agriculture in india report

8/9/2019 agriculture in india Report

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A REPORT ON

AGRICLTURE IN INDIA

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

GROUP-6

DR. RAJ AGGARWAL

ANKUSH KUMAR

HUNISH KUMAR

NIDHI KAPRI

PIYUSH SINGH

SHIVAM MISHRA


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SWETA SINGH

CONTENT

1.INTRODUCTION2.FACTS AND FIGURE OF INDIAN

AGRICULTURE

3.INDIAS POSITION IN WORLDAGRICULTURE

4.AGRO-BASED INDUSTRY5.INDIAN JUTE INDUSTRY6.INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY7.INDIAN SUGAR INDUSTRY8.INDIAN FERTILIZER INDUSTRY9.INDIAN PESTICIDE INDUSTRY10. MILESTONE IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE

11. DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE12. TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE

AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT

13 .NATIONAL AGRICULTURE POLICY 2000

14. AGRICULTURE GROWTH IN INDIA SINCE

1991

15. INDIAN AGRICULTURE: SWOT ANALYSIS


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INTRODUCTION

Agriculture in India is the means of livelihood of almosttwo thirds of the work force in the country. It has alwaysbeen INDIA'S most important economic sector. The1970s saw a huge increase in India's wheat productionthat heralded the Green Revolution in the country. Theincrease in post -independence agricultural production

has been brought about by bringing additional area undercultivation, extension of irrigation facilities, use of betterseeds, better techniques, water management, and plantprotection. Dependence on India agricultural imports inthe early 1960s convinced planners that India's growingpopulation, as well as concerns about nationalindependence, security, and political stability, requiredself-sufficiency in food production. This perception led to

a program of agricultural improvement called the GreenRevolution, to a public distribution system, and to pricesupports for farmers. The growth in food-grain productionis a result of concentrated efforts to increase all theGreen Revolution inputs needed for higher yields: betterseed, more fertilizer, improved irrigation, and educationof farmers. Although increased irrigation has helped tolessen year-to-year fluctuations in farm production

resulting from the vagaries of the monsoons, it has noteliminated those fluctuations.

Non traditional crops of India, such as summer mung (avariety of lentil, part of the pulse family), soyabeans,peanuts, and sunflowers, were gradually gaining


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importance. Steps have been taken to ensure an increasein the supply of non-chemical fertilizers at reasonableprices. There are 53 fertilizer quality control laboratoriesin the country. Realizing the importance of Indianagricultural production for economic development, thecentral Government of India has played an active role inall aspects of agricultural development. Planning iscentralized, and plan priorities, policies, and resourceallocations are decided at the central level. Food andprice policy also are decided by the central government.Thus, although agriculture in India is constitutionally theresponsibility of the states rather than the centralgovernment, the latter plays a key role in formulatingpolicy and providing financial resources for agriculture.Expansion in crop production, therefore, has to comealmost entirely from increasing yields on lands already insome kind of agricultural use.

The monsoons, however, play a critical role in Indianagriculture in determining whether the harvest will be

bountiful, average, or poor in any given year. One of theobjectives of government policy in the early 1990s was tofind methods of reducing this dependence on themonsoons.

FACTS AND FIGURES OF INDIAN

AGRICULTURE

y India has the largest area in the world under pulsecrops .


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y India is the first in the world to evolve a cottonhybrid.

y India has the world's highest percentage of arableland to the total geographical area, in the world.

yAbout 50% of India's geographical area is used foragricultural activity. With the spread of irrigationfacilities, the introduction of high yielding variety ofseeds and farm mechanization, the vulnerability ofthe Indian agricultural sector to the vagaries of themonsoons has declined, compared to earlier.

yAbout 80 percent of India's farmland is used to growIndia's main foods--grains and pulses, the seeds ofvarious pod vegetables, such as beans, chickpeas,and pigeon peas.

y India has the world's largest cattle and buffalopopulation. These animals are not butchered formeat, but farmers keep cattle and water buffaloesfor plowing and for milk. Most commercial milkproduction comes from water buffaloes. Hides from

cattle and water buffaloes are used for leather afterthe animals have died. Sheep are raised mostly forwool and sheepskin.

