1. Agricultural production in India

2. An increase in agricultural production can result from an increase in area under cultivation (horizontal expansion) and /or from
an increase in the productivity (vertical expansion). Productivity has two aspects to it, viz.,
land productivity and labor productivity.
Food Grains Production

3. Productivity of Indian Agriculture
India with its sizable agricultural sector has to face a number of
problems. Low production and low productivity are at the core of agricultural problem In India. The productivity of
agriculture is relatively low in India compared to other countries with comparable natural environment. There have been
some improvements in recent years. But conditions in agriculture have not changed much. It will be useful to analyze the
factors responsible for the backwardness of agriculture. The factors are classified into
1. Demographic factors
2. General factors
3. Institutional factors and
4. Technologies factors

4. 1. Demographic factors
 The most important demographic factor responsible for low yield in
agriculture is the increasing pressure of population on land.
 With population growth rates being what they are, an increasing addition to the labor force could be expected to be absorbed
in the industrial sector of the economy.
 But the rate of growth in the industrial sector has been far from adequate.
 Consequently, the increasing population has fallen back on land for its
livelihood, with the result that the population pressure has created a number
of problems like fragmentation and subdivision of holdings; the supply of
improved practices and services has always fallen short of requirements. It
has created conditions of unemployment and disguised unemployment. All
these evils, taken together have been responsible for low productivity in
agriculture.

5. 2. General Factors
a)Excess or surplus labor in Agriculture
The main cause for the low agricultural labor productivity is the overcrowding in agriculture. There are many people who depend on
agriculture. As population increases, the pressure on land also increases, because natural increase is not absorbed by the industrial
sector
b) Discouraging Rural climate
 The farmers of India generally are poor, ignorant, superstitious, conservative, and illiterate and bound by outmoded customs and
institutions such as the caste system and the joint family system.
 Superstition and belief in fact are the curses, which keep the farmers fully satisfied with their primitive system of cultivation.
 Except for a small group of farmers, who adopted quickly modern techniques of production, vast majority of farmers are not motivated
by considerations of economic progress

6. c) Inadequate non-farm services
 Indian agriculture has suffered because of the inadequacy of non-farm services such as provision of finance,
marketing etc. All these facilities are inadequate in India.
 Marketing system is defective and costly.
 Modern warehousing is inadequate and indigenous. Storing methods are defective and costly.
 Modern credit facilities are still poorly developed for the farmers. Farmers still depend on moneylenders for their day-
to-day requirements

7. 3. Institutional factors
a) Size of holdings
 The average size of holdings in India is very low. About 80 percent of
the land holdings are less than 2 acres.
 Not only agriculture holdings are small but they are fragmented too. In certain parts of the country, plots of land have become
so small that it is impossible to move even ordinary plough.
 Since the average agricultural holdings are too small, no scientific cultivation with improved implements, seeds etc. are possible.
 Small size of holdings lead to great waste of time, labor and cattle power, difficulty in proper utilization of irrigation facilities,
quarrels and consequent litigation among farmers, wastage of crops in the absence of fencing etc.
 The land tenure system in India has been depressing and disincentive ridden. It has built in features to support
stagnation.
 The main features have been the presence of intermediaries; exploitative owner-tenant relationship; small and
fragmented holdings; and the heavy and ever increasing pressure of population on land.

8. 4. Technological factors
a) Poor inputs and techniques
 The method and techniques of cultivation have been old and inefficient.
 It results in high cost and low productivity. These methods have not undergone any change for centuries.
 The investment in agriculture in the form of manures and fertilizers, improved seeds, irrigation, tools and implements and
other types of assets has been miserably low.
b) Inadequate irrigation facilities
 One of the basic causes for the weakness of Indian agriculture has been that most of the farmers throughout the country
have to depend upon rainfall and very few of them can avail the facilities of artificial irrigation.
c) Indebtedness of the farmers
 It is said that the farmers in India are born in debt, live in debt, die in debt and bequeath debt.
 The causes of their indebtedness are many such as hereditary debt, litigation, want of supplementary incomes and
wasteful social expenditure.
d) Inadequate Research
 Benefit of research and development has not reached all the farmers.

9. Measures to improve agricultural productivity
1.Irrigation potential
 It has been increased through public funding & assisting farmers to create potential on their own farms. The total irrigation
potential in the country has increased from 81.1 million hectares in 1991-92 to 102.8 million hectares in 2006-07.
 only 73.5 % irrigation potential has been created out of which 87.2 million hectares(84.9 %) is actually utilized. The scope of
expanding irrigation through large & medium scale project has yet to be fully exploited.
2.Diversification of agriculture
 Diversification of agriculture to horticulture & other areas is also high on the govt agenda. Besides raising farmer's
income ,this results in better utilization of resources, creation of employment & growth.
 National Horticulture Mission & Mission for Horticulture in the north east & other hilly areas have been set up to promote
horticulture in a mission mode.
3.Exploiting production potential :
 To achieve expected level of productivity, farmer must be guided by experts in respect of soil & water analysis for
adopting the best diversified cropping system ,meticulous adoption of technology (when & how), judicious use of
seeds,fertilisers,pesticides,water,labour & credit.
 supply of inputs must be of standard quality, reasonable priced & timely available. There is need to establish farm inputs &
equipment regulatory & development authority.

10. 4.Rural infrastructure for farm growth:
 There is a positive correlation between infrastructure development & aggregate agricultural productivity.
 rural infrastructure as irrigation water shed development, rural electrification ,roads,markets,credit
institution rural literacy ,agriculture research & extension etc together plays key role in determining output in India.
5.Tecnology application:
 Technology enables the branch to go where the customer is present.
 It helps in reducing operating cost of providing banking services in rural areas & to low income groups.
 National agriculture policy lays emphasis on the rapid development of agriculture in India.
 DAC (dept of agricultural & cooperation )has developed four portals & 40 websites i.e. DACNET,AGMARKNET,DAC & AgRIS.
6. Capital formation in agriculture:
 Productivity in agriculture is also dependent on capital formation both from public & private sectors.
 Gross capital formation in agriculture relative to GDP in this sector has shown an improvement from 9.6% in 2000-01
to 12.5% in 2006-07.but it should be raised to 14 % to achieve a growth of 4% in this sector
7. Crop Insurance
 Productivity in agriculture also depends on various external factors like monsoons ,pests ,diseases ,drought & other
natural calamities .So crops need to be covered under insurance to provide financial support to farmers.
For this we have NATIONAL AGRICULTURE INSURANCE SCHEME.
8. BETTER QUALITY SEEDS:
So we have National Seed Policy 2002 provides the framework for growth of the seed sector.