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| Seven decades of Indian agriculture | | | Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
India is an agricultural country. Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi believed that ‘agriculture is the soul of Indian economy’. This is because still about 50% of the population directly or indirectly earns its livelihood from this sector and the sector contributes 14% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. The country is blessed to have all the major climates of the world and all the different types of soil. All the different types of agriculture viz. shifting agriculture, subsistence and commercial agriculture, intensive to extensive agriculture, plantation agriculture and from dry land farming to wet land farming and from hydroponics to urban farming are practiced here. Besides the country is also a biological diversity hotspot with a very rich floral and faunal diverse heritage.
From being dubbed as a ‘begging bowl’ at the time of independence to a ‘bread basket’ now, the agriculture sector in India has made rapid strides. The seven decades since Indian independence present a magnificent picture of the Indian agriculture. As a result of the continuous and untiring efforts of our scientific community together with the policy support from the respective governments of the country, we are now self sufficient in food grains production and have achieved many firsts and distinctions. Although, faced with some serious issues, the farming and farmers of the country have toiled day and night to take the agriculture to new heights. But we have also a long list of unfinished agenda. When the country achieved independence in 1947 there were many who had doubts whether the new nation would survive, but we did it and we managed it robustly.
Today, India is the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on a per capita income basis, India ranked 139th by GDP (nominal) and 118th by GDP (PPP) in 2018.. It ranks 63rd on Ease of doing business index and 68th on Global Competitiveness Report (Global Competitiveness Report, 2018).
With 520-million-workers, the Indian labour force is the world’s second-largest as of 2019. The sector accounts for about 15 percent of the GDP and supports 50 percent of the population. The country has the largest area under cultivation. It is the largest producer of pulses, spices, milk, tea, cashew, jute, banana, jackfruit and many other commodities (FAO). It stands second in production of fruits and vegetables, wheat, rice, cotton and oilseeds.
As per second advance estimates for 2019-20, total food grain production in the country is estimated at record 291.95 million tonnes. Production of wheat during 2019-20 is estimated at record 106.21 million tonnes. It is higher by 2.61 million tonnes as compared to wheat production during 2018-19 and is higher by 11.60 million tonnes than the average wheat production of 94.61 million tonnes (Economic Times). In case of Oilseeds, India
is the fourth largest oil seed producing economy of the world after USA, China and Brazil contributing 6-7% of the global production of vegetable oil and nearly 7% of protein meal. The country ranks first in production of groundnut, second in rapeseed-mustard and fifth in soybean. The total oilseed production in the country during 2018-19 was estimated to be at 31.42 million tonnes which is higher by 1.77 million tonnes than the five years average oilseeds production. The rubber production in the country is also on positive note. India’s natural rubber production grew 9.4% to reach 7.12 lakh tonne in 2019-20. India is also the world’s largest producer and second largest exporter of cotton in the world. The Cotton Association of India (CAI) had estimated the cotton crop to be at 354.50 lakh bales of 170 kilo gram each in the country in 2019-20. Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh AND Tamil Nadu are main cotton growing states in the country.
For pulses, the country is the largest producer with 25% of the global produce, 27% of the global consumption. It has progressed well and had produced 23.40 million tonnes of pulses during 2018-19, but it was still short of domestic demand of 26-27 million tonnes. The gap has to be met through imports. Government has launched many schemes to augment the production of pulses in the country and the country is on track to become self sufficient in pulses production. The country also has the largest livestock population. The 535.8 million livestock in the country constitute 31 per cent of the world’s livestock population and the milk production in the country accounts for 22 per cent of the global produce. The per capita availability of milk in the country stands at 394 gram which is less as compared to 500 to 700 gram in the developed economies. The country stands at fifth position in poultry.
Similarly, the country has made remarkable progress in fishing sector. It has emerged as a major industry employing 14.5 million peoples in the country. India ranks second in aquaculture and third in fisheries production. Fisheries contribute 1.07% of the total GDP of the country. According to a report of NFDB, the total fish production during 2018-19 was 13.70 million tonnes with 65% contribution from inland sector. In case of sericulture, India continues to be the second largest producer of the silk in the world with the country having the unique distinction of being the only country in the world to produce all five kinds of silk viz. Mulberry, Eri, Muga, Tropical Tasar and Temperate Tasar. Among the four varieties of silk produced in 2015-16, Mulberry accounted for 71.8% (20,434 MT), Tasar 9.9% (2,818 MT), Eri 17.8% (5,054MT) and Muga 0.6% (166MT). |
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