Agriculture s Role in Indian Economy Features of Indian agriculture (a) The average size of agricultural holdings is still very

small and uneconomic al to cultivate the national average being around 1.69 hectares. Because of thes e uneconomic holdings, there is a great hindrance to the developmental programme of agriculture. (b) India has the largest irrigated area of the cultivated land. Still the facil ities of irrigation are available only on 30 percent area of our cultivated land 60 to 65 percent of the cropped area being rainfed. (c) Indian farmers grow a wide variety of crops both food crops and commercial o r cash crops. Yet a very large portion of our crops consist of food grains. (d) Agriculture in India depends on the monsoon rains, which are uncertain, irre gular and inequitably distributed. Artificial irrigation is very essential for g rowing various crops. (e) There are mainly two crop-seasons in India Rabi (November to April) and Khar if (June to October). An extra-crop known as "Zayad" is also grown after the kha rif crop in the months of April May and June. (f) The average productivity of crops is very low in comparison to several other agriculturally well developed countries of the world. (g) Indian agriculture is predominantly of the subsistence type. About 72.3 perc ent of the total cultivated area is devoted to food crops and yet the country is just self-sufficient in its food requirements. Role of agriculture in Indian economy Agriculture is the main sector of Indian economy which is amply powered by the f ollowing points:1. Share in National Income: The contribution from agriculture has been con tinuously falling from 55.1% in 1950-51 to 37.6% in 1981-82 & further to 18.5% i n 2006-07. But agriculture still continues to be the main sector because it prov ides livelihood to a majority of the people. 2. Largest Employment Providing Sector: in 1951, 69.5% of the working popul ation was engaged in agriculture. This percentage fell to 66.9% in 1991 & to 56. 7% in 2001. However, with rapid increase in population the absolute number of pe ople engaged in agriculture has become exceedingly large. 3. Provision of Food Surplus to the Expanding Population: Because of the he avy pressure of population in labor-surplus economies like India & its rapid inc rease the demand for food increases at a fast rate. Therefore, unless agricultur e is able to continuously increase its surplus of food-grains, a crisis is likel y to emerge. Experts foresee that by the end of 11th five year plan (i.e., 20112012), the demand for food-grains is expected to increase to 280.6 million tons. Meeting this demand would require 2% growth per annum. The challenge facing the country is clear as during the last 10 years the food-grains have been growing at a meager 0.48%. 4. Contribution to Capital formation: There is a general agreement on the i mportance of Capital Formation in economic development. Unless the rate of Capit al Formation increases to a sufficient high degree, economic development cannot be achieved. Agriculture can play a big role in pushing the Capital Formation in India. Rural sector can transfer labor & capital to the industrial sector which can be effectively used to increase the productivity in the latter. 5. Providing Raw Material to industries: Agriculture provides raw materials to various industries of national importance. Sugar industry, Jute industry, Co tton textile industry, Vanaspati industry are examples of some such industries w hich depend on agriculture for their development. 6. Market for Industrial Products: Since more than two-thirds of the popula tion of India lives in rural areas, increased rural purchasing power is a valuab le stimulus to industrial development. 7. Importance in International Trade: Agriculture constitutes about 15% of the total exports of the country. Such is the importance of agriculture as far a s earnings of foreign exchange are concerned.

