Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture
Summary
India’s record of progress in
agriculture over the past four decades has been quite impressive. The agriculture sector has been successful in
keeping pace with rising demand for food.
The contribution of increased land area under agricultural production
has declined over time and increases in production in the past two decades have
been almost entirely due to increased productivity. Contribution of agricultural growth to
overall progress has been widespread.
Increased productivity has helped to feed the poor, enhanced farm income
and provided opportunities for both direct and indirect employment. The success of India’s agriculture is
attributed to a series of steps that led to availability of farm technologies
which brought about dramatic increases in productivity in 70s and 80s often
described as the Green Revolution
era. The major sources of agricultural growth during this period were the
spread of modern crop varieties, intensification of input use and investments
leading to expansion in the irrigated area.
In areas where ‘Green Revolution’ technologies had major impact, growth
has now slowed. New technologies are
needed to push out yield frontiers, utilize inputs more efficiently and
diversify to more sustainable and higher value cropping patterns. At the same time there is urgency to better
exploit potential of rainfed and other less endowed areas if we are to meet
targets of agricultural growth and poverty alleviation. Given the wide range of
agroecological setting and producers, Indian agriculture is faced with a great
diversity of needs, opportunities and prospects. Future growth needs to be more rapid, more
widely distributed and better targeted.
These challenges have profound implications for the way farmers’
problems are conceived, researched and transferred to the farmers. On the one hand agricultural research will
increasingly be required to address location specific problems facing the communities
on the other the systems will have to position themselves in an increasingly
competitive environment to generate and adopt cutting edge technologies to bear
upon the solutions facing a vast majority of resource poor farmers.
In the past agriculture
has played and will continue to play a dominant role in the growth of Indian
economy in the foreseeable future. It
represents the largest sector producing around 28 percent of the GDP, is the
largest employer providing more than 60 percent of the jobs and is the prime
arbiter of living standards for seventy percent of India’s population living in
the rural areas. These factors together
with a strong determination to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains production
have ensured a high priority for agriculture sector in the successive
development plans of the country.
An important facet of
progress in agriculture is its success in eradication of its critical
dependence on imported foodgrains. In
the 1950’s nearly 5 percent of the total foodgrains available in the country
were imported. This dependence worsened
during the 1960’s when two severe drought years led to a sharp increase in
import of foodgrains. During 1966 India
had to import more than 10 million tonnes of foodgrains as against a domestic
production of 72 million tonnes. In the
following year again, nearly twelve million tonnes had to be imported. On the average well over seven percent of the
total availability of foodgrains during the 1960s had to be imported.
Indian agriculture has
progressed a long way from an era of frequent droughts and vulnerability to
food shortages to becoming a significant exporter of agricultural
commodities. This has been possible due
to persistent efforts at harnessing the potential of land and water resources
for agricultural purposes. Indian
agriculture, which grew at the rate of about 1 percent per annum during the
fifty years before independence, has grown at the rate of about 3 percent per
annum in the post independence era.
Agriculture
– sub-sectors
Indian agriculture
broadly consists of four sub-sectors.
Agriculture proper including all food-crops oilseeds, fiber, plantation
crops, fruits and vegetables is the largest accounting for nearly 70 percent of
the agriculture sector as a whole. The rapid
growth in this sub-sector through exploitation of wastelands and fallows,
spread of irrigation and adoption of production enhancing technologies was
critical in transforming India from a country vulnerable to food shortages to
one of exportable surplus. Although this
sub-sector has made impressive progress its share in the sector as a whole has
declined from 78 percent in 1960-61 to less than 70 percent by early 90s (Table 1).
Correspondingly the
share of livestock sector has increased considerably. The livestock industry has grown from Rs. 15
billion in early 1960s to Rs. 100 billion by 1980-81 and Rs. 672 billion by
1993-94. In nominal terms the sector
grew at almost 15 percent per annum during 1980s. Milk production, which was almost stagnant for
two decades ending 1970, grew by over 5 percent per annum in the 80s. Similarly, production of eggs increased at
the rate of about 6.5 percent during the same period. As a result the share of livestock increased
from about 17 percent till early 80s to 25 percent by 1993-94.
Though it plays
relatively a minor role within the sector as a whole, fishing sub-sector
activities have been on the rise. The
sub-sector has grown from only Rs. 3 billion in 1970-71 to nearly Rs. 90
billion in 1993-94. The growth was
particularly rapid in 70s and 80s. Value
added increased at over 5 percent per annum during this period.