yDairy accounts for nearly 26% of the total value ofagricultural output. India has the world's secondhighest production of milk. India possesses 26 goodbreeds of cattle and six breeds of buffaloes. India'scattle is renowned the world over for its quality of

endurance and resistance to tropical diseases.y India grows more than half of the world's mangoes

and leads all countries in the production of cashews,millet, peanuts, pulses, sesame seeds, and tea.

yThe nation ranks second in the production ofcauliflowers, jute, onions, rice, sorghum, and sugar


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cane.y India is a major producer of apples, bananas,

coconuts, coffee, cotton, eggplants, oranges,potatoes, rapeseeds, rubber, tobacco, and wheat.

y India is also the world's largest grower of betel nuts,which are palm nuts chewed as a stimulant by manypeople in tropical Asia. It is also a leading producerof such spices as cardamom, ginger, pepper, andturmeric.

y In terms of gross fertilizer consumption, India ranksfourth in the world, after the USA, the erstwhileUSSR and China.

y India lives mainly in its villages, 600,000 of them.yAgriculture provides livelihood to about 65% of

India's labour force

yAgriculture contributes nearly 33% to India's GrossDomestic Product (GDP)

yAgriculture accounts for about 10% of India'sexports.

y The farmers and their families use most of theircrops. Half of all Indian farms are less than 2.5 acres(1 hectare) in area. Only 4 percent cover more than25 acres (10 hectares). About two-thirds of thefarmers in India own their own land. Most of theirfarms become smaller and smaller with eachgeneration because of inheritance customs.


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Indias position in world Agriculture

RANK

Total Area SeventhIrrigated Area FirstPopulation SecondEconomically Active population SecondTotal Cereals Third

Wheat SecondRice SecondCoarse grains fourthTotal Pulses FirstOil Seeds SecondFruits and Vegetables SecondImplements (Tractors) ThirdMilk FirstLive Stock (castles, Buffaloes) First


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AGRO-BASED INDUSTRY

The agro industry is regarded as an extended arm ofagriculture. The development of the agro industry can helpstabilise and make agriculture more lucrative and createemployment opportunities both at the production andmarketing stages. The broad-based development of theagro-products industry will improve both the social andphysical infrastructure of India. Since it would causediversification and commercialization of agriculture, it willthus enhance the incomes of farmers and create foodsurpluses.

The agro-industry mainly comprises of the post-harvest activities of processing and preserving agriculturalproducts for intermediate or final consumption. It is a well-recognized fact across the world, particularly in the


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context of industrial development that the importance ofagro-industries is relative to agriculture increases aseconomies develop. It should be emphasized that food isnot just produce. Food also encompasses a wide variety ofprocessed products. It is in this sense that the agro-industry is an important and vital part of themanufacturing sector in developing countries and themeans for building industrial capacities.

Indian Jute Industry

The Indian jute industry is an integral part of theIndian Textile Industry. India jute industry is an oldindustry and it is predominant in the eastern part ofIndia. The jute industry in India engages around 2.6lakh workers directly and around 1.4 lakh workersindirectly in the allied sectors.

Further, India jute industry contributes to the nationalexchequer from exports and through taxes and levies.The central government owns 6 jute mills, the stategovernment owns 4, 2 are under cooperatives, and 64

jute mills are under private ownerships. India hasaround 78 jute mills and the eastern state of WestBengal alone has around 61 jute mills. 7 jute mills arelocated in Andhra Pradesh, 3 each in Utter Pradesh andBihar and 1 each in Orissa, Assam, Tripura, and MadhyaPradesh. In the financial year 2006-07 (April-


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y Flexible textile manufacturing systemsWeaknesses of Indian Jute Industry are as follows -

y Imports of cheap and alternative textiles fromother Asian neighbors

y Use of outdated manufacturing technologyy Poor supply chain managementy Huge unorganized and decentralized sectory High production cost

Indian Textile Industry

Until the economic liberalization of Indian economy,the Indian Textile Industrywas predominantlyunorganized industry. The opening up of Indianeconomy post 1990s led to a stupendous growth of thisindustry.

