Indian Agriculture

INTRODUCTION #

Although agriculture now accounts for only 14 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it is still the main source of livelihood for the majority of the rural population. As such rapid growth of agriculture is critical for inclusiveness. Important structural changes are taking place within the sector and there are definite signs of improved performance. Agricul- tural growth has accelerated compared to the Tenth Plan and diversification is proceeding. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data brings out that rural labourers are shifting to non-agricultural work, tightening the labour market in agriculture and putting pressure on farm wages. However, depend- ence on agriculture remains unchanged among the rural self-employed whose average farm size con- tinues to decline with population growth. This is also an ageing, more feminised population, whose educated young members are less likely to want to stay in farming. The viability of farm enterprise, mostly small farms, must therefore be a special area of Plan focus in the Twelfth Plan. The Plan must also focus on other priorities such as resource-use efficiency and technology to ensure sustainability of natural resources, adaptation to climate change and improvements in total factor productivity.

Agriculture has been a way of life and continues to be the single most important livelihood of the masses. Agricultural policy focus in India across decades has been on self-sufficiency and self-reli- ance in foodgrains production. Considerable progress has been made on this front. Foodgrains production rose from 52 million tonnes in 1951-52 to 244.78 million tonnes in 2010-11. The share of agriculture in real GDP has fallen given its lower growth rate

relative to industry and services. However, what is of concern is that growth in the agricultural sector has quite often fallen short of the Plan targets. During the period 1960-61 to 2010-11, foodgrains production grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 2 per cent. In fact, the Ninth and Tenth Five Year Plans witnessed agricultural sectoral growth rate of 2.44 per cent and 2.30 per cent respectively compared to 4.72 per cent during Eighth Five Year Plan. During the XI Five Year plan, agriculture growth is estimated at 3.28 per cent against a target of 4 per cent.

India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper, and has the world’s largest cattle population (281 million).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% of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota. India’s population is growing faster than its ability to produce rice and wheat.

GREEN  REVOLUTION #

The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds after 1965 and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, which provided the increase in produc- tion needed to make India selfsufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India.

The adoption of HYVs occurred quickly. By 1970, about 20 percent of the wheat area and 30 percent of the rice area in country was planted to HYVs, and by 1990, the share had increased to about 70 percent for both crops.

Yields of rice and wheat virtually doubled. Higher yields and profitability also led farmers to increase the area of rice and wheat they grew at the expense of other crops. And with fastergrowing vari- eties and irrigation, they grew more crops on their land each year. These changes more than doubled cereal production in India between 1970 and 1995.

Poor infrastructure, high transport costs, limited investment in irrigation, and pricing and marketing policies that penalized farmers made the Green Rev- olution technologies too expensive or inappropriate for much of the country masses.

Impact of Green Revolution #

Like other developing countries, Green Revolu- tion has influenced the economy and way of life in India to a great extent as is evident as is from the following points:

1. Increase in agricultureal Production: The introduction of Green Revolution in 1967- 68 has resulted in phenomenal increase in the production of agricultural crops especially in foodgrains. From 1967 onwards, the Green Revolution aimed at bringing about a Grain Revolution. The production wheat increased by more than three times between 1967-68 and 2003-04 while the overall increase in the production of cereals was only two times. On account of this reason, it is said that the Green Revolution in India is largely the Wheat Rev- olution.
2. Prosperity of Farmers: With the increase in farm production the earnings of the farmers also increased and they became prosperous. This has, especially, been the case with big farmers having more than 10 land.
3. Reduction in import of foodrgrains: The main benefit of Green Revolution was the in- crease in the production of foodgrains, as a result of which there was a drastic reduction in their imports. We are not self sufficient in foodgrains and have sufficient stock in the central pool. Sometimes we are in a position to export foodgrains also. The per capita net availability of foodgrains has also increased from 395 grams per day in early 1950s to the level of 436 grams in 2003, this inspite of the

rapid increase in population. In the words of Dantwala, Green Revolution had given a breathing time. As a result, there will be relief from anxiety of food shortage and the planners will concentrate more on Indian planning.

