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Jump to: navigation, search Agriculture in India is one of the most prominent sectors in its economy. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 18.6% of the GDP in 2005 and employed 60% of the country's population[1]. It accounts for 8.56% of Indias exports. About 43% of India's geographical area is used for agricultural activity. Despite a steady decline of its share in the GDP, agriculture is still the largest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic development of India. The monsoons play a critical role in the Indian sub-continent's agriculture in determining whether the harvest will be bountiful, average, or poor in any given year. The entire rainfall in the sub-continent is concentrated in the few monsoon months. Agriculture in India is constitutionally the responsibility of the states rather than the central government. The central government's role is in formulating policy and providing financial resources for agriculture. The government administers prices of essential commodities to protect farmer's interests. It also administers other commodities which are produced by government-controlled companies, like petroleum, coal, nitrogenous fertilizers, etc. Other than these, most agricultural commodity markets operate under the normal forces of demand and supply.
Contents
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1 History of Indian agriculture 2 Agricultural movements o 2.1 Green Revolution o 2.2 Operation Flood 3 Production 4 Agriculture in the Indian states 5 Research
deposits which came down the Indus River in annual floods. This helped sustain farming that formed basis of the Indus Valley Civilization at Harappa. The people built dams and drainage systems for the crops. By 2000 BC tea, bananas and apples were being cultivated in India. There was coconut trade with East Africa in 200 AD. By 500 AD, egg plants were being cultivated.
[edit] Production
India is ranked second in the world in terms of agricultural output. India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. It also has the world's largest cattle population (193 million). India ranks second worldwide in farm output. It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish. It is the third largest producer of tobacco. India accounts for 10 per cent of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota. Given below is a chart of trend of output of cereals and major foodgrains as published[2] by the Department of Food and Public Distribution with figures in tonnes. Year Cereals Rice Wheat Coarsegrains Pulses
13,370,000
13,670,000
Despite high growth, international comparisons reveal that the average yield in India is generally 30% to 50% of the highest average yield in the world.[3] The low productivity in India is a result of the following factors:
Illiteracy, general socio-economic backwardness, reforms and inadequate or inefficient finance and marketing services for farm produce. The average size of land holdings is very small (less than 20,000 m) and are subject to fragmentation, due to land ceiling acts and in some cases, family disputes. Such small holdings are often over-manned, resulting in disguised unemployment and low productivity of labour. Adoption of modern agricultural practices and use of technology is inadequate, hampered by ignorance of such practices, high costs and impracticality in the case of small land holdings. Irrigation facilities are inadequate, as revealed by the fact that only 53.6% of the land was irrigated in 200001,[4] which result in farmers still being dependent on rainfall, specifically the Monsoon season. A good monsoon results in a robust growth for the economy as a whole, while a poor monsoon leads to a sluggish growth.[5] Farm credit is regulated by NABARD, which is the statutory apex agent for rural development in the subcontinent.
In the last few decades several farmers have committed suicide especially in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala. Combating this has become a major challenge for these governments. Some of the causes for the deaths include indebtedness of small and marginal farmers and repeated crop failures. Main article: Farmers' suicides in India
Cardamom plantation, India Kerala produces 96% of national output of pepper. It is also the largest producer of spices which include cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Kerala is also the largest producer of natural rubber in India (91%). The other state producing rubber is Tripura.' 30 percent of Mizoram is covered with wild bamboo forests, and accounts for 40 percent of India's 80-million-ton annual bamboo crop. There has been an economic shift towards agriculture for some states like Bihar after the mineral rich areas were carved out to form the new state of Jharkhand.
[edit] Research
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) established in 1905, was responsible for the research leading to the "Green revolution" of the 1970s. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the apex body in agriculture and related allied fields, including research and education. The Union Minister of Agriculture is the President of the ICAR. The Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute develops new techniques for the design of agricultural experiments, analyses data in agriculture, and specializes in statistical techniques for animal and plant breeding. India is now trying to adopt organic farming, but as per the survey conducted in the year 2006-2007, the total production and the total requirement of organic manures and biofertilizers in India was estimated approximately to be 12.2 million tonnes and 15.7 million tonnes respectively. Hence, the research is now focussing towards minimizing the gap between the supply and the demand of organic manures and biofertilizers. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan is known as "Father of the Green Revolution" and heads the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. He is known for his advocacy of environmentally sustainable agriculture and sustainable food security. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India"