India Textile Industry is one of the largest textileindustries in the world. Today, Indian economy islargely dependent on textile manufacturing andexports. India earns around 27% of the foreignexchange from exports of textiles. Further, India TextileIndustry contributes about 14% of the total industrialproduction of India. Furthermore, its contribution to thegross domestic product of India is around 3% and thenumbers are steadily increasing. India Textile Industryinvolves around 35 million workers directly and itaccounts for 21% of the total employment generated in


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the economy.

Strengths of Indian Textile Industry are as follows -

y Huge textile production capacityy Efficient multi-fiber raw material manufacturing

capacityy Large pool of skilled and cheap work forcey Entrepreneurial skillsy Huge export potentialy Large domestic markety Very low import contenty Flexible textile manufacturing systems

Weaknesses of Indian Textile Industry are asfollows -

y Increased global competition in the post 2005trade regime under WTO

y Imports of cheap textiles from other Asianneighbors

y Use of outdated manufacturing technologyy Poor supply chain managementy Huge unorganized and decentralized sectory High production cost with respect to other Asian

competitors

The Ministry of Textiles under the Government of India

has taken some significant steps to arrest theseproblems. It has framed "The National Textile Policy2000" to address the aforesaid issues. This policy aimsat negating these problems and increasing the foreignexchange earnings to the tune of US$ 50 billion by theyear 2010. It includes rational road-maps for the


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development and promotion of all the sectors involveddirectly or indirectly with the textile industry of India.Further, the policy also envisages to bring theunorganized decentralized textile sector (whichaccounts for 76% of textile production) at par with theorganized mill sector. Furthermore, the policy also aimsat introducing modern and efficient manufacturingmachineries and techniques in the Indian textile sector.

Indian sugar industry

India has been known as the original home of sugar andsugarcane. Indian mythology supports the above fact asit contains legends showing the origin of sugarcane.India is the second largest producer of sugarcane next toBrazil. Presently, about 4 million hectares of land isunder sugarcane with an average yield of 70 tonnes perhectare.

India is the largest single producer of sugar includingtraditional cane sugar sweeteners, khandsari and Gurequivalent to 26 million tonnes raw value followed byBrazil in the second place at 18.5 million tonnes. Even inrespect of white crystal sugar, India has ranked No.1position in 7 out of last 10 years.

Traditional sweeteners Gur & Khandsari are consumedmostly by the rural population in India. In the early1930s nearly 2/3rd of sugarcane production was utilised


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for production of alternate sweeteners, Gur & Khandsari.With better standard of living and higher incomes, thesweetener demand has shifted to white sugar. Currently,about 1/3rd sugarcane production is utilised by the Gur& Khandsari sectors. Being in the small scale sector,these two sectors are completely free from controls andtaxes which are applicable to the sugar sector.

The advent of modern sugar processing industry in Indiabegan in 1930 with grant of tariff protection to theIndian sugar industry. The number of sugar millsincreased from 30 in the year 1930 - 31 to 135 in the

year 1935-36 and the production during the same periodincreased from 1.20 lakh tonnes to 9.34 lakh tonnesunder the dynamic leadership of the private sector.

The era of planning for industrial development began in1950-51 and Government laid down targets of sugarproduction and consumption, licensed and installedcapacity, sugarcane production during each of the Five

Year Plan periods. The targets and achievements duringvarious plan periods are given below.

Indian Fertilizer Industry

India is primarily an agriculture based economy. Theagricultural sector and its other associated spheresprovide employment to a large section of the country'spopulation and contribute about 25% to the GDP.The Indian Fertilizer Industry is one of the allied


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sectors of the agricultural sphere. India has emerged asthe third largest producer of nitrogenous fertilizers. Theadoption of back to back Five Year plans has paved the

way for self sufficiency in the production of food grains.In fact production has gone up to an extent that there isscope for the export of food grains. This surplus hasbeen facilitated by the use of chemical fertilizers.