• Capital Farming: Big farmers having more than 100 hectares of land have tended to get the maximum benefit from Green Revolu- tion technology by investing large amount of money in various inputs like HYV seeds, fertilizers, machine, etc. This has encouraged capitalistic farming.
• Ploughing back of profit: The introduction of Green Revolution helped the farmers in raising their level of income. Wiser farmers ploughed back their surplus income improv- ing agrucultural productivity. This led to fur- ther improvement in agriculture. According to a study conducted by Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana farmers plough back about 55 per cent of their income for agricul- tural progress.
• Industrial Growth: Green Revolution brought about large scale farm mechanisation which created demand for different types of machines like tractors, harvestors, thresh- ers, combines, diesel engines, electric mo- tors, pumping sets, etc. Besides, demand for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insectivides, weedicides, etc. also increased considerably. Consequently, industries producing these items progessed by leaps and bounds. More- over, seceral agricultural products are used as raw materials in various industries. These industries are known as agro based industries. Textile, sugar, vanaspati, etc. are some out- standing examples of agro based industries.
• Rural Employment: While on one hand, large scale unemployment was feared due to mechanization of farming with the intro- duction of Green Revolution technology in India, there was an appreciable increase in the demand for labour force due to multiple cropping and use of fertilizers. According to Gobind Thukral, “Green Revolution has gen- erated lakhs of new jobs in Punjab. Almost 15 lakh poor people from the impoverished re- gions of Bihar eastern Uttar Pradesh and Oris-

sa work here they not only earn their bread and butter, but take back home new ideas and technology”. As per findings of Bhalla and Chadha in respect of Punjab, “ The drive towards mechanization was caused mainly by the scarcity of labour and relatively high wage rate especially during peak agricultural operations.” During the last few years, a large number of farm labours have migrated from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh to Punjab where they find better opportunities of earn- ing a livelihood.

• Change in the Attitude of Farmers: The In- dian farmer had remained illiterate, backward and traditional and had been using conven- tional methods of cultivation since the ear- ly times. But Green Revolution has brought about a basic change in his attitude towards farming. The way has readily adopted the Green Revolution technology are available, no farmer denies their effectiveness. The de- sire for better farming methods and a better standerd of living is growing not only among the relatively small number of affluent farm- ers using the new technology, but also among countless farmers still from outside looking in.

Demerits or Problems of Green Revolution #

Green Revolution is a unique event in the agri- cultural history of Independent India. This has saved us from the disasters of hunger and starvation and made our peasants more confident than ever before. But it has its own inherent deficiency segments. Ever since its inception, the income gap between large, marginal and small farmers has increased, gap between irrigated and rainfed areas has widened and some crops have benefited more than the others, sometimes even at the cost of other crops. It is neither product-neutral nor region-neutral and leaves uneven effects of growth on products, regions and classes of people. This has given birth to a plethora of socio-economic problems. According to Radha Krishna Rao. “The spiraling prices of fertilizers, the tendency to use them frequently and the stagnant wheatand rice yields in Punjab and Haryana have combined to confirm that Green Revolution has reached ripened old age”. The fatigue of the Green Revolution is already visible. Still the man lacuna

in the Green Revolution is that up till now it is an unfinished task. Some of the demerits or problems of Green Revolution are briefly discussed as under :

1. Inter-Crop Imbalances: The effect of Green Revolutions primarily felt on foodgrains. Al- though all foodgrains including wheat, rice, jowar, bajra and maize have gained from the Green Revolution, it is wheat which has benefited the most. It has areas from coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds. The HYV seeds in latter crops have either not been developed so far at all, or they are not good enough for farmers to risk their adoption. Consequently, their cultivation is fast becoming uneconomic and they are often given up in favour of wheat or even rice. The result is that an excess of production in two main foodgrains (wheat and rice) and shortages in most others today prevail side by side. Major commercial crops like cotton, jute, tea and sugarcane are also slmost untouched by the Green Revolution. The rate of growth in production of pulses has declined from 1.39 per cent per annum in the pre-Green Revolution period to only

0.79 per cent annum during the period from

1967-68 to 1994-95. This is not good for a balanced growth on Indian agriculture. Cen- tral Government has taken some steps to re- move these imbalances.

