Essays

Agriculture in India is the means of livelihood of almost two-third of the workforce in the country. It has always been India's most important economic sector. Before 1947, Indian history was replete with famine, drought and food shortages. Between 1770 and 1880, as many as 27 food scarcities and famines were recorded. At least 20 million lives were lost in India in about 20 famines that had struck since 1850. Much of this loss was because of misplaced colonial policies, which dimed to derive maximum economic gain at the cost of human suffering and misery. After the British had created a transport infrastructure in the first half of the 19th century, they began encouraging farmers to grow crops that could be exported. The boom in export and trade accompanied by rising prices forced farmers to shift to cash crops like cotton, indigo, poppy and sugarcane. The area under food grains subsequently shrank. In other words, efforts to improve agriculture in colonial India were directly linked to the needs of the British industries.

The Green Revolution was aimed at the better-endowed regions. For millions of farmers languishing in the dry lands, constituting more than 70 per cent of the cultivable lands, it continues to be a futile struggle. Despite emphasis on dry land farming during the past several decades, the scenario still remains grim. The undulating topography and the irregular rainfall patterns have combined to aggravate the situation. Out of 141 million hectare of cultivated area, dry land area constitutes 85 million hectare ie 60% of the total cultivated area. The dry lands produce about 42 per cent of the country's food shows that the future of farming lies in these areas. A large quantity of many nutritious crops like wheat, ragi, pulses, fruits, oilseeds grown in the country come from these areas. The poor yields and the fluctuations in production are indications of the scant attention dry lands have received from policymakers and the planners.

The problem of increasing productivity on dry lands has serious socio-economic implications. With every passing year, the gap between the farmer's yields in irrigated areas and in the dry farming regions is widening. One year of drought is enough to push a farmer into a deep well of poverty for another two to three years. Drought is a recurring phenomenon in arid and semi-arid areas. Fifty years after Independence, life for millions of people somehow surviving in the dry lands continues to be worse than ever before. Thus, the 1970s saw a huge increase in India's wheat production that heralded the Green Revolution in the country. The increase in post-independence agricultural production has been brought about by bringing additional area under cultivation, extension of irrigation facilities, use of better seeds, better techniques, water management, and plant protection.

Dependence of India on agricultural imports in the early 1960s convinced planners that India's growing population, as well as concerns about national independence, security, and political stability, required self-sufficiency in food production. This perception led to a program of agricultural improvement called the Green Revolution, to a public distribution system, and to price support system for farmers. The growth in food grain production is a result of concentrated efforts to increase all the Green Revolution inputs needed for higher yields: better seeds, more fertilizers, improved irrigation, and education of farmers. Although increased irrigation has helped to lessen year-to-year fluctuations in farm production resulting from the vagaries of the monsoons, it has not eliminated those fluctuations. Non-traditional crops of India, such as summer mung (a variety of lentil, part of the pulse family), soyabeans. peanuts, and sunflowers, are gradually gaining importance. Steps have been taken to ensure an increase in the supply of non-chemical fertilizers at reasonable prices. There are 53 fertilizer quality control laboratories in the country. Realizing the importance of Indian agricultural production for economic development, the Government of India has played an active role in all aspects of agricultural development. Planning is centralized, and priorities, policies, and resource allocations are decided at the central level. Food and price policies are also decided by the central government. Thus, although agriculture in India is constitutionally the responsibility of the states rather than the central government, the latter plays a key role in formulating policy and providing financial resources for agriculture. Expansion in crop production, therefore, can be done from increasing yields on lands already on some kind of agricultural use.

A recent study by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concludes that there has been hardly any change in the volume of exports. Tariff peaks or high import duties continue to block exports from the developing countries. Tariffs still remain very high, especially in the case of cereals, sugar and dairy products. Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, which were enforced to ensure the quality of imported products, actually continue to be a major barrier in diversifying exports in horticulture and meat products. Selective reduction in tariffs by developed countries has also blocked exports from developing countries. To top it all, only 36 countries (all developed) have the right to impose special safeguards, if agricultural imports distort their domestic market.

There are large disparities among India's States and Union Territories in respect of agricultural performance, only some of which can be attributed to differences in climate or initial endowments of infrastructure such as irrigation. Realizing the importance of Indian agricultural production for economic development, the central government has played an active role in all aspects of agricultural development.  Planning is centralized, and priorities, policies, and resource allocations are decided at the central level. Food and price policies also are decided by the central government. Thus, although agriculture in India is constitutionally the responsibility of the states rather than the central government, the latter plays a key role in formulating policy and providing financial resources for agriculture.

India's topography, soils, rainfall, and the availability of water for irrigation have been major determinants of the crop and livestock patterns characteristic of Indian Agriculture. The monsoons, moreover, play a critical role in determining whether the harvest will be bountiful, average, or poor in any given year. In 2010-11, agriculture sector is estimated to have grown at 5.4%. In 2011 budget, allocation to agriculture under Rashtriya krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) increased from $6,755 crore to $7,860 crore.

In conclusion, if declining food grain production and access to food remain the two biggest problems confronting the country, there must be something terribly wrong with the way we look at the agriculture. With more than 70 per cent. of the population still engaged in agriculture and allied activities and an equal percentage of farmers tilling an average of 0.2 hectares of land and somehow surviving against all odds, the time has come to set the balance .right. Whether we accept it or not, India is gradually moving back to the pre-Green Revolution days of a 'ship-to-mouth' existence, when food was largely imported to feed the hungry. It was the political maturity of the then leadership that led to self-sufficiency on the food front. Few will still question what Jawaharlal Nehru once said, "Everything else can wait, but not agriculture."