor economy the consumer expenditure on food articles is considerable. If the food is costly, the cost of living of the people is bound to be affected to great deal.
On account of agriculture predominance the income of a large majority of people is directly dependent on agricultural production. Indirectly, a considerable part of trade and commerce depends on agricultural production. With low income of the agricultural workers there is demand recession in the whole economy which affects other sectors as well.
Agriculture is a sector which employs a large number of persons. Despite all the efforts made, the organised sector does not absorb more than 10 per cent of the total work force in the country. Therefore, to tackle the problem of unemployment in the country the agriculture must absorb more persons in intensive agricultural operations or on agro-based rural industries. A significant shift in population from agriculture to non-agriculture operation is not likely in a short-period as has been shown through the experience over the years, the country has to increase job opportunity within the agricultural sector.
Agriculture has low capital output raito; in other words is requires lesser capital per unit of output produced compared with the industries and, therefore, a capital poor economy has to place reliance on development of agriculture which also with increase in production would increase employment opportunity in the rural setting and would not create problems of urban congestion and pollution in the cities.
The government revenues also depend a great deal on agricultural prosperity. The direct contribution of agricultural taxed to the revenues of the Centre and the States is not significant but indirectly agriculture through its effect on the whole economy of the country has a considerable influence on the revenues on the Central and States Governments. In other words, agricultural prosperity, reflects directly upon the budgetary resources of the Government. Particularly, in case of agricultural droughts whereas the revenue suffers a set-back, Government expenditure on relief, etc., goes up a great deal leading to heavy deficit in Government budgets.
A trend of migration from rural areas to urban areas and metropolitan cities has been evidenced by the increase in urban population in the past few decades. This has created a dual problem: on the one hand, it has deprived rural areas of skilled and educated persons and, on the other hand, it has created the problem of urban congestion. If agriculture is on the road to prosperity and is in a position to absorb fruitfully the growing talent in rural areas this one way move will be stopped and the dual problem of urban congestion and rural brain drain will be solved.
Cropping Pattern of Indian Agriculture
The significant facts about the cropping pattern in India are summarised below:
1 Food crops including cereals, millets, pulses, vegetables and fruits cover nearly three fourths of the total corpped land.
2 Among the non-foodgrains, oilseeds cover about 16 per cent of the total cropped area. Fibre crops like cotton, jute and mesta cover about six per cent of the total cropped area.
3 A bigger portion of the area under foodgrains is occupied by careals. They ocupy about 81 per cent of the total area under foodgrains and only 19 per cent is occupied by pulses.
4 Rice is the most important foodgrain crop in India. It is grown on more than 32 per cent of the total area under foodgrains.
5 Wheat is the second most important crop in India. It covers about 22 per cent of the total area under foodgrains.
6 The combined area under jowar, bajra and maize is about 20 per cent of the area under foodgrains.
7 No important variation is noted in the importance of major cash crops like ground nut, cotton and jute. Jointly they occupy less than 10 per cent of the total cropped area.
Profile of Indian Agricultural Development Strategy
Indian agricultural development strategy has the following main elements:
Technological measures: In order to meet the growing needs of the population and also to provide a base for industrial development technological measures were undertaken so as to increase agricultural production substantially. These were initiated with the introduction of a package programme in selected regions of the country. This package programme included use of high yielding varieties of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and increased use of irrigation facilities. As a result of these measures, agricultural production and productivity increased substantially.
Land Reforms: These reforms were undertaken to abolish intermediary interest in land and to transfer the land to its actual tiller. Measures taken under this head included (i) abolition of intermediaries; (ii) tenancy reforms to (a) regulate rents paid by tenants to land lords, (b) proivde security of tenure to tenants, (c) and confer ownership rights to tenants; and (iii) imposition of ceiling on holding in a bid to procure land for distibution among landless labourers and marginal farmers. The attempt aimed at changing the entire agrarian structure of the rural areas. Because of vested interests the actual achievement turned out to be much lower than aimed at.
Cooperation and consolidation of holdings: The programme of cooperation and consolidation of holdings was introduced in order to reorganise agriculture and to prevent fragmentation of holdings. Cooperation aims at bringing small and marginal farmers together to reap the benefits of large scale farming; consolidation aims, avoiding wastage of time, land and energy employed in cultivation and also to enable farmers to practise scientific techniques of production.
Procurement and support prices: Another policy measure initiated is the announcement of procurement and support prices to insure fair prices to farmers so that they do not suffer losses in the year of surplus production. In fact, this policy has been used to provide incentives to farmers to expand production. However, this policy has helped large farmers more than small and marginal farmers because they have substantial marketable surpluses and they are able to reap the benefits of this policy.
Other measures
1 Provisions of irrigation facilities through major and medium projects.
2 Improving the system of agricultural marketing through the establishment of regulated markets.
3 Provision of storage and warehousing facilities to enable the government to build up adequate buffer stocks.
4 Measures to enforce minimum wages, abolition of bonded labour, distribution of surplus agricultural land to landless labourers, and schemes for expanding rural employment, are few of the steps introducted to improve the economic condition of agricultural workers.
5 Promotion of agricultural research and training to discover high-yielding varieties of seeds, avoid wastage of grains in storage, increase the productivity of soil.
6 Kisan credit card scheme was introduced in 1998-99 to facilitate access to credit from Banks.
Agricultural Development during Plans
Agriculture occupies a key position in Indian economy. Its development has been accorded a high priority in Indian Five year Plans. Intensive efforts have been made during the plans to make agriculture self-reliant. The success of these efforts is reflected in the increase in production.