• Regional Disparties: Green Revolution technology has given birth to growing dispar- ties in economic development at inter and in- tra regional levels. It has so far affected only 40 per cent of the total cropped area and 60 per cent is still untouched by it. The most af- fected areas are Punjab, Haryana and West- ern Uttar Pradesh in the north and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the south. It has hardly touched the Eastern region, including Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa and arid and semiarid areas of Western and South- ern India. In short, Green Revolution affected only those areas which were already better placed from agricultural point of view. Thus the problem of regional disparities has further aggravated as a result of Green Revolution. The ratio between the lowest and highest yield-rates among the states for the 1975-78

period amounted to 1 : 3.2 in paddy, 1 : 3.7 in

wheat, 1 : 3.4 in cereals, 1 : 3.2 in pulses, 1 :

3.2 in food grains, 1 : 3.0 in oilseeds, 1 : 3.2

in sugarcane, 1 : 4.9 in cotton and 1 : 1.6 in jute. Study of some sample surveys recently conducted by the Indian Agricultural Statis- tics Research Institute (IASRI) revealed that the single most important factor is the ‘input differential’ which alone can explain extreme yield variation seven under similar physical and cultural conditions. According to a study by Bhalla and Alagh, 69 districts with a rela- tively high productivity levels account for 20 per cent of the cultivated area and 36 per cent of output, consume 44 per cent of fertilizers, employ 50 per cent of tractors and 45 per cent of irrigation pumps and have 38 per cent of India’s gross irrigated are.

Regional disparties in crop yields can be re- duced by evolving suitable disease resistant high-yield strains of paddy for most eastern parts and by developing irrigation facilities and a suitable dry farming technology for the arid and semi-arid western and southern re- gions.

• Increase in Inter-Personal Inequalities: It has been observed that it is the big farmer hav- ing 10 hectares or more land who is benefited the most from Green Revolution because he has the financial resources to purchase farm implements, better seeds, fertilizers and can arrange for regular supply of irrigation wa- ter to the crops. As against this, the small and marginal farmers do not have the financial re- sources to purchase these farm inputs and are depreived of the benefits of Green Revolution Technology. There were about 1,053 lakh holdings in Indian in 1990-91 out of which only 1.6 per cent exceeded 10 hectares n size. Francine R. Rankel has concluded from his study of Ludhiana (Paunjab), West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), Palghat (Kerala) and Bardhaman (West Ben- gal) that the greater beneficiaries are those farmers who own 10 to 12 hectares of land. Similar conclusion was drawn by G.R. Saini from his study of Ferozepur (Punjab) and Muzaffarnagar (U.P.). G.S. Bhallal and G.K.

Chadha have found out that Green Revolu- tion has benefited the farmers in general but one-third of them are small farmers with 2.5 acres of land and are living below poverty line. Another 24.0 per cent of the farmers own 2.5 to 5.0 acres of land and they are also lining below poverty line. The land holdings are generally small in rice producing areas and the economic position of the farmers liv- ing in those areas is extremely miserable. In short, Green Revolution has made the rich richer and rendered the poor poorer resulting in widespread social and economic tensions.

• Unemployment: Except in Punjab, and to some extent in Haryana, farm mechanization under Green Revolution has created wide- spread unemployment among agricultural labourers in the rural areas. The worst hit are the poor and the landless people.
• Other Problem: Agriculture under Green Revolution has not grown at a rate which was expected in the beginning. The differ- ential rates of growth of different crops and their regional variations have already been discussed. Some scholars have expressed serious doubts about the capability of HYV seeds itself. Analysing the role played by mir- acle seeds in the Green Revolution, Vandana Shiva says that the term HYV is a misomer. In acutality, these seeds are highly responsive to certain key inputs such as fertilizer and ir- rigation and as such they should have been called highly resonsive varieties. Shiva says that there is increasing evidence that the in- digenous varieties could also be high yielding given the required doses of inputs. Accord- ing to Shiva, “the inevitability of the Green Revolution option was built on neglecting the other avenues for increasing production that is more important such as improving mixed cropping systems, improving indige- nous seeds and improving the effiency of use of local resources.” Vandana Shiva further comments that “having destroyed nature’s mechanisms for controling pests through the destruction of diversity, the ‘miracle seeds’ of the Green Revolution became mechanisms for breeding new pests and creating new

diseases”. In a case study of Punjab, M.K. Sekhon and Manjeet Kaur of P.A.U. Ludhi- ana have warned against the excessive use of groundwater, chemical fertilizers and pesti- cide. This will lead to large scale depletion of groundwater and will adversely affect the health of soil.

Suggestions for Strengthening of Green Revolution: Following suggestions are put forward for sustainability of Indian Agriculture and for the stability of Green Revolution in India.

