India lives mainly in its villages, 600,000 of them. The village remains the basic unit of the Indian society and roughly 65% of the population is rural. They constitute the backbone of what is still, largely, an agricultural economy. Agriculture is the mainstay of the majority of the population in India. Extremes in climate and a variety of soil conditions have made possible the cultivation of almost every item from cash crops to foodgrains. India's growth in per capita food production during 1979-92 was about 1.6% per annum, which is the highest growth rate in the world during this period.
Agriculture provides livelihood to about 65% of the labour force, contributes nearly 29% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for 8.56% of India's exports. In terms of gross fertilizer consumption, India ranks 4th in the world, after the USA, the erstwhile USSR and China. India has the largest area in the world under pulse crops and is also the first in the world to evolve a cotton hybrid.
About 43 % of India's geographical area is used for agricultural activity. With the spread of irrigation facilities, the introduction of high yielding variety of seeds and farm mechanization, the vulnerability of the Indian agricultural sector to the vagaries of the monsoons has declined, compared to earlier.
Agriculture production increased during the eighties when the weighted index of agricultural production increased at the rate of 3.6 % per annum compared to 2.2 % per annum in the seventies and 3 % per annum in the fifties and early sixties. The increase in agricultural production during the eighties was due to a significant rise in the yield and a marginal rise in the area.
The Previous Year Scenario
1995 was again a good year for agriculture, facilitated by a favourable monsoon. It was the 8th successive normal monsoon year. India's granaries are full and the initial estimates indicate that the output of foodgrains in 1995-96 may have touched 190 million tons, which is a little lower than the record output of 191 million tons in 1994-95. . Sugar production reached all time high of 14.6 million tons during 1994 - 95 (October - September). Cotton production at 12.3 million bales should be marginally higher in 1995-96 than the preceding year. Production of oil seeds and tea is likely to have been marginally better in 1995-96 than last year. The overall growth in agricultural production in 1994-95 was about 5% as against 3.4% in 1993-94.
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Topics :Agricutural Research and Extension
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