In real terms forestry
and logging activities have been on the decline since mid seventies. As of 1993-94, the size of the industry in
terms of value of output was 103 billion.
Over the past three
decades, the country has successfully transformed itself from a food deficit
economy to one which is essentially self sufficient in availability of
foodgrains and other essential commodities, albeit only at the prevailing level
of effective demand. Annual aggregate
foodgrains production (Table 2),
which averaged about 82 million tonnes in 1960-61 increased to 123.7 and 172.5
million tonnes for the trienniums ending 1980-81 and 1990-91 respectively. Current (1998-99) production level is 195
million tonnes and the country has been able to accumulate substantial, (35
million tonnes) stocks of foodgrains to cope up with any sudden difficulties
arising from drought or a similar situation in any part of the country.
Increased outputs,
have been achieved chiefly by adopting, since mid sixties, a strategy aimed at
increasing foodgrains production by concentrating public sector efforts and
resources in regions with a high potential for quick and substantial productivity
gains through increased cropping intensity and average yields. These were the areas favoured by agroclimatic
resource conditions and where irrigation facilities already existed or could be
developed relatively rapidly. The main
elements of this strategy were: (i) expansion of irrigation coverage, (ii)
increased provision and utilization of key inputs – mainly high yielding
varieties (HYVs) of crops, mainly of wheat and rice and chemical fertilizers
and plant protection chemicals, (iii) expansion and improvement of
institutional support services such as research and extension and (iv) price
policies favourable to producers of major foodgrains.
The success of this
strategy was made possible by development and availability of replicable
production technology packages, so called ‘Green Revolution’ technologies.
Irrigation facilitated double cropping and widespread adoption of HYVs. The HYVs performed particularly well under
irrigated conditions, were highly responsive to fertilizers and their short
duration permitted increases in cropping intensities.
Irrigation development
was the cornerstone of the strategy.
Undivided India was amongst the largest irrigated areas in the
world. With partition nearly one-third
of the irrigated area went to Pakistan.
At the time of independence the net irrigated area was 20.9 million ha
(gross irrigated area 22.6 million ha).
Recognizing large-scale development of irrigation facilities as critical
to rapid agricultural growth, the country has spent about Rs. 45,000 crores on
irrigation development in the first four decades after independence. During the period 1950-51 to 1965-66
development of irrigation through government canals grew from 7.2 million ha to
9.8 million ha – a growth rate of 2.1 percent per annum. During 1970s this pace dropped slightly to
1.9 percent. In 1980s the rate of
increase dropped significantly to 1.1 percent per annum. The growth of tube-well irrigation, however,
increased rapidly from 4.5 million ha in 1970-71 to 9.5 million ha in 1980-81
and then to 14.3 million ha by 1990-91.
The net irrigated area increased from 31 million ha in 1970-71 to 53.5
million ha in 1995-96 which corresponds to 22 percent of the net sown area in
1970-71 and 37.63 percent in 1995-96 (Tables
3, 4). With improvements in
irrigation efficiency the gross irrigated areas has increased to 71.51 million
ha. The percentage of gross cropped area
service by irrigation increased from 18.3 percent in 1960-61 to 23.0 percent in
1970-71 and to over 38 percent at present.
Fertilizers have
constituted yet another key input in addition to expanded irrigation and spread
of HYVs in achieving goals of high production and productivity. India currently occupies third position in
the world, after China and USA, in terms of fertilizer production and
consumption. Consumption of fertilizers
has increased from 1.54 million tonnes in 1967-68, representing the pre green
revolution era, to 17.31 million tonnes currently (1997-98). The average per hectare use of fertilizers
currently around 85 kg per hectares is the lowest among several Asian
countries. However, rice and wheat
account for a major fraction, around 65 percent of the total fertilizer
consumed in the country, with very little fertilizers going to the rainfed
areas. According to some current
projections, fertilizer’s use will need to increase to 30-35 million tonnes to
meet the foodgrains need of 2020. The
demand for nutrients will stretch by almost another 15 million tonnes if requirements
for horticulture, vegetables and plantation and commercial crops are
included. At present domestic production
of N and P fertilizers (13.42 million tonnes) falls short of consumption by
over 20 percent. In addition the entire
requirement of K fertilizer is imported.