1. Wider Area: So far Green Revolution has af- fected only 40 per cent of the culturable area in India. The remaining parts especially the eastern region and larger parts of peninsu- lar India (except Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) are still unaffected by Green Revolu- tion. These areas need to be covered by Green Revolution Technology so that agricultural pro- duction in India as a whole is increased and at the same time regional disparties are removed.
2. More Crops: The greatest benefit drawn from the Green Revolution is that by wheat, although rice is also benefited to some ex- tent. Other crops such as cotton, jute, tea and sugarcane are not affected by it and pulses and oilseeds have suffered at the hands of Green Revolution. These crops should also be brought under the canvas of Green Revo- lution. A greater input of research and devel- opment is required in this connection.
3. Irrigation: Green Revolution has left greater impact in areas which were better served by irrigation facilities. About 2/3rd of the total cropped area is still without proper irrigation. There is an urgent need to extend irrigation facilities to these areas for the success of Green Revolution. Minor irrigation schemes especially tube-wells can play an important role in this direction.
4. Small Farmers: About 85 per cent are small farmers in Indian who are almost entirely de- prived of the benefits of Green Revolution. Rather they have suffered a lot because they lost employment opportunities dut to mech- anisation of farming. These poor farmers should be helped in all possible ways if we

want Indian agricultural development to real- ly become a mass movement.

• High Yields: Though there has been a tre- mendous increase in yields of some crops as a result of introduction of HYV seeds and oth- er farm inputs; they are still much less when compared with the world’s best. Therefore, there is still a large scope of increasing the yields. Moreover, the possibility of increas- ing area under cultivation has been almost ex- hausted and the only way to increase produc- tion is to lay more stress on increasing yields.
• Intensity of cropping: Intensity of cropping is the ratio of gross croppped area to the net sown area.

In 1999-2000, total cropped area was 189.7 million hectares and net sown area was 142.2 mil- lion hectares. Thus the intensity of cropping comes out to 134.3. Cropping intensity varies from 100 per cent in Mizoram to 194.43 per cent in Punjab (1991-2000). Next to Punjab is West Bengal (174%), Himachal Pradesh (173%), followed by Haryana (169%), and Uttar Pradesh (151%). It is higher than the national average in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, and Manipur, Sikkim, Bihar and Orissa. It is low and very low in the states of peninsular plateaus. The densely populated northern plains. Coastal plains and deltas, which are irrigated or are favoured by sufficient rainfall, are marked with high intensity of cropping. Very low and low intensities predominate in the hilly, arid, semi-arid and semi-humid lands of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and north eastern hilly states where soils are light or heavy and irrigation facilities are absent or negligible.

The index of the intensity of cropping depends upon the extent of area sown more than once. Higher the extent of area sown more than once higher will be the intensity of cropping. In other words, intensity of cropping is the indicator of the efficiency of land use. Higher the index of intensity of cropping higher is the efficiency of land use. The main factors influencing intensity of cropping are irrigation, fertilizer, early-maturing high-yielding varieties of seeds, mechanization of agriculture and plant protection measures through the use of insecti- cides, pesticides and weedicides. The availability of water for irrigation ensures the use of higher doses

of fertilizers which, in turn, reduces the extent of fallow land. The quickripening varieties of seeds help in taking more than one crop from the same field in one agricultural year.

Intensity of cropping increased from 110 per cent in 1950-51 to 134.3 per cent in 1999-2000. This means that even now only 34.3 per cent of the net sown area is used for raising more than one crop in a year. This is too small compared to 90 per cent in China and 40 per cent in Bangladesh. Therefore, there is much scope for increasing the intensity of cropping.

WHITE REVOLUTION #

Operation Flood was a rural development pro- gramme started by India’s National Dairy Develop- ment Board (NDDB) in 1970. One of the largest of its kind, the programme objective was to create a nationwide milk grid. It resulted in making India the largest producer of milk and milk products, and hence is also called the White Revolution of India. It also helped reduce malpractices by milk traders and merchants. This revolution followed the Indian Green Revolution and helped in alleviating poverty and famine levels from their dangerous proportions in India during the era.