8. Development of tertiary sector Tertiary sector provides helpful services to the industries and agriculture like banking, warehousing etc. Internal trade is mostly done in agricultural produce . For example, various means of transport get bulk of their business by the move ment of agricultural goods. 9. International importance Our agriculture has brought fame to the country. India enjoys first position in the world as far as the production of tea and groundnuts are concerned. 10. Internal trade agriculture plays a important role in the internal trade. It is because of the f act that 90% of our population spends 60% of their income on the purchase of the items like food, tea, milk etc. Prof. Gunnar Myrdal has rightly remarked, "It is the agricultural sector that th e battle for long term economic development of India will be won or lost." IN fact the prosperity of agriculture is the prosperity of Indian economy. We sh ould not build industries at the cost of agricultural land. Causes for Low Productivity of Indian Agriculture The causes for low productivity of Indian agriculture can be divided into 3 broa d categories, namely, (1) General factors, (2) Institutional factors and (3) Tec hnological factors. 1. General Factors (a) Overcrowding in Agriculture: The increasing pressure of population on land is an important demographic factor responsible for low yield in agriculture. The area of cultivated land per culti vator has declined from 0.43 hectare in 1901 to 0.23 hectare in 1981 despite an expansion of area under cultivation. Hence, agricultural sector has become overc rowded and this has adversely affected the agricultural productivity. (b) Discouraging Rural Atmosphere: The Indian farmers, living in rural areas are generally tradition-bound, illiterate, ignorant, superstitious and conservative . Their attitude of apathy and neglect keeps the system of cultivation primitive . The farmers are not prepared to accept anything new as a consequence of which modernization of agriculture becomes difficult. (c) Inadequate non-firm Services: Shortage of finance, marketing and storage facilities are also responsible for a gricultural backwardness in India. The co-operatives and other institutional age ncies have not been able to eliminate the village money lenders. Storage facilitie s for farmers are not still available to preserve their agricultural product for a better price. (d) Natural Calamities: Indian agriculture is a gamble in the monsoon. If monsoon becomes favorable, we have a good crop; otherwise agriculture is affected by drought, flood and cyclon e. 2. Institutional Factors (a) Size of Holding: The small size of holdings in India is an impediment in the way of progressive a griculture. The average size of holdings in India is less than 2 hectares. In ca se of very small firms, it is difficult to introduce new technology. Further, du e to fragmentation of holdings a great deal of labour and energy is destroyed in cultivation. (b) Pattern of Land Tenure: The agrarian structure in India is not conducive for a progressive agriculture. The tendril relationships were such that the big landlords used to have a consid erable influence on their respective areas. The actuarial cultivator had known i ncentive for improvement and more production. Though the zamindari system has be en abolished, absentee landlordism still prevails; heavy rents are still extract ed and there is no security of tenancy. Under these circumstances, it is unwise to expect any remarkable increase in agricultural productivity due to the apathe

tic attitude of the tillers of the land. 3. Technological Factors (a) Poor Technique of Production: The technique of production adopted by Indian farmers is old, outdated and ineff icient. The tradition-bound poor farmers have not yet been able to adopt the mod ern methods to get the best yield from their land. The seeds they use are of poo r quality and the age- old, traditional wooden plough still exists in Indian agr iculture. The farmers do not enjoy the benefits of agricultural research and dev elopment programmes. They consider agriculture as a way of life rather than a bu siness proposition. Therefore, production remains at a low level. (b) Inadequate Irrigational Facilities: Indian agriculture is a gamble in monsoon due to non availability of irrigation fa cilities. In spite of several measures, irrigation has not substantially increas ed in India. Measures to Improve Productivity: The F.A.O. has suggested following measures to increase the productivity of Indi an agriculture: 1. The farmers should be provided with a stable price for their agricultural pro ducts at a remunerative level. 2. There should be an expansion of adequate marketing facilities to sell the agr icultural product. 3. The land tenure system should be changed in favour of the cultivator. 4. There should be a provision of cheap credit on reasonable terms especially to small farmers for better techniques of production. 5. The modern inputs like fertilisers. Pesticides and improved seeds should be m ade available to the farmers at reasonable prices. 6. There should be provisions of education, research and extension of agro-econo mic services to spread the knowledge of improved methods of farming. 7. The State should make provision for the development of resources which are no t possible in the part of individual farmers e.g. large scale irrigation, land r eclamation or resettlement projects. 8. There should be an extension of land used and intensification and utilisation of land already in use through improved and scientific implements.