Most agricultural
development programmes initiated in 1960s were concentrated in regions of high
potential. Thus five states, Punjab,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu account for 50 percent of
the country’s net irrigated and 53 percent of the gross irrigated area. The combination of expanding irrigation
coverage and widespread adoption of short duration HYVs led to significant
increases in cropping intensities.
Acreage cropped more than once per year increased from 13 million ha in
1950-51 to about 44 million ha at present (Table
5). Average cropping intensity for
the country as a whole rose from 115 percent in 1960-61 to 131 in 1993-94. By 1993-94 cropping intensity has risen to
187 percent in Punjab, 167 percent in Haryana and 142 percent in Uttar Pradesh.
An important
consequence of the strategies adopted since sixties has been to boost
production of, chiefly, two crops rice and wheat. Their share in total foodgrains production
went up from 57 percent in 1970-71 to more than 75 percent in 1990-91 (Table 6). Production of foodgrains other than rice and
wheat did not increase significantly (Table
7) and in the eastern region even the yield of rice did not increase. Agricultural production and income rose
substantially in the north-western states of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar
Pradesh, parts of Rajesthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. By contrast productivity and output growth
have been modest in eastern and central India and in deccan plateau. Progress
was particularly slow in rainfed areas, which account for over 60 percent of
the cropped area and where a great majority of rural poor are concentrated. An
important impact of the strategies pursued in the ‘Green Revolution’ period has
been intensification of regional disparities and imbalances in agricultural
development and food availability and hence levels of food security. For the country as a whole while per capita
availability of cereals has increased substantially, that of pulses has
decreased significantly (Table 8).
In summary (Table 7) an annual increase in
foodgrains production of 3.22 percent during fifties was mainly because of
expansion in area. Sixties recorded a
low annual growth rate of 1.72 percent necessitating large-scale imports of foodgrains. Annual growth of 2.08 percent was recorded
during seventies. This decade was the
turning point in India’s foodgrains economy leading to self-sufficiency through
significant productivity increase first in wheat and later in rice in the
eighties. An annual growth of 3.5
percent in foodgrains in eighties was the hallmark of green revolution that
enabled India to become self-sufficient and even a marginal exporter. The pace of growth slowed in nineties barely
making or even slower than the population growth rate. This is a matter of concern.
Horticulture
The diversity of
physiographic, climate and soil characteristics enables India to grow a large
variety of horticultural crops – fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, aromatic
and medicinal plants, plantation crops etc.
India is the largest producer of fruits in the world and second largest
producer of vegetables. The area under
fruits estimated at 1.45 million ha in 1970-71 grew to 2.8 million ha in
1991-92 and then more rapidly to 5 to 6 million ha by 1994-95. This sector is likely to grow rapidly in the
future both on account of internal demands and export opportunities.
Animal
Husbandry and Fisheries
Animal husbandry and
dairying sub-sector plays an important role in overall economy and in social
development. The contribution of the
sub-sector is estimated to be about 25 percent of the total value of output of
agricultural sector. The sector also
plays a significant role in supplementing family incomes and generating
employment in the rural sector particularly among the land-less, small and
marginal farmers and women besides providing nutritious food. Production of suitable cross breeds and their
wider adoptions has contributed to increasing country’s milk production, which
has now reached 75 million tonnes annually.
Similarly, genetic improvement and better management practices have
markedly pushed up production of poultry and eggs.
Through the overall
contribution of fisheries sub-sector is small, development of prolific and fast
growing forms of several common fish species coupled with breakthrough in
breeding under captivity, fish seed production and multi-layer fish culture has
resulted in registering a very high annual growth of 11 percent in aquaculture
production during the past decade (Table
9).
Sustainability
Concerns
Several indicators
highlight increasing concerns of sustainability in areas which have largely
contributed to increased production in the ‘Green Revolution’ era. Adoption of high yielding cultivators is
virtually complete. Almost entire wheat
and rice crops in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh are
irrigated. In the higher production
regions yields are plateauing and most traditional sources of productivity
growth having been exhausted future gains in production have to come from elsewhere.
At farmers’ level
concerns are being expressed in several ways.
Many farmers believe that the input levels have to be continuously
increased in order to maintain high yields.