The large scale use of chemical fertilizers has beeninstrumental in bringing about the green revolution inIndia. The fertilizer industry in India began its journey

way back in 1906. During this period the first SingleSuper Phosphate (SSP) factory was established inRanipet in Chennai. It had a capacity of producing 6000MT annually. In the pre and post independence era acouple of large scale fertilizer units were establishednamely the Fertilizer Corporation of India in Sindri, Biharand the Fertilizer & Chemicals Travancore of India Ltd inCochin, Kerala.

The Indian government has devised policies conduciveto the manufacture and consumption of fertilizers.Numerous committees have been formed by the Indiangovernment to formulate and determine fertilizerpolicies. The dramatic development of the fertilizer

industry and the rise in its production capacity haslargely been attributed to the favorable policies. This hasresulted in large scale investments in all three sectorsviz. public, private and co-operative.

At present there are 57 large scale fertilizer units. These


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manufacture an extensive range of phosphatic,nitrogenous and complex fertilizers. 29 of these 57 unitsare engaged in the manufacturing of urea, while 13 of

them produce Calcium Ammonium Nitrate andAmmonium Sulphate. The remaining 20 fertilizer plantsmanufacture complex fertilizers and DAP. There are alsoa number of medium and small scale industries inoperation, about 72 of them. The following tableelucidates the installed capacity of each sector.

Indian Pesticides Industry

Agriculture is the lynchpin of the Indian economy.Ensuring food security for more than 1 bn Indianpopulation with diminishing cultivable land resource is a

herculean task. This necessitates use of high yieldingvariety of seeds, balance use of fertilisers, judicious useof quality pesticides along with education to farmers andthe use of modern farming techniques. It is estimatedthat India approximately loses 18% of the crop yieldvalued at Rs.900 bn due to pest attack each year. Theuse of pesticides help to reduce the crop losses, provideeconomic benefits to farmers, reduce soil erosion and

help in ensuring food safety & security for the nation.

The Indian pesticide industry with 85,000 MT ofproduction during FY 07 is ranked second in Asia (behindChina) and twelfth globally. In value terms, the size ofthe Indian pesticide industry was estimated at Rs.74 bn


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for 2007, including exports of Rs.29 bn.

globally, due to consolidation in the industry, the top fiveglobal MNCs control almost 78% of the market. In India,the industry is very fragmented with about 30-40 largemanufacturers and about 400 formulators.

The per hectare consumption of pesticide is low in Indiaat 381 grams when compared to the world average of500 grams. Low consumption can be attributed tofragmented land holdings, low level of irrigation,dependence on monsoons, low awareness among farmersabout the benefits of usage of pesticides etc. India, beinga tropical country, the consumption pattern is also moreskewed towards insecticides which accounted for 64% ofthe total pesticide consumption in FY07.

MILESTONES IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE

1. GREEN REVOLUTION (1968): Green Revolutionrefers to the transformation of agriculture that began in1945. One significant factor in this revolution was theMexican government's request to establish anagricultural research station to develop more varieties of

that could be used to feed the rapidly growing populationof the country.The associated transformation hascontinued as the result of programs of agriculturalresearch, extension, and infrastructural development.These programs were instigated and largely funded bythe Rockefeller Foundation, along with the Ford


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Foundation and among other major agencies. The GreenRevolution allowed food production to keep pace withworldwide population growth. The Green Revolution hashad major social and ecological impacts, making it apopular topic of study among sociologists.

2. EVER-GREEN REVOLUTION (1996): In India,farming is part of our culture. Seventy per cent of ourpopulation--700 million people--are engaged in farming.Half the world's farmers live in India or China: everyfourth farmer is Indian. Famines were recurrent in Indiabefore Independence. Between 1870 and 1900,according to British records, 30 million people died ofhunger and starvation. Nearly three million people diedin the great Bengal famine--in what is now Bangladeshand India--at the time of Independence.

After Independence, both Nehru and Indira Gandhi laidgreat emphasis on bringing more land under irrigation, inorder to insulate our farming from being `a gamble.

3. BLUE REVOLUTION (WATER,FISH): During 2othcentury, due to the more focus towards water revolutionand fishery, there was sharp rise in the praduction ofagriculture sector. New types of fertilizer and seeds wasused and every resource was fully utilized.

