MAIN SECTORS OF INDIAN

ECONOMY: AGRICULTURE

ECONOMIC ARNAVAZ K
GRADE IX
APPLICATIONS KAPADIA
MEANING OF AGRICULTURE

The term Agriculture is derived from two words:

• “Agri” meaning field

• “Culture” meaning cultivation

“Agriculture is the art or science of production of

crops and livestock on a farm.”
 ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURE

Share in Importance
Source of Source of
National in industrial
Employment Food Supply
Income development
In 1950-51 – agriculture share
in national income was 59%
Agriculture provides raw
In 1950-51 – agriculture share Agriculture provides food to material to leading industries
in employment was 72% 131 crore people in India like cotton, jute, sugar,
Vanaspati, etc…
In 2016-17 - agriculture share
in national income was 17%

In UK and USA - agriculture

share in national income is 2%
and 3% respectively Small scale industries likes
handloom spinning, oil
In 2016-17 - agriculture share It also provides fodder to 42
milling, rice-threshing,, etc…
in employment was 43% crore cattle in India
also depend on agriculture for
As countries develop, the share their raw material
of agriculture in national
income keeps declining
 ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURE
Importance in
international trade
India’s major exports consist of :
Cereals, tea, coffee, spices, tobacco
We also export agro-based goods like:
jute, cotton, and sugar
These exports bring in invaluable
foreign exchange to pay for imports of
raw materials, machineries, etc…
which are required in the non-
agricultural sector
Source of labour
Internal trade
supply
Internal trade means trade within the
country
Agriculture provides unskilled and
semi-skilled workers in urban areas
for economic activities such as
construction, casual jobs like
richshaw pullers, petty trading
activities, etc…
90% of India’s population spends
about 60% of their income on
purchase of items like food, tea, milk,
sugar, etc..
 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN INDIA
• Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to
inputs.
• Indian Agriculture Productivity is very low in comparison to other countries.
PRODUCTIVITY OF WHEAT IN 2017 (PER HECTARE)
INDIA 3216 KG
CHINA 4995 KG
EGYPT 6516 KG

PRODUCTIVITY OF RICE IN 2017 (PER HECTARE)

INDIA 2550 KG
CHINA 6744 KG
JAPAN 5391 KG
 CAUSES OF LOW PRODUCTIVITY OR PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE: General Factors

Heavy pressure of population on agriculture

Increasing pressure of Per capita cultivated land has
Too many people in India 43% of labour force depends on population on land has led to Size of holdings have decreased declined from 0.43 hectares in
depend on agriculture agriculture for livelihood sub-division and fragmentation with time 1901 to 0.143 hectares in 2014-
of holdings 15

Discouraging Rural Atmosphere

They have blind faith in
Indian farmers are They are bound to Instead of investing their The presence of mutual
social customs, traditions This atmosphere is very
generally illiterate, outdated systems like money for development bitterness and group
and fatalism, which keeps discouraging for
ignorant, superstitious caste system, joint of agriculture, they spend conflicts among them
them satisfied with the agricultural development
and conservative. families, etc.. it on social customs. leads to litigation
old methods of cultivation
 CAUSES OF LOW PRODUCTIVITY OR PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE: Institutional Factors

The average size of land holding in India is very uneconomical

Size of It is less than 2 hectares (or 5 acres) as against 122 hectares in USA

Holdings About three-fourths of the total holdings in India are les than 2 hectares
In certain parts of the country the land holdings are too small and fragmented to cultivate on
Small land holdings lead to wastage of land, labour and capital
These also lead to quarrels and consequent litigation among farmers
As a result of small land holdings, scientific cultivation is not possible

Prior to independence, agricultural productivity was adversely affected by the system of land tenure

Land There was no security for land tenancy

Tenure The tenants could be turned out of the land any time as and when the landlords desired
Rent charged was also very high

System Even today the position of tenants is quite unsatisfactory

They have to pay high rent for the land they cultivate and have no security of tenancy
Due to all this, cultivators do not take much interest in improvement of land to increase agricultural productivity
 CAUSES OF LOW PRODUCTIVITY OR PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE: Technological Factors
Old methods of Lack of irrigation Use of manures and
Lack of good seeds Agricultural finance
production facilities fertilizers
• Indian famers have • Irrigation is essential • Seed is the most • Sufficient use of • Finance is required
been using old for healthy crops important in manure and for purchase of
implements and • At present, nearly agriculture fertilizers enhance seeds, cattle,
tools like wooden 40% of the total • Improved seed is agricultural pumping sets, tube
ploughs, spade, hoe, cultivated land is expensive and not productivity wells, tractors,
sickle, etc… irrigated in India rest affordable for most • Dung is used in threshing machines,
• Modern machines depends on rainfall farmers making manure also etc…
like tractors, which is uncertain it is very cheap and • For finance they
pumping sets, and irregular useful for agriculture farmers mainly
threshing machines, • Indian agriculture is • Most of dung is used depend on village
etc… are widely used hence called ‘Gamble up in fuel in rural money-lenders who
in western countries of Monsoon’ areas always exploit them
• In the absence of • Chemical fertilizers • Money-lenders
irrigation facilities, are short in supply always charge high
Indian farmers are and expensive. They rates of interest and
able to grow only have to be imported cheat the illiterate
one crop in the year and innocent farmers
• Chemical fertilizers
and HYV-Seeds are
not as effective
unless scientific
irrigation technology
is followed
 IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON THE ECOSYSTEM
Meaning of Ecosystem
• An ecosystem or ecological system
can be defined as a group of living
and non-living things which are
interdependent and are found in a
particular type of environment
Components of an
Ecosystem
• Terrestrial Ecosystem – Operates on
land, e.g. forest, desert, grassland
and agro-based ecosystem
• Aquatic Ecosystem – Operates in
water. Further subdivided into fresh
water ecosystem and marine
ecosystem
• Artificial Ecosystem – Man-made
ecosystem like fishery, tanks, dams,
crop lands
 IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES - DESERTIFICATION

Desertification is the washing away of the earth’s top

soil due to various factors largely by human activities.