Operation Flood’s objectives included: #

• Increase milk production (“a flood of milk”)
• Augment rural incomes
• Fair prices for consumers

List of other agricultural revolution
Black Revolution	Petroleum production
Blue Revolution	Fish production
Golden Fiber Revolu- tion	Jute Production
Grey Revolution	Fertilizer production
Pink Revolution	Onion production/ Phar- maceu-tical (India)/ Prawn production
Red Revolution	Meat & Tomato production
Round Revolution	Potato production
Silver Fiber Revolution	Cotton production
Silver Revolution	Egg/Poultry production
White Revolution	Milk/Dairy production (In India – Operation Flood)

Yellow Revolution	Oil Seeds production
Evergreen Revolution	Overall development of Agriculture

AGROFORESTRY #

The land management patterns in India vary from area to area depending upon land character- istics and the climate. The land has a limited-pop- ulation supporting capacity, beyond that there will be degradation and irreversible loss of productivity because of improper and excessive use. Agroforestry systems hold promise to provide such sustainable land management. The production of food grains, fruits, fodder, fuelwood, timber etc. can be obtained simultaneously through these systems.

The total production- mix can be selected depending upon the area, climate, demand etc. Agroforestry is a way to reduce the existing pres- sure on the forest. The practice is very old, but the term is definitely new and for the last one decade it has taken a scientific approach. The need is for diversification of agriculture to reduce the risk of crop failure due to uncertainty of weather conditions and erosion hazards. People raise trees, crops and animals traditionally on the same farm. This practice of mixed farming has developed over centuries for meeting most of the requirements of family.

Agroforestry is a collective name for land use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same piece of land management unit as agricultural crops and/or animals in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agro forestry, there are both ecological and economical interactions between the different components. In simple terms, agriculture is a land use system where agricultural crops are grown for the production of food grains, fodder, etc. Forestry, on the other hand, is land use system where forest trees, shrubs etc. are grown for the production of wood, fodder and other benefits. Agroforestry is a hybrid of both land use systems where the object is to obtain yield of grains, fodder, fuelwood, fruit, wood and other benefits.

Advantages of Agro-forestry #

There is serious concern over degradation of environment. Serious adverse ecological manifes- tation, increase of carbon-dioxide (CO2) in the

atmosphere, global warming, serious soil losses, repeated droughts, floods and serious pollution, etc. are the results of dwindling forest resources. An agroforestry system helps to increase the tree cover. It also makes available to people the required quantity of timber, fruit, fuel-wood, fodder etc. for which they traditionally depend on forests.

Thus, this system helps in reducing the pressure on forests and helps in conservation and develop- ment. Different areas are gravely under the threat of pollution. Air, water and noise pollution are com- mon. Trees guard from distinct kinds of pollutants. The best safeguard against landslides is through agroforestry i.e. mixed forests and grasses. This requires careful selection of tree species, grasses etc. Agroforestry systems maintain soil fertility through recycling of nutrients and prevent soil erosion and loss of nutrients through leaching and runoff. Reduc- tion in erosion and surface run off helps in reducing flood damage. Many leguminous tree species fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and return much more in leaf-fall than they take from the soil. Leaves of the trees could be used as green manure and help the farmer in increasing soil fertility.

Agroforestry system is therefore helpful in maintaining land productivity at optimum levels over a long period of time. These systems constitute sustainable land management. These systems are capable of meeting the demands of raw materials of several agricultural and forest based industries. Some of the industries e.g. paper and pulp mills, sports goods, furniture, saw mills, etc. are meeting requirements from forestry and agroforestation pro- duce. Poplar has been widely cultivated in the Tarai area of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and is being used by several industries, e.g., match splints, plywood, packing cases etc.

Such systems improve the productivity of plants and animals since they are based on sustainable land management and maximum utilisation of natural resources, to increase the ecological and economic benefits.

Various Forms of Agroforestry #

• Silvipastoral System: In this system of sus- tainable land management, improved pasture crops are grown along with tree species.