4. WHITE REVOLUTION: Operation Flood was a ruraldevelopment programme started by India's NationalDairy Development Board(NDDB) in 1970. One of thelargest of its kind, the programme objective was tocreate a nationwide milk grid. It resulted in making India


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the largest producer of milk and milk products, andhence is also called the White Revolution of India. Italso helped reduce malpractices by milk traders andmerchants. This revolution followed the Indian greenrevolution and helped in alleviating poverty and faminelevels from their dangerous proportions in India duringthe era.

5. YELLOW REVOLUTION: INDIA recorded aspectacular increase both in area under oilseeds as wellas its output, with production doubling from 11 million

tonnes in 1986-87 to 22 million tonnes in 1994-95,thereby justifying the term ``yellow revolution''. Thenear self-sufficie ncy of edible oils was, however, notpalatable to the economic pundits and the so-calledmarket forces. But this was not palatable to the WorldBank. While acknowledging that oilseeds haddemonstrated a rate of growth that exceeds the nationaltrend, it actually called for discarding the policies that

had brought about the positive change.

What the World Bank, however, did not say wasthe selling price of India's oilseeds per tonne wasequivalent to the production cost of one tonne of oilseedsin the US. Moreover, the production cost in the US wouldhave been still higher if the massive amounts of

subsidies that it doles out to its farmers were to bewithdrawn. In fact, it is the US which actually suffersfrom a ``comparative disadvantage'', given the fact thatits subsidies distort the price. The US and, moreimportant, the EU should, th erefore, be importing edibleoil from India every year given its cheap cost of


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production.

6. BIOTECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION: Biotechnology

processes are fundamentally changing the nature of theproducts being produced in the industry. Since 1990when the commercialization of a variety of geneticallymodified (GM) tobacco first appeared in the agri-foodsystem, a host of other GM crops including corn, cotton,soybeans, canola and flax have been released. This bookreviews the global canola sector in order to identifyfundamental trends resulting from the adoption of

biotechnology. It examines the sector over an extendedperiods, looking at its local origins, regional growth andinternational expansion, analyzes public policy affectingcommercialization and estimates the costs and benefitsof changes. It is essential reading for government andindustry researchers and students involved in the areasof agricultural economics, plant biotechnology and cropscience.

7. ICT REVOLUTION: In view of technology/extensiongaps in Indian agriculture and to exploit ICT revolution,International Institute of Information Technology,Hyderabad, A.P., India had developed eSagu model ofextension system and implemented it for the cotton cropin three villages of Oorugonda, Gudeppad and Oglapurcovering 749 farmers and 1041 farms during 2004-05crop season. The main objective is to build a costeffective and scalable agricultural expert advicedissemination system to all the farmers. The three-tiersystem consists of farmers as end users, coordinators asintermediaries to obtain crop status through digital


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photographs and text and communicate the advice to thefarmers. The scientists with knowledge system preparefarm advices.

Development of Indian Agriculture :basicissues

1. Revitalization of Cooperative Institution:Agriculturedevelopment program during the decades of 1970s and 1980saimed at boosting food crop production and productivity. The

successful effort was due to the massive use of agriculturetechnology, supported with specially designed supporting

institutions such as extension institutions, seedproducer institutions controlled by the state, and variouscooperative providing credits from national banks anddistributing agriculture inputs, as well as orchestratedoperations at the field level. In the marketing side, theBoard of Logistics (BULOG), with its operating

organizations at the field level (Depot of Logistics orDOLOG) helped farmer to market their commodity tofurther be distributed to the consumers.

2. Improving Rural Credits: The prospect of amandatory system has brought strong objections fromsmall farmers, who say its cost would be too much forthem, but Vilsack said he had also heard small

producers say this is a good thing. He said thesuggestion of subsidies for small farmers to join thesystem is still up in the air, awaiting conclusion of thelistening sessions. Vilsack and his audience appeared toagree most about the need to educate people outside


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rural areas about their connections to agriculture.

3. Research, Education & Extension: Since 1988, the

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)program has helped advance farming systems that areprofitable, environmentally sound and good forcommunities through a nationwide research andeducation grants program.The national outreach office of the SARE program issupported by the Cooperative State Research, Educationand Extention, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It

operates under cooperative agreements with theUniversity of Maryland and the University of Vermont todevelop and disseminate information about sustainableagriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions orrecommendations expressed here are those of theauthors and do not necessarily reflect the view of theU.S. Department of Agriculture.

4. Human Resources Development: Human ResourceDevelopment is an important factor in capacity buildingand improving the overall efficiency of functionariesinvolved in implementation, monitoring, evaluation,research and extension programmes. Training is a majorcomponent of Human Resource Development. Systematictraining, planning, management and its implementation

by making best utilization of resources available withinthe country helps in bringing about desirable changes inknowledge and upgrade skills of extension functionariesassociated with the process of agriculture development.The training infrastructure has been created to meet out


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the training requirements of all levels of extensionfunctionaries, farm youth and farmwomen. Looking intothe importance of training in capacity building ofextension experts and farmers, this scheme is selectedfor the strengthening of extension services anddissemination of agricultural technology to the farmingcommunity.

5. Trade & Export Promotion: There has been declinein agricultural imports. The agricultural importsdecreased from Rs 22057.49 crore in 2004-05, to Rs

21025.54 crore in 2005-06. The share of agriculturalimports to the countrys total imports has remainedsteady around 3.33 per cent. Imports have registered arelative decline during April-September 2006, when itwas only 2.88 per cent of the countrys total import. Theimport of vegetable oils fixed (edible), pulses,cashewnuts, cotton (raw and waste) and wood productsdominate our agricultural imports. 12.3 Agriculturalexports, on the other hand, have an increasing trend.Indias agricultural exports have increased from Rs39863.31 crore in 2004-05, to Rs 49802.92 crore in2005-06. During the current year (AprilSeptember2006), the value of agricultural exports was worth Rs28157.52 crore compared to Rs 21673.25 crore for thecorresponding period of last year, registering a growth of29.91 per cent. The export of marine products, oil meals,rice, wheat, tea, coffee, cashew and sugar dominate ouragricultural exports.

6. Land Reforms: Pre-independent India had a feudal


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agrarian structure. A small group of large landowners,including absentee landlords had land rights. The vastmajority of cultivators did not have any right or hadlimited rights as tenants or sub-tenants. The poor mostlyleased-in land for subsistence. If the tenants usedimproved seeds, manure or extra labour, they had toshare half of the increased produce with the landlords.When India became independent, policy makers felt thesystem of cultivation by tenants had to be overhauled asit was highly exploitative.The result was tenancy reforms which aimed to eitherabolish tenancy or regulate tenancy to ensure fixedtenure, fair rent etc. The whole point of tenancy reformswas to enable the poor tenants to cultivate their landmore efficiently and improve their incomes. However theimpact of tenancy reforms varied from state to state andfrom region to region. During the past two decades orso, the state of Karnataka in southern India tried toconfer occupancy rights to tenants.

Technologies for sustainable agriculture

development

1. BIO-TECHNOLOGY: Genetic engineering can beused to modify the genetic compositions of plants,

animals, and microorganisms. The number of genes thathave been isolated and are available for transfer isgrowing daily. Currently, the technology is used primarilyto modify crops, although a number of other applicationsare in the wings. Like other products, geneticallyengineered products undergo a period of research and


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development before they are ready for commercialrelease. Many products never emerge from the researchand development pipeline. While this is true for almostany technology, genetic engineering is turning out to bemore difficult and more expensive than early proponentsexpected. Although in the early 1980s biotechnology wastouted as a miracle technology that was going to usherin a new era of agricultural abundance with minimalharm to the environment, the initial set of products hasproved modest. Some of the most important commercialapplications of biotechnology are discussed below.

2. PRE & POST HARVESTING TECHNOLOGY: thecommercial production of mushroom started during latesixties on an experimental basis by Dr.E.F.K.Mantel, anAgricultural Scientist under FAO Programme. The Collegeof Agriculture, Solan took the lead and provided initialresearch facilities. Amarinder Singh was the pioneergrower to venture in the field. The raw materials usedwere wheat straw, spent brewer's grain from Solandistillery, wheat bran, super phosphate, murate of potashand urea. The spawn was provided by agriculturecollege, Solan, and spent mushroom compost, sand, sawdust and loamy soil formed the casings. Around earlyseventies some growers of Chail and Kasauli producedfew hundred kgs. of mushroom per day which wascanned by TEGS Mushroom.

3. ENERGY SAVING TECHNOLOGY: The westernregion is an important strategic base of energy in China.The average per capita possession of fossil energy in the


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west is twice that in China. On the basis of the analysisof the mechanism how industrial structure adjustmentaffects energy consumption per unit of gross domesticproduct (GDP), the energy input-output table of westernChina was designed and compiled. Combiningmultiobjective planning techniques, setting energy-saving, economic growth, and laborer's income growthas the goals, setting basic input-output relations,production capacity, and labor as the constraints, themultiobjective optimization model of western energyinput-output was constructed. The results of industrialstructure optimization of western China show that: withtechnology and product price remaining unchanged, theadjustment of the industrial structure can reduce energyconsumption per unit GDP by 2.7%, at the same timeensuring the average annual increase of GDP andlaborer's income of western region in excess of 8%. Itindicates that industrial structure adjustment is aneffective method in accomplishing the aim of energy

saving. Finally, policy suggestions from four angles, suchas industrial chain and financial policies, were putforward.

4. ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY:One of this century s major challenges is to intensifyfood production as environmentally friendly andsustainable as possible. The concept of sustainability alsoincludes recycling of waste. Complex problemsparticularly arise on the periphery of densely populatedareas where competing forms of land use have to bebalanced (e.g. settlement, recreation, waste disposal). Inattempts to handle these problems we not only have to


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consider:scientific, technical, socio-economic, political and legalaspects.

5. INFORMATION AND COMM. TECHNOLOGY: TheIndian agricultural sector is leveraging the Informationand Communication Technologies (ICT) to disseminatethe right information at the right time. The cost factor inface-to-face information dissemination and thedifficulties in reaching the target audiences havenecessitated the introduction of ICT in agriculture. This

article discusses the different models related to ICT inIndian agriculture like, Kisan call centers, The Gyandootproject, Bhoomi project, Village knowledge centers, andAGMARKNET. In the end, the article discusses thebarriers and the outlook of ICT in Indian agriculture.

6. INTERNET/INTRANET TECHNOLOGY: The Internet

was officially inaugurated in Vietnam in November 1997.After three years of official linking to Internet, thecountry now has 40,000 Internet subscribers. Theaverage monthly number of new subscribers is 1,500-1,600. In the beginning there were only three accesspoints; now Vietnam has nine direct access points. Inaddition, it has 37 remote access points allowingsubscribers indirect access to the Internet through the

telephone network with the highest modem speed of56Kbit/s. The country now has two international gates inHanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with five international linkingchannels, including two channels to the U.S.A, one toJapan, one to Hong Kong and one to Australia. In


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general, the growth rate of Internet subscribers is quitehigh.

NATIONAL AGRICULTURE POLICY 2000

National Agriculture Policy Aims at above 4 per

cent Growth

y The Government on 28th July 2000 made public aNational Agriculture Policy aimed at catapultingagricultural growth to over 4 per cent per annum by2005. This growth is to be achieved through acombination of measures including structural,institutional, agronomics and tax reforms.

y Privatisation of agriculture and price protection offarmers in the post-QR regime would be part of theGovernment's strategy to synergise agriculturalgrowth. The focus of the new policy is on efficientuse of resources and technology, adequateavalilability of credit to farmers and, protecting them


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from seasonal and price fluctuations. Over the nexttwo decades the policy aims to attain a growth ratein excess of four percent per annum in theagriculture sector.

y Private sector participation would be promotedthrough contract farming and land leasingarrangements to allow accelerated technologytransfer, capital inflow, assured markets for cropproduction, especially of oilseeds, cotton andhorticultural crops.

y Private sector investment in agriculture would beencouraged, particularly in areas like agriculturalresearch, human resource development, post harvestmanagement and marketing.

y In view of dismantling of quantitative restrictions(QRS) on imports as per WTO agreement onagriculture, the policy has recommended formulationof commodity wise strategies and arrangements toprotect farmers from adverse impact of undue pricefluctuations in the world market and promote exports

y Government would enlarge coverage of futuresmarkets to minimize the wide fluctuations incommodity prices as also for hedging their risks. Thepolicy hoped to achieve sustainable development ofagriculture, create gainful employment and raisestandards of living.