Production of cash crops for exporting. Settling more

people on a piece of land than required, deforestation,
and bad water management cause desertification
 CAUSES OF DESERTIFICATION
Lack of
Agricultural Over
Overgrazing Deforestation education and
practices cultivation
knowledge

Agricultural
This exhausts To meet the
practices like It destroys the This means that
the soil using up growing
cultivating crops trees that hold measures are
essential population,
in drought prone the soil to the not taken to
nutrients and cattle farming is
areas, reducing land, the ensure that
organic matter increasing
fallow periods, combination of degradation of
needed to grow rapidly. This
indiscriminate this and poorly land is avoided
crops removes the
use of chemical drained and there is
productively. vegetation cover
fertilizers, etc… irrigation judicious use of
The soil is that protects the
to enhance systems turn the natural
unable to soil from
yield, have led to croplands salty resources
recover erosion.
desertification
 IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES - CONSTRUCTION OF DAMS – LOSS OF HABITANT SPACES
Construction of large dams
and hydroelectric projects
has posed a big threat to the
ecosystem
Changes in land use have:
If an ecosystem is destroyed
or changed drastically, the
organisms that live there are
lost forever
• The Idukki Dam over the Periyar River in Kerala has sharply reduced the forest cover
• Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujrat, Narmada Sagar in MP, Tehri in Uttarakhand are damaging the
ecosystems seriously
• During 1951-76, 0.49 million hectares of forest land had been lost due to major river valley
projects
• Destroyed the natural habitat of organisms
• Driven thousands of species of plants and animals to the verge of disappearance.
• About a 100 years ago, the population of tigers in India was 40,000 out of a total of 100,000
tigers in the world
• At the time of independence, india had 24,00 tigers out of a total of 40,000 tigers in the
world
• Today, it is estimated that the total number of tigers in the entire world is between 5,000 to
7,500 with around 3,000 or even less in India
 IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES - LOSS OF TOP SOIL

Overgrazing Tillage Mining

• To meet the needs • Tillage crushes the • Mining is the
of the growing soil, producing large removal of minerals
It contains rich population, cattle amounts of and other
farming is powdery material, materials.
organic matter, Natural factors increasing rapidly thus increasing the • In India, more than
good amount of and agricultural • These animals graze risks of soil erosion. 80,000 hectares of
This is also
mineral practices are on very small pieces • When the raindrops land is under the
The top layer of called soil of land, destroying hit the bare loose stress of mining
nutrients, soil, disturbing the
the soil is the erosion or the vegetation soil, it forms mud, activities
air and top most layer there, which in which easily washes
most fertile degradation of • The mining
microorganisms of soil and turn, causes soil away activities require
land. erosion
which facilitate making the removal of plant
cover
crop production fields infertile (deforestation)
and high yield
 IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES - INDISCRIMINATE USE OF FERTILIZERS AND PESTICIDES

Crops get sunlight as their primary source of energy, water and carbon dioxide as basic food.

They also need inorganic substances like nitrogen, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, sulphur, etc… as nutrients

These, most of the time, are not in sufficient quantities in the soil so they have to be supplied externally through
fertilizers

These fertilizers enhance the growth of the plant and hence the yield, BUT they are synthetic and DO NOT decompose
into the soil.

The indiscriminate use of fertilizers leads to following disadvantages:

• They contaminate surface and ground water and cause water-borne diseases
• The quality of drinking water gets deteriorated due to the disposal of fertilizers into the land
• The fertility of land gets reduced eventually
• It reduces the proportion of organic matter in the soil
• It disturbs the entire ecosystem of lakes/ponds/rivers and underground water due to accumulation of chemical fertilizers in them and in the soil
 MEASURES TO CHECK THE ECOSYSTEM

Instead of
Ponds help to
Minimised Use of Social forestry low-lying land
maintain the Forests help
Proper land use of indigenous Construction is being for township,
underground to restore the
use fertilizers and agricultural of ponds prioritized to forestry is
level around ecosystem
pesticides techniques save trees being
the region
adopted
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE – ORGANIC FARMING

Conventional Agriculture
• Use of pesticides
• Use of chemical fertilizers
• Destruction of balance in soil, air and
water
• Reduction in fertility and quality of
soil

Organic Farming
• Organic Inputs for cultivation
• Animal Manures
• Use of Composts
• Increases Soil Health
• Long Term Fertility of Soil is restored
ORGANIC FARMING – MAIN FEATURES

Organic Farming is a Animal dung, crop

sustainable farming residues, green
system which manure and bio-
maintains long-term fertilizers are the
fertility of the soil major sources of
through the use of nutrients for organic
on-farm inputs farming

It focuses on
It focuses on ecological
maintaining soil (environment
health, rather than friendly) principles
only plant health as the basis for crop
production