In sixties and seventies most farmers used only nitrogenous and phosphate
fertilizers to achieve high yields. Due
to widespread deficiencies of several secondary and micronutrients (Fig.1), most farmers now have to apply
higher doses and a greater variety of fertilizers to maintain crop yields. Results from many long term studies on
rice-wheat cropping system show a declining yield trend when input levels were
kept constant – thus the growth rate of system productivity has been declining
relative to growth rate of nutrients use.
Lowering of groundwater tables due to intensive rice-wheat system in
many areas is resulting in increased costs of lifting water in the intensively
cultivated high production areas, diseases and pest problems are turning more
serious than ever before and pose both short and long large problems. It is reported that some weeds have developed
resistance to the commonly used herbicides.
What this implies is that the farmers are applying increasing amount of
herbicide incurring increasing cost without the benefit of effective
control. Pesticide residues entering the
food chain and overall safety in use of pesticides continue to be serious
problems.
Other emerging
problems threatening sustainability of intensive cropping system e.g.
rice-wheat include loss in biodiversity related issues. Large areas planted to a single/few varieties
of a crop is a potential cause of concern.
As the diversity is reduced natural processes that control and affect
habitat quality and genetic expression weaken and for this reason internal and
natural control mechanisms must be replaced by more externally applied
artificial controls in the form of management and inputs which in due course
lead the system towards unsustainability.
Groundwater is the
major source of meeting the irrigation needs of irrigated agriculture.
Currently about half the area under irrigation in the country is irrigated from
groundwater sources. Large-scale
groundwater development has led to fall in the water table in many areas. Over pumping is leading to declining water
table levels and failure of tube-wells.
Pumping costs are increasing, as is the energy consumption. In the coastal areas this has led to ingress
of sea water, with serious environmental implications.
Changes in water
quality are adversely affecting agriculture and vice-versa. Inefficient and/or over use of fertilizers
and pesticides in agriculture and untreated disposal of industrial and urban
wastes are leading to increasing contamination by such elements as lead, zinc,
copper, chromium, cadmium particularly in areas having high industrial activity
e.g. in districts of Ludhiana, Faridabad, Kanpur, Varanasi etc.
An increase in the
content of arsenic has been reported in several of the districts of West
Bengal. This is attributed amongst other
causes to the lowering of groundwater table due to excessive groundwater
withdrawal and is leading to serious and widespread toxicity problems adversely
affect the health of hundreds of thousands people of the region.
Changing
Land-Use and Future of Agriculture
One of the most
important consequences of growing pressure on land is the declining trend in
the average farm size and the pattern of holdings (Tables 10 and 11). According
to the latest Agricultural Census in 1970-71 there were 70 million holdings
operating 162 million ha. By 1990-91
there were 105 million holdings operating 165 million ha. The average farm size decreased from 2.30 ha
in 1970-71 to 1.57 ha in 1990-91. As of
1990-91 about 78 percent of holdings were small (1.0 to 2.0 ha) and marginal
(<1.0 ha). A little more than 20
percent of the farmers were semi-medium (2.0 to 4.0 ha) and medium (4.0 to 10.0
ha). Large farmers (>10.0 ha)
constituted only 1.6 percent of the total holdings. Over the twenty-year period
since 1970 the proportion of marginal farmer has increased from 50 to 59
percent and that of large farmer has declined from about 4 to 1.6 percent. The proportion of total area operated by
marginal farmers increased from nine percent in 1970-71 to nearly 15 percent in
1990-91 while the proportion of large farmers declined from about 31 percent to
17 percent in the same period. The size
of average holding is very unevenly distributed among the states. States with relatively large average size of
operational holding are a mixed lot – they include states with large tracts of
barren lands e.g. Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh on the one hand and
agriculturally advanced state like Punjab on the other. These trends in farm size changes will have a
profound effect on the future agricultural development strategies.
Although India’s
population growth rate has slowed from 2.1 percent in 1980s to 1.8 percent in
the 1990s and is expected to slow further in the coming decades, yet the
population is projected to reach 1.33 billion by 2020 from the current one
billion. The urban share of total population is projected to increase from 26
percent to 35 percent of the total population.
Although incidence of poverty is falling, it is estimated that in 93-94
(upto which data is available) 320 million people constituting 36 percent of
the population were below the officially defined poverty line.
The nature of the
poverty line has been shifting. About 30
years ago 48.4 percent of those living in rural areas were poor and 20 percent
of those living in the urban areas were classed as poor. Recent studies show that the number of poor
in urban areas have been increasing at relatively higher rate compared to the
rural areas. At present those below the
poverty line in rural sector constitute 37 percent of the population while in
the urban sector the percentage is 32 percent.
In the context of poverty alleviation, therefore, emphasis will be
required to be placed both on production of food by the poor as well as on the
availability of food for the urban poor.
It needs to be recognized that a large proportion of the rural poor are
located in regions of low potential for food production e.g. arid and semi-arid
areas, hilly regions, degraded land and forest areas. Widespread hunger and malnutrition are the
direct manifestation of poverty and will call for increasing efforts to produce
more food at affordable price.
Increasing population
and economic growth are changing patterns of land use making potentially
unsustainable demands on the country’s natural resources.
q
Since
early fifties the net area sown was expanded rapidly at first but at a
diminishing rate since 1970 to reach approximately 142 million ha at
present. During 1950s and 1960s areas
under agriculture expanded substantially as the fallows were reduced and
cultivable wastes were put under the plough.
The net area sown increased from 119 million ha in 1950-51 to 133
million ha by 1960-61 and further to 140 million ha by 1970-71. Fallow lands declined from 28 million ha in
1950-51 to 20 million ha by 1970-71.
Cultivable wastelands declined from 23 to 17.5 million ha.
q
Land
use intensity i.e. fraction of net sown area to total geographical area
increase from 36 percent in 1950-51 to 40.5 percent in 1960-61 and 43 percent
by 1970-71 where it has since stabilized.
q
Cropping
intensity i.e. gross sown area as percent of net sown area increased from 111
percent in 1950-51 to 115 percent in 1960-61, 118 percent in 1970—71 and 130
percent by mid 1990s.
q
While
the contribution of increased area in the growth of agriculture has declined
over time, that of productivity has increased.
The yield of all crops grew at 1.5 percent per annum between early 1950s
and mid 1960s. the pace accelerated to
1.7 percent in the 1970s and then to 3 percent per annum between early 1980s
and mid 90s. Unlike the gains in area,
which benefited non-foodgrains, the gains in productivity accrued mostly to
foodgrains.
q
India’s
forest resources have been dwindling.
According to the ‘State of Forest Report’ (1997) the total forest cover
of the country is estimated at 63.34 million ha i.e. 19.27 percent of the
geographic area of the country. Of these
the dense forest (crown density more than forty percent) and open forest (crown
density 10 to 40 percent) occupying about 11 and 8 percent of the geographic
area respectively and mangroves occupy 0.15 percent of the geographic
area. The country has lost about 5482
sq. km. of forest cover since the 1995 assessment. By any estimate the area under forest is far
below the national policy goals and many areas nominally under forest are being
used for non-forest purposes. Similarly
‘uncultivated lands’ such as permanent pastures, miscellaneous tree crops,
cultivable wastes and fallow is subject to increasing competition from uses
other than feeding livestock.
q
The
growth of livestock population is an important source of competition for
land. The increase in number of major
classes of livestock are shown in table
13.
q
The
area sown to fodder crops is not recorded.
Information available from other sources provide an estimate ranging
from 4 to 5.5 percent of the net sown area and suggest that the area under
fodder crops will have to increase to 10 percent or more to support increasing
livestock based activity.
The pressure on
India’s land and water resources is seriously threatening native plant and
animal diversity. India has uniquely
rich and diverse genetic base. With
increasing agriculture and economic development the genetic pool is declining. This decline, if unchecked and poorly managed
can have unforeseen and adverse consequences for the sustainability of
agriculture of the region.
Agriculture
in the Changing Global Scenario
Steady globalization
of trade has profound implications for future agricultural development. The diversity of India’s agro-ecological
setting, high bio-diversity and relatively low cost of labour provide potential
for agricultural competitiveness in a globalized economy. It is expected that with increasing
globalization of markets over the years there will be demands for agricultural
intensification. This will also be
favoured because of greater backward and forward linkages between agriculture
and food industry. Therefore, increase
in production and productivity are bound to be strategically important to
economy. Intensification will not only
favour alleviation of rural poverty but will also improve resource conservation
particularly in the small farming sector where farmers can be encouraged to
take up organized production of high value crops such as fruits, specialty
vegetables, flowers medicinal and aromatic herbs etc. Stronger demands for crops of the small
farmers’ will not only improve incomes and welfare but will also make
investments in technology and resource conservation more attractive.
The General Agreement
on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and liberalization of global trade is bound to have
impact on future land use and production pattern. Understanding the local, national and
international environment under which agricultural production is taking shape
will be crucial in developing our own strategies.
Extension
Strategies
Since early fifties a
number of public by funded agricultural development programmes have been
sponsored. These have included
programmes like the National Extension Service (NES) Blocks in 1953, the Intensive
Agricultural District Programme (IADP) in 1961-62, the Intensive Agricultural
Area Programme (IAAP) 1964-65, the High Yielding Variety (HYV) programme
1966-67 and the Small and Marginal Farmers’ Development Programmes (SMFDP) in
1969-70. Though these programmes had a
perceptible impact the efforts did not get replicated over different areas and
categories of farmers. In mid seventies
based on pilot level project in Rajasthan Canal and Chambal command area a ‘Training
and Visit’ (T&V) system of extension was promoted in different states. Extension efforts of the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research through its research Institutes and the State
Agricultural University were largely limited to demonstration of new
technologies through such programmes as National Demonstration Project,
Operational Research Project, the Lab to Land Programme and the Krishi Vigyan
Kendras. However, there appears much to
be desired in the way that extension programmes are conceived and
implemented.
At present extension programmes
are implemented in largely a top-down fashion leaving little scope for
localized planning and action. Farmers
are almost passive receivers and their involvement in the process of technology
generation and adoption is almost absent.
Extension services, at present, are
almost exclusively in the public sector domain and there is no effort or
institutional support for other operators e.g. the NGOs, the corporate bodies
etc.
Extension programmes
sponsored by the government operate largely in isolation and there appears a
strong need to view the extension programmes as an integral part of the
research and development process.
The challenges facing
agricultural development call for fundamental changes in our approach to
technology transfer/extension programmes.
Changes are necessary in the context of changing economic environment
following policy adjustments in relation to privatization, deregulation and
globalization calling for greater efficiency and effectiveness of the extension
system. More importantly there is need
for
q
Greater
emphasis on providing producers with knowledge and understanding needed to
overcome the problems or to exploit opportunities of their own specific
production systems. Correspondingly
there will be a need to de-emphasize ‘package of practices’ or the blanket
recommendations, top down approach followed thus far.
q
Shift
in the focus of public extension systems from promoting inputs use to one on
sustainable management of resources and improvements in the production system
as a whole.
q
Closer
interaction between farmers, extension scientists and production system
researchers in diagnosing problems and identifying location specific
recommendations emphasizing participation and education rather than being
prescriptive.
q
Widening
the range of extension delivering agencies.
While the publicly operated extension systems will continue to be
important, there will appear a greater role for NGOs, farmers’ associations and
corporate sectors in particular situations.
Role of commercial suppliers of seeds, agrochemicals, machinery,
vaccines and medicines in providing advisories, as is already being done in a
limited way, will need to be encouraged and factored into public system’s own
priorities.
q
Wider
and more creative use of mass media in tune with current developments in
information technology to get information across to the farming community whose
ability to overcome constrains at farm level will increasingly depend on access
to reliable and up-to-date information.
Technological
Needs and Future Agriculture
It is apparent that
the tasks of meeting the consumption needs of the projected population are
going to be more difficult given the higher productivity base than in
1960s. There is also a growing
realization that previous strategies of generating and promoting technologies
have contributed to serious and widespread problems of environmental and
natural resource degradation. This
implies that in future the technologies that are developed and promoted must
result not only in increased productivity level but also ensure that the
quality of natural resource base is preserved and enhanced. In short, they lead to sustainable
improvements in agricultural production.
Productivity gains
during the ‘Green Revolution’ era were largely confined to relatively well
endowed areas. Given the wide range of
agroecological setting and producers, Indian agriculture is faced with a great
diversity of needs, opportunities and prospects. Future growth needs to be more rapid, more
widely distributed and better targeted.
Responding to these challenges will call for more efficient and
sustainable use of increasingly scarce land water and germplasm resources.
Technical solutions
required to solve problems will be increasingly location-specific and matched
to the huge agroecological/climatic diversity.