Important features of agriculture during planning are:
1 A near self-sufficiency has been achieved in foodgrains. We no longer import foodgrais in bulk quantity.
2 Although self-sufficiency has been achieved in foodgrains, it has been achieved at a very low level of consumption. In other words, there is no food problem in the sense of ‘inadequate production’ but there is a problem of bringing up the food consumption level of consumption level to the minimum nutritional level.
3 During the whole planning period per hectare consumption of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides have increased several times.
4 Mechanisation of agriculture has been possible under plans. There is one tractor for every 100 hectares of land under cultivation.
5 An important feature of agricultural performance has been that the bulk of increase in output particularly foodgrains has been concentrated in few regions which are well endowed with infrastructure and where farmers are resourceful in terms of their capacity to invest and bear risk. A more balanced growth of agriculture as between different regions and classes of farmers can lead to a rise in the purchasing power of the rural poor. There is a need for developing dry-land farming and water shed programme for rain fed area which is more than two-third of the cultivated land.
6 Another aspect of imbalance in Indian agriculture concerns cropwise disparities in growth between food grains and non-food grains on one hand and among different foodgrains themselves on the other. It is felt that in our concern for food security we have ignored the need for a balanced cropping pattern. The imbalance nature of cropping is reflected in the fact that food grains account for about three fourth of the area under cultivation and cereals account for four fifth of area under foodgrains.
Although much of the production growth has been on account of higher yield per hectare, the actual yield has been much lower than the potential yield.
Causes of Low Agricultural Productivity
Pressure of population
The country’s population is much greater than its share in the land of the world. Not only this, the ratio of cultivable land to total land is also comparatively low. There is, therefore, greater pressure of population of land. The per capita cultivable land come to about 0.26 hectares which limits the scope of bringing more area under cultivation. In other words, the country has to rely on intensive cultivation. Despite this, the predominance of agricultural population continues with nearly 62 per cent of the population depending directly on agriculture. With greater pressure on existing land, the prospects of improvement in land are reduced partly in land. All these factors affect productivity per worker as also per hectare.
Size of holdings
A large majority of agricultural holdings are below two hectares and therefore, un-economic for purpose of permanent improvements on land for modernisation of agricultural operations. In some areas though holdings are large yet the productivity is low because of non-availability of irrigation facilities and poor rainfall. Not only the size of holding is small, the holdings are scattered and fragmented. This is the result of increase in population and consequent increase in size of families with a corresponding increase in the availability of cultivable land. In the process of inheritance and distribution of land, the holding have become small and scattered. In the absence of consolidation of land or co-operative farming, these holdings constitute a big handicap for improving agricultural productivity.
Nature of soil
No doubt, the country has varied soil conditions from one part of the country to the other, but nearly two-thirds of the land depends upon rain. Inadequate rainfall and non-availability of irrigation facilities affect the productivity of soil. Further, continuous cropping without replenishment of lost fertility leads to depletion of the condition of soil. Even in irrigated area, the soil has been rendered un-cultivable on account of water logging and salinity. Much effort is required for reclamation of such land. It also involves considerable expenditure beyond the means of common farmers.
Preponderance of subsistence farming
A large majority of farmers keep to farming for raising food grains for their subsistence and, therefore, they do not produce for selling in the markets. This is true with regard to two-thirds of agricultural holdings. The productivity of such farms is bound to be low both on account of the cropping pattern and the low prospects for agricultural improvement. This is bound to affect general agricultural productivity and particularly, the productivity of food crops. A switchover to commercial farming provides considerable incentives for agricultural improvement towards higher productivity because of the profitability consideraion which is at the back of commerical farming but is not there in case of subsistenc farming.
Lack of irrigation facilities
Despite considerable headway in bringing in more area under irrigation, only one-third of the total cultivated area is provided with irrigation facilities. Obviously, the rest of the area has to depend on rainfall. Even in the case or irrigated are optimum use of water is not made on account of non-availability of suitable water channels, sprinklers, etc. The rain-fed agriculture has to depend wholly on the vagaries of monsoon. The combined result of these phenomena is low productivity in general and particularly in the case of rain-fed crops. Unfortunately, there has not been a significant break-through in dry farm techniques which probably would have helped in improving agricultural productivity in the country.
Low capital base
In fact low agricultural productivity, low capital base and pressure of population on land consitute a vicious circle which contributes to perpetuation of low agricultural productivity in the country. Fortunately, the Government has provided concessional credit through various institutional agencies but here also it is difficult to ensure proper use of credit evidenced by high over-dues. Even the heavy subsidies of agricultural inputs like improved seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and modern farm implements have not been able to make much impact on the large majority of farmers with small holdings.
Crop losses
Considerable losses are reported in agricultural production on account of weeds, insects and crop diseases. In particular, the new high-yielding varieties are equally prone to these menaces and, therefore, the average productivity of agricultural products has been affected adversely.
Cropping pattern
A suitable cropping pattern particularly with quick maturing crops which are also high-yielding could help a great deal in raising agricultural productivity. As yet, in most cases, there is persistence of traditional cropping pattern, with same old cycle of crops which depresses crop productivity. A planned and scientific cropping pattern based on climatic, soil and water availability factors, goes a long way in bringing about optimum output from the above resources, without unwanted side effects.
Use of manures
We are aware that there is considerable wastage of organic manures in the form of farm-yard manures in rural areas and urban waste in cities and towns which could be fruitfully utilised for production of energy one the one hand and increasing fertility on the other. There is not much awareness and therefore there is a need for institutionalised effort for conservation of these manures for agricultural purposes and for using them along with chemical fertilizers which could made considerable impact on agricultural productivity without heavy drain on financial resources of the farmers.
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