• Agri-Silvipastoral System: This system is the result of the union between silvipastoral and agri-silvicultural systems. Under this sys- tem, the same unit of land is managed to get agricultural and forest crops where farmers can also rear animals.
• Agri-Horticultural System: If agricultural crops are grown along with fruit trees, the system is referred to as agri-horticultural system.
• Silvi-Horticultural System: In this system, tree species are managed to get timber, fuel wood etc. and horticultural crops are grown in the interspace.
• Silvi-Horti-pastoral System: A combination of tree species, horticultural crops and grasses are practiced in this system. The three combi- nations are based on the principle that each of its components draws nutrients from different layers of soil.
• Silvi-Agri-Sericultural System: This is a very complex system of agro-forestry. In this system, crops/vegetables are grown along with tree species (silk host plants). The lar- val excreta are good manure for the crops/ vegetables.
• Silvi-Agri-Lac Cultural System: In this system, crops are grown along with lac host plants. It is very common in Chota Nagpur plateau of Jharkhand.
• Horti-Silvi-Agri-Apicultural System: The land is managed for concurrent production of flowers, crops and honey. Flowering plants often favour increases of parasites and pred- ators of crop pests and thus an anti-regulatory bio-control system operates here.
• Multi-Storeyed Agroforestry System: This system is managed by the combination between cultural practices and the natural processes of vegetation production and reproduction. It represents a profitable pro- duction system and constitutes an efficient buffer between villages and forests. This is common in coastal parts of Southern India where coconut is grown with black pepper and tapioca (cassava).

• Aqua-Agri-Hortipastoral System: In this system, fruit trees are planted on the terraced land around the water tanks, ponds, etc. and crops (agricultural and pastoral) are grown in the interspace. The fallen leaves of trees enrich the pond nutrients for fish.

SERICULTURE #

Sericulture is an agro-based industry. It involves rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk, which is the yarn obtained out of cocoons spun by certain species of insects. The major activities of sericulture comprises of food plant cultivation to feed the silkworms which spin silk cocoons and reeling the cocoons for unwinding the silk filament for value added benefits such as processing and weaving. India has the unique distinction of being the only country producing all the five kinds of silk – Mulberry, Eri, Muga, Tropical Tasar and Temperate Tasar.

Sericulture Activities #

• Moriculture: Cultivation of mulberry plants is referred to as Moriculture. It is an agricultural activity. In Tamil Nadu, mulberry cultivation is mainly taken up in irrigated condition. Flat, deep, fertile, well drained loamy and clay loamy with good moisture holding capacity soil is ideal for mulberry cultivation.
  • Silkworm Rearing: Silkworm Rearing is considered to be an agro based cottage indus- try since it involves mulberry cultivation. Silkworms are reared for the production of “cocoons” which is the raw material for silk production. The farmers rear silkworms and produce cocoons. By marketing the cocoons the farmers earn money. It is ideally suited for the rural areas of Sericulture States. Silk- worms are reared in well ventilated rearing shed following shoot rearing method.
  • Silk Reeling: Extraction of silk filament from cocoons by employing a set of processes is known as silk reeling. Presently silk reeling is done using three types of reeling devices viz. Charka, Cottage basins and Multi-end basins. Poor quality cocoons can be reeled economically on charka. About 50% of silk produced is of charka and about 35 – 40% is

at cottage basins and a small quantity of silk is from multiend reeling. The silk obtained out of the reeling process is referred to as “Raw Silk”.

• Silk Weaving: The raw silk cannot be directly used for weaving. The raw silk is to be twisted before they are fed into looms. The operation of conversion of raw silk into twisted silk, is termed as twisting. The twisted silk is referred to as Ready Silk. Twisting is undertaken either by separate entrepreneurs or by the weavers themselves. The silk weav- ing is done either on handlooms or power looms. The traditional silk sarees and dhoties are made on handlooms whereas the printed sarees, dress materials, etc., are made on power looms.

Eco- Friendly Activity #

• As a perennial crop with good foliage and root-spread, mulberry contributes to soil con- servation and provides green cover.
  • Waste from silkworm rearing can be recycled as inputs to garden.
  • Dried mulberry twigs and branches are used as fuel in place of firewood and therefore reduce the pressure on vegetation/ forest.
  • Being a labour intensive and predominantly agro-based activity, involvement of smoke emitting machinery is minimal.
  • Developmental programmes initiated for mulberry plantation are mainly in upland areas where un-used cultivable land is made productive.
  • Mulberry can also be cultivated as intercrop with numerous plantations.
  • Mulberry being a deep-rooted perennial plant can be raised in vacant lands, hill slopes and watershed areas.
  • Currently, only about 0.1 % of the arable land in the country is under mulberry cultivation.