Detailed indigenous knowledge and greater skills in blending modern and
traditional technologies to enhance productive efficiency will be more than
ever before, key to the farming success and sectoral growth. Most technological solutions will have to be
generated and adapted locally to make them compatible with socio-economic
conditions of farming community.
New technologies are
needed to push the yield frontiers further, utilize inputs more efficiently and
diversify to more sustainable and higher value cropping patterns. These are all knowledge intensive
technologies that require both a strong research and extension system and
skilled farmers but also a reinvigorated interface where the emphasis is on mutual
exchange of information bringing advantages to all. At the same time potential of less favoured
areas must be better exploited to meet the targets of growth and poverty
alleviation.
These challenges have
profound implications for products of agricultural research. The way they are transferred to the farmers
and indeed the way research is organized and conducted. One thing is, however, clear – the new
generation of technologies will have to be much more site specific, based on
high quality science and a heightened opportunity for end user participation in
the identification of targets. These
must be not only aimed at increasing farmers’ technical knowledge and
understanding of science based agriculture but also taking advantage of
opportunities for full integration with indigenous knowledge. It will also need to take on the challenges
of incorporating the socio-economic context and role of markets.
With the passage of
time and accelerated by macro-economic reforms undertaken in recent years, the Institutional
arrangements as well as the mode of functions of bodies responsible for
providing technical underpinning to agricultural growth are proving
increasingly inadequate. Changes are
needed urgently to respond to new demands for agricultural technologies from
several directions. Increasing pressure
to maintain and enhance the integrity of degrading natural resources, changes
in demands and opportunities arising from economic liberalization,
unprecedented opportunities arising from advances in biotechnology, information
revolution and most importantly the need and urgency to reach the poor and
disadvantaged who have been by passed by the green revolution
technologies.
Another important
implication of increasing globalization relates to the need for greater
attention to the quality of produce and products both for the domestic and the
foreign markets. This would imply that
production must be tuned to actual rapidly changing product demand. Such adaptation to global markets would
require state of the art research, which can be achieved only by setting global
standards of research, focus on well defined priorities and mechanisms which
permit close interaction of farmers with researchers, the private sector and
markets.
References
Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, 1998: National Agricultural
Technology Project, pp 193,
ICAR,
New Delhi.
CMIE 1997: Directory of Indian Agriculture, pp 402
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt.
Ltd.,
Mumbai.
Indian Agriculture in Brief
2000: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture
and
Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Table 1.
Agriculture sub-sectors – value of output (%)
Sub-sector 1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1993-94
Agriculture 78.0
79.3 75.3 68.5
Livestock 16.6 15.1 17.2 24.5
Forestry 4.4 4.4 5.9 3.8
Fisheries 1.0 1.2 1.6 3.2
100.0
100.0 100.0 100.0
Total value at 89 218 615 2740
Current price
(Rs.
Billion)
Table 2. Foodgrains Production
Year Area Production Yield
(million ha) (million tonnes) kg/ha
1950-51 97.32 50.82 522
1960-61 115.58 82.02 709
1970-71 124.32 108.42 872
1980-81 126.67 129.59 1023
1990-91 127.84 176.39 1379
1998-99 124.0 195.25 1574
Table 3. India – irrigated area
Year Net Gross Net as % Gross
as %
of
net sown of gross cropped
------ million ha
------ -------- %
---------
1970-71 31.10 38.19
22.17 23.04
1980-81 38.72 49.78 27.66 28.83
1990-91 48.02 63.20 33.61 34.03
1995-96 53.51 71.51 37.63 38.33
Table 4. Sources of irrigation
Year Net Irrigated Sources
Area (million ha)
Canals Tanks Tube-wells Other wells Other Sources
(% net irrigated area)
1960-61 24.80
10.4 4.6 0.2 7.2 2.4
1970-71 31.10
41.28 13.22 14.34 23.88 7.29
1980-81 38.72
39.49 8.22 24.62 21.08 6.59
1990-91 48.02
36.34 6.13 29.69 21.73 6.11
1995-96 53.01
32.04 5.81 33.52 22.16 6.47
Table 5. Cropping intensity
Years Net sown Gross cropped Area cropped Cropping
area area more than once intensity
_________________ million ha ___________________ ________
(%) ________
1950-51 118.8 131.9 13.1 111.1
1960-61 133.2 152.8 19.6 114.3
1970-71 140.3 165.8 25.5 118.2
1980-81 140.0 172.6 32.6 123.3
1990-91 143.0 185.7 42.7 129.9
1993-94 142.0 186.4 44.4 131.2
Table 6. Rice and Wheat Production
Production (million
tonnes)
Year Rice
Wheat Foodgrains R+W as % of Foodgrains
____________ million tonnes _________________
1970-71 40.80 20.86 108.4 57.4
1980-81 49.91 34.55 129.6 65.4
1990-91 72.78 53.03 176.4 75.0
1996-97 81.74 69.35 199.4 75.0
Table 7.
