Indian Agriculture

Indian Agriculture
• Characteristics of Indian agriculture sector:
• Labour market dualism: Wages in agricultural sector is considerably lower than the
manufacturing sector. This leads to a labour market dualism.
• Inability of agricultural labour
to find a job in the modern
sector.
• Cost of moving is very high as
compared to the expected
wage premium.
• Low wages further reduces
productivity.
• Cheap labour leads to adoption
of labour-intensive
technologies.
Indian Agriculture

• Characteristics of Indian agriculture sector:

• Outmoded farming techniques: returns to farmers under outmoded techniques is
very low and the nature of farming is ’subsistence farming’.
• Green revolution changed the scenario in some states like Punjab, Haryana and
Western Uttar Pradesh.

• Fluctuations and instability in crop output:

• 56 per cent of the gross cropped area continues to depend on rainfall.
• Causes inflationary pressure in some primary products
• Reduce potential growth of other sectors by dampening demand
 • Share In National Income

Indian Agriculture
• Role of agriculture in Indian
economy:
• Share In National Income:
declined from 55.3 per cent
in 1951 to 15.96 per cent in
2019.
• Share of agriculture in
national income is taken as
indicator of economic
development.
• Largest employment
providing sector:
Developing countries are
heavily dependent on
agriculture
Indian Agriculture

• Role of agriculture in Indian economy:

• Provision of food surplus to the expanding population
• Income Elasticity of demand for foodgrains is very high in developing countries
• Lack of food grains can lead to a crisis.
• Production has increased at an annual growth rate of 2.68 per cent since 1960-61.
Indian Agriculture

• Role of agriculture in Indian economy:

• Providing raw materials to industries
• Industries like jute, sugar, cotton, textile, food processing industries.
• Market for industrial products
• Increase in rural purchaisng power is a stimulus to industrial development
• Need for increasing rural income which can be increased by increasing productivity.
• Importance in international trade
• Cotton textiles, jute and tea account for more than 50 per cent of export earnings in
agricultural sector
Indian Agriculture
• Policies for agricultural and rural development
• Technological measures
• Measures to increase production of high-yielding varieties of seeds, fertilizers and
pesticides within the economy and supplement domestic production by imports.
• Land reforms
• Minimize intermediary interests in land and transfer of land to actual tiller of the soil
• Tenancy reforms
• Regulate rents paid by the tenants to the landlords.
• Provide security of tenure to tenants
• Imposition of ceilings on holdings in a bid to procure land for distribution among
landless labourers and marginal farmers.
• Co-operation and consolidation of holdings
• Consolidation avoids wastage of land and energy employed in cultivation and enables
the farmer to practise scientific techniques of production.
• Reap the benefits of large scale farming