DRY ZONE FARMING #

Dry zone agriculture basically belongs to fragile, high risking and low productive agricultural eco-sys- tem. This spreads over those areas of country where

annual amount of rainfall is less than 75cm. Dry lands cover about 22%of country’s area. More than three-fifth of Rajasthan and one – fifth of Gujarat and some areas of Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka come under dry lands. Due to low productivity it grows jowar, bajra, maize, cotton, groundnut, pulses and oilseeds.

Problems of dry zone agriculture: #

• Here rainfall is scarce and uncertain which makes the region susceptible to draughts and famines
  • Here soil is sandy which lacks nutrient mate- rials for soil fertility.
  • The area is prone to problem of soil erosion.
  • Low yield and more susceptible to pests and diseases.
  • Fields are scattered and the use of new farm machineries lacking.
  • These areas lack infrastructural facilities as transport, market, storage etc. With the growing emphasis on food security of the masses need of the hour is to launch second green revolution related to coarse grains and oilseeds which should be based on organic farming methods to counter the drawbacks of first green revolution.

LAND RESOURCES OF INDIA #

Major Land Forms of India
1.	Plain	43%
2.	Mountain & hills	30%
3.	Plateau	27%

The utilization of land depends upon physical factors like topography, soil and climate as well as upon human factors such as the density of popula- tion duration of occupation of the area, land tenure and technical levels o the people.

Net Sown Area #

1. Agriculture land means cultivated area it includes net cropped area and fallow lands. Cropped area in the year under consideration in called net sown area.
2. India stands seventh in the world in terms of

total geographical area but second in terms of cultivated land.

• Net sown area to total geographical area var- ies from state to state.
• Net shown Area is 46%.
• Percentage wise Punjab and Haryana are high- est and Arunachal Pradesh is Lowest (3.2%).
• Area wise largest Net shown area- Mad- hya Pradesh- Maharashtra-U.P- Rajasthan- Andhra Pradesh- Karnataka.

Culturable Waste #

Culturable Waste’ is the land available for cul- tivation but not used for cultivation for one reason or the other.

1. It is not being used at present due to such con- straints as lack of water, salinity or alkalinity of soil.
2. of total area of Goa is Culturable waste.
3. Rajasthan has maximum culturable waste- land about 36% followed by Gujarat M.P, U.P., and Maharashtra.

Land not available for cultivation #

This can be classified in two types:

• Land put to non-agricultural use.
• Barren and uncultivable land.

These areas cannot be brought under plough except at high input cost with possible low returns. In India land not available for cultivation is 13.8 percent. The largest areas in this category Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan. M.P, Gujarat, U.P. Bihar.

Permanent Pastures and other grazing land #

1. About 4 percent of total area, Grazing takes place mostly in forest and other uncultivated land where pastures are available.
2. Permanent pastures land- Himachal Pradesh,

M.P. Karnataka, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.

Land under tree crops and groves #

1. Land under tree crops and groves include all cultivable land which are not included in net shown area, but have been put to some aqua- culture use.

• Land State wise tree crops- Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka.

Agricultural Development in India

Strategy of Development #

• During partition about one-third of the irri- gated land in undivided India went to Paki- stan. This reduced the proportion of irrigated area in Independent.
  • After Independence, the immediate goal of the Government was to increase foodgrains production by (i) switching over from cash crops to food crops; (ii) intensification of cropping over already cultivated land; and

(iii) increasing cultivated area by bringing cultivable and fallow land under plough.

• Agricultural production stagnated during late 1950s.
  • To overcome this problem, Intensive Agricul- tural District Programme (IADP) and Inten- sive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP) were launched.
  • New seed varieties of wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) known as high yielding varieties (HYVs) were available for cultiva- tion by mid-1960s.
  • India took advantage of this and introduced package technology comprising HYVs, along with chemical fertilizers in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
  • Assured supply of soil moisture through irrigation was a basic pre-requisite for the success of this new agricultural technology.
  • This strategy of agricultural development paid dividends instantly and increased the food grains production at very fast rate. This spurt of agricultural growth came to be known as ‘Green Revolution’.
  • But green revolution was initially confined to irrigated areas only. This led to regional disparities in agricultural development in the country till the seventies, after which the technology spread to the Eastern and Central parts of the country.
  • The erstwhile Planning Commission of India

initiated agro-climatic planning in 1988 to induce regionally balanced agricultural devel- opment in the country.