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y The Policy envisages evolving a "National LivestockBreeding Strategy" to meet the requirement of milk,meat, egg and livestock products and to enhance therole of draught animals as a source of energy forfarming operations.

y Plant varieties would be protected through alegislation to encourage research and breeding ofnew varieties. Development of animal husbandry,poultry, dairy and aquaculture would receive toppriority.

y High priority would be accorded to evolve newlocation-specific and economically viable improvedvarieties of farm and horticulture crops, livestockspecies and aquaculture. Domestic agriculturemarket would be liberalized.

y The restrictions on the movement of agriculturalcommodities throughout the country would beprogressively dismantled. The structure of taxes onfoodgrains and other commercial crops would bereviewed.

y The excise duty on materials such as farmmachinery and implements and fertilisers used asinputs in agricultural production, post harveststorage and processing would be reviewed.


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y Appropriate measures would be adopted to ensurethat agriculturists, by and large, remained outsidethe regulatory and tax collection system.

y Rural electrification would be given high prioity as aprime mover for agricultural development.

y The use of new and renewable sources of energy forirrigation and other agricultural purposes would beencouraged.

Agricultural Growth in India since 1991

y The period since 1991 has been a turning point for Indianagriculture when the growth in the sector resurgent from

the middle sixties was arrested.

y An across the-board slowing of output and yield growthsince 1991 for the two main groups (Food and Non-food)in Indian crop agriculture was witnessed.

y Shrinking farm size has been one of the reasons for aslowdown in the growth. Smaller holding-size makes it

more difficult for the majority of Indian farms to accessnew technology and adopt more efficient forms ofproduction.

y Thus capital intensive investment also called the 'landimprovement factor' is very likely inconceivable for the


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largest number of Indian farmers today not only due totheir meager asset base but also due to small holdingsize. The slower growth of yield since 1991 may, at leastto an extent, be related to this aspect.

y Along with the shrinking farm sizeenvironmental/ecological stress is also reported for theagricultural sector which is reflected in loss of soilnutrients and declining water availability.

y This contributes directly to potential yield loss that can becompensated, if at all, only via greater expenditure whicheventually increases cost of production which a smallerfarm strapped for credit cannot handle.

y Capital formation in Indian agriculture is undertaken byboth government and the private sector. However, thereis an economic distinction between these. Almost all ofthe public investment is in the nature of a public good,i.e., it is non-excludable, and for that reason unlikely to

be undertaken by the private sector.

y Hence, public investment is a vital input in theagricultural production but it has more or less remainedstagnant since 1991.

y For agricultural production, irrigation is arguably the mostimportant input after seed, and the most important

element of public capital formation. However, growth incoverage of irrigated area in all the main crop categorieshas slowed in the nineties.

y Agricultural economists have long pointed to theimportance of research and extension to the acceleration


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of agricultural growth in the past which enhanceproductivity. Since acreage expansion is more or lessinfeasible the future growth has to come from a rise inproductivity.

y Hence, expenditure is imperative on research andextension front however, public support for expanding theknowledge base for agriculture is shrinking since 1991.Public expenditure on this item is low as a share ofagricultural output in India by international standards.

SECTOR-WISE GDP GROWTH RATES


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Indian agriculture: SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHSRich Bio-diversity


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Arable landClimateStrong and well dispersed research and extension

system

OPPORTUNITIESBridgeable yield cropsExportsAgro-based IndustryHorticultureUntapped potential in the N.E

WEAKNESSFragmentation of landLow Technology InputsUnsustainable Water ManagementPoor InfrastructureLow value addition

THREATSUnsustainable Resource UseUnsustainable Regional DevelopmentImports


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WITH REGARDS

GROUP - 6

agriculture in india report

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