1. Is Indian Agriculture a
Policy Disaster?

2. INTRODUCTION
• The word agriculture is the English adaptation of Latin
agricultūra, from ager, "a field", and cultūra, "cultivation"
in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil".
• Agriculture also called farming or husbandry is the
cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms
for food, fiber, biofuel and other products used to sustain
life.
• The history of agriculture dates back thousands of
years, and its development has been driven and defined
by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies

3. INