Indian Agriculture: Scenario - Past, Present and Future
History of INDIA is very rich in terms of having Kingdoms, Architecture, Literature and many other things, and agriculture has always been in focus point for the economic activity. Over centuries growth of agriculture has contributed a lot in rise of civilisations. Before agriculture became the widespread activity, peoples were nomads. They roam around in search of food - hunting wild animals and gathering wild eatable plants - on daily basis. They were not settlers so they did not prosper. Eventually people learnt how to grow cereals and other edible roots, this was the turning point when they decided to settle down and live a life based on farming.
Over some centuries dependence on agriculture increased heavily because of which civilisations prosper a lot. Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) or Harappan Civilisation (one of the several civilizations during that time period), which was situated on the bank on the river Indus, prosper because farming started producing surpluses. There was no technological advancement in the field of agriculture but people know canal irrigation. In the mean time people began herding and breeding wild animals for domestic use.
Since then till the end of twentieth century, agriculture played a vital role in India's economy and also was one of the largest contributor of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) more than 50% in 1950. Due to the advent of Industrial Revolution in 1700s and 1800s the focus started shifting from agriculture to industries for economic activity all over the world. But in India agriculture remained primary activity.
Because of the achievements of the Indian agriculture in the past, it influenced, in part, for colonisation by many foreigners. Just before the independence the condition of agriculture in India was not good. But in the years since its independence, India has made immense progress towards its food security, quadrupling its food-grain production. All this is achieved through Green Revolution. The department of Agriculture and Cooperation under Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the development of the agriculture sector in India.
Contribution of Agriculture and its allied activities in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reduced a lot from more than 50% in 1950 to around 17% in 2017, but still it constitutes around 60% of the labour force, which is a skewed figure.
The aim of national food security is achieved but now agriculture is not seeing much growth, the farmers income is also very unstable and low making this sector unprofitable due to which there is major shift from agriculture to other activities. To give stagnant agriculture growth a boost, a shift must be made from concentrating on country's food security to focusing on farmers' income security.
The Indian agriculture, is in a way, a victim of its own past success - especially the green revolution. The green revolution, which is often characterised by the introduction of high-yielding variety of seeds and fertilisers, undoubtedly increased the productivity of land considerably. But the growth in the productivity has been stagnant in the recent years, resulting in a significant decline in the income of the farmers. There has also been negative environmental effects in the form of depleting water table, emission of green house gases and the contamination of surface and ground water. Today, the agriculture sector is in distress, which is severely affecting peasants and marginal farmers and urgent policy interventions are required to protect their interests.
Several Initiatives have been taken the government to address this issue. They are:
1. More Crop, Per Drop: One of the major barrier is the scarcity of two major resources for agriculture - cultivable land and water. While the cultivable land per person is declining because of the fragmentation of farms due to rising population. India also has much less per capita water as compared to other leading agrarian countries. This problem is exacerbated because India has been exporting virtual water embedded in crops, which is marked by its feature of non-replenishment. Once it is exported, it cannot be recovered.
2. Opening up of the markets: The National Agriculture Policy, 2000 stated that the private sector participation will be promoted through contract farming and land leasing arrangements to allow accelerated technology transfer, capital inflow and assured market for crop production. However, there has not been any significant participation by the private sector in agriculture.
3. R&D is the future: One of the major barriers to boosting farm productivity is the lack of new technologies and major breakthroughs. While the National Agriculture `Research System played a major role in the green revolution, in recent years there hasn't been any major breakthrough in research. One of the main reason for this is the lack of financial resources.
Over some centuries dependence on agriculture increased heavily because of which civilisations prosper a lot. Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) or Harappan Civilisation (one of the several civilizations during that time period), which was situated on the bank on the river Indus, prosper because farming started producing surpluses. There was no technological advancement in the field of agriculture but people know canal irrigation. In the mean time people began herding and breeding wild animals for domestic use.
Since then till the end of twentieth century, agriculture played a vital role in India's economy and also was one of the largest contributor of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) more than 50% in 1950. Due to the advent of Industrial Revolution in 1700s and 1800s the focus started shifting from agriculture to industries for economic activity all over the world. But in India agriculture remained primary activity.
Because of the achievements of the Indian agriculture in the past, it influenced, in part, for colonisation by many foreigners. Just before the independence the condition of agriculture in India was not good. But in the years since its independence, India has made immense progress towards its food security, quadrupling its food-grain production. All this is achieved through Green Revolution. The department of Agriculture and Cooperation under Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the development of the agriculture sector in India.
Contribution of Agriculture and its allied activities in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reduced a lot from more than 50% in 1950 to around 17% in 2017, but still it constitutes around 60% of the labour force, which is a skewed figure.
The aim of national food security is achieved but now agriculture is not seeing much growth, the farmers income is also very unstable and low making this sector unprofitable due to which there is major shift from agriculture to other activities. To give stagnant agriculture growth a boost, a shift must be made from concentrating on country's food security to focusing on farmers' income security.
The Indian agriculture, is in a way, a victim of its own past success - especially the green revolution. The green revolution, which is often characterised by the introduction of high-yielding variety of seeds and fertilisers, undoubtedly increased the productivity of land considerably. But the growth in the productivity has been stagnant in the recent years, resulting in a significant decline in the income of the farmers. There has also been negative environmental effects in the form of depleting water table, emission of green house gases and the contamination of surface and ground water. Today, the agriculture sector is in distress, which is severely affecting peasants and marginal farmers and urgent policy interventions are required to protect their interests.
Several Initiatives have been taken the government to address this issue. They are:
1. More Crop, Per Drop: One of the major barrier is the scarcity of two major resources for agriculture - cultivable land and water. While the cultivable land per person is declining because of the fragmentation of farms due to rising population. India also has much less per capita water as compared to other leading agrarian countries. This problem is exacerbated because India has been exporting virtual water embedded in crops, which is marked by its feature of non-replenishment. Once it is exported, it cannot be recovered.
2. Opening up of the markets: The National Agriculture Policy, 2000 stated that the private sector participation will be promoted through contract farming and land leasing arrangements to allow accelerated technology transfer, capital inflow and assured market for crop production. However, there has not been any significant participation by the private sector in agriculture.
3. R&D is the future: One of the major barriers to boosting farm productivity is the lack of new technologies and major breakthroughs. While the National Agriculture `Research System played a major role in the green revolution, in recent years there hasn't been any major breakthrough in research. One of the main reason for this is the lack of financial resources.
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