• It also emphasized the need for diversification of agriculture and harnessing of resources for development of dairy farming, poultry, hor- ticulture, livestock rearing and aquaculture.
  • Initiation of the policy of liberalisation and free market economy in 1990s is likely to influence the course of development of Indian agriculture.
  • Lack of development of rural infrastructure, withdrawal of subsidies and price support, and impediments in availing of the rural credits may lead to inter-regional and inter

-personal disparities in rural areas.

Growth of Agricultural Output and Technology #

• India ranks first in the production of pulses, tea, jute, cattle and milk. It is the second largest producer of rice, wheat, groundnut, sugarcane and vegetables.
  • Expansion of irrigation has played a very crucial role in enhancing agricultural output in the country. It provided basis for introduc- tion of modern agricultural technology such as high yielding varieties of seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and farm machinery.
  • The net irrigated area in the country has increased from 20.85 to 54.66 million ha over the period 1950-51 to 2000-01.
  • Consumption of chemical fertilizers in India was 91 kg which was equal to its average consumption in the world (90 kg).
  • But in the irrigated areas of Punjab and Har- yana the consumption of chemical fertilizers per unit area is three to four times higher than that of the national average.
  • Since the high yielding varieties are highly susceptible to pests and diseases, the use of pes- ticides has increased significantly since 1960s.

Problems of Indian Agriculture #

1. Dependence on Erratic Monsoon
   1. Irrigation covers only about 33 per cent of the cultivated area in India.

• Poor performance of south-west Monsoon also adversely affects the supply of canal water for irrigation.
  • Even the areas receiving high annual rainfall experience considerable fluctuations.
  • This makes them vulnerable to both droughts and floods.
  • Drought is a common phenomenon in the low rainfall areas which may also experience occasional floods.

2.   Low productivity #

The yield of the crops in the country is low in comparison to the international level.

Per hectare output of most of the crops such as rice, wheat, cotton and oilseeds in India is much lower than that of U.S.A., Russia and Japan.

Because of the very high pressure on the land resources, the labour productivity in Indian agricul- ture is also very low in comparison to international level. The vast rainfed areas of the country, par- ticularly drylands which mostly grow coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds have very low yields.

3.    Constraints of Financial Resources and Indebtedness #

• Lack of Land Reforms
  • Indian peasantry had been exploited for a long time as there had been unequal distribution of land.
  • Among the three revenue systems operational during British period i.e. Mahalwari, Ryot- wari and Zamindari, the last one was most exploitative for the peasants.
  • Lack of implementation of land reforms has resulted in continuation of inequitous distri- bution of cultivable land which is detrimental to agricultural development.

5.  Small Farm Size and Fragmentation of Landholdings #

• More than 60 per cent of the ownership holdings have a size smaller than one (ha).
  • Average size of land holding is shrinking further under increasing population pressure.

• The land holdings are mostly fragmented. There are some states where consolidation of holding has not been carried out even once.
  • The small size fragmented landholdings are uneconomic

6.   Lack of Commercialization #

• A large number of farmers produce crops for self-consumption.
  • Most of the small and marginal farmers grow foodgrains, which are meant for their own family consumption. Modernisation and commercialisation of agriculture have how- ever, taken place in the irrigated areas.

7.   Vast Under-employment #

• There is a massive under-employment in the agricultural sector in India, particularly in the un-irrigated tracts.
  • There is a seasonal unemployment ranging from 4 to 8 months. Even in the cropping season work is not available throughout, as agricultural operations are not labour intensive.

8.   Degradation of Cultivable Land #

• One of the serious problems that arises out of faulty strategy of irrigation and agricultural development is degradation of land resources.
  • This is serious because it may lead to deple- tion of soil fertility. The situation is particu- larly alarming in irrigated areas. A large tract of agricultural land has lost its fertility due to alkalisation and salinisation of soils and waterlogging.
  • Excessive use of chemicals such as insecti- cides and pesticides has led to their concen- tration in toxic amounts in the soil profile.
  • Leguminous crops have been displaced from the cropping pattern in the irrigated areas and duration of fallow has substantially reduced owing to multiple cropping. This has oblite- rated the process of natural fertilization such as nitrogen fixation.
  • Rainfed areas in humid and semi-arid tropics also experience degradation of several types like soil erosion by water and wind erosion which are often induced by human activities.