Annual compound growth rate of foodgrains production
Crop 1950-51 to 1960-61 to 1970-71 to 1980-81
to 1990-91 to
1959-60 1969-70 1979-80 1989-90 1997-98
Rice 3.28 - 8.05 1.91 4.29 1.53
Wheat 4.51 5.90 4.69 4.24 3.67
Coarse 2.75 1.48 0.74 0.74 - 0.49
cereals
Total cereals
3.00 2.51 2.37 3.63 1.84
Pulses 2.72 1.35
- 0.54 2.78 0.76
Total 3.22 1.72 2.08 3.54 1.66
foodgrains
Table 8. Per capita net availability of cereals and
pulses per day (g)
Year Cereals Pulses Total
1951 334 61 395
1961 400 69 469
1971 418 51 469
1981 417 38 455
1991 468 42 510
1998 451 33 484
Table 9. Production of milk, eggs and fish in India
Year Milk production / availability Fish Eggs
million
tonnes/annum g./day
(000 tonnes)
(million)
1950-51 17.0 124 752 1832
1960-61 20.0 124 1160 2881
1970-71 22.0 112 1756 6172
1980-81 31.6 128 2442 10060
1990-91 53.9 176 3836 21101
1998-99 75.0 210 5388 28400
Table 10. Number of holdings (million)
Category of
Farmers 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91
Marginal 35.7
(50.6)* 50.1
(56.4) 62.1
(59.0)
Small 13.4
(19.0) 16.1
(18.1) 20.0
(19.0)
Semi-medium 10.7
(15.2) 12.5
(14.0) 13.9
(13.2)
Medium 7.9
(11.2) 8.1
(9.1) 7.6
(7.3)
Large 2.8
(3.9) 2.2
(2.4) 1.7
(1.6)
All groups 70.5
(100) 89.0
(100) 105.3
(100)
*Figures
in parenthesis represent the percentage of holdings.
Table 11. Area operated - % of total area
Category of
Farmers 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91
Marginal 9.0 12.1 14.9
Small 11.9 14.2 17.3
Semi-medium 18.5 21.1 23.1
Medium 29.7 29.6 27.2
Large 30.9 23.0 17.4
All groups (million ha) 162.1 (100) 163.8
(100) 165.6
(100)
Table 12. India – Land Use
Categories (million ha)
Classification 1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 1993-94
Reporting area 298.5 305.0 305.0 305.0 305.0
Area under non-
agricultural uses 14.8 16.5 19.7 21.1 22.0
Barren and
un-cultivable 35.9 28.2 20.0 19.4 19.0
Cultivable waste 19.2 17.5 16.7 15.0 14.5
Old fallow 11.2 8.8 9.9 9.7 9.7
Forests 54.1 63.9 67.5 67.8 68.4
Permanent
pastures 14.0 13.3 12.0 11.8 11.2
Land under misc.
trees etc. 4.5 4.3 3.6 3.8 3.7
Net sown area 133.2 140.3 140.0 143.0 142.1
Current fallow 11.6 11.1 14.8 13.7 14.3
Table 13. Livestock and poultry population (million)
Category 1982 1987 1992
Cattle 192.45 199.69 204.53
Buffaloes 69.78 75.96 83.49
Sheep 48.76 45.70 50.79
Goats 95.25 110.20 115.28
Total (Livestock) 419.59 445.28 470.15
Total Poultry 207.74 275.32 307.10
Fig 1. Progressive Expression in the Occurrence of Nutrient Deficiencies in Northern India
NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY
??
Mn Mn Mn
B
B B B
S S S S S
K K K
K K K
Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe
Zn Zn Zn Zn Zn Zn Zn Zn
P P P
P P P P P
P
N N N N N N N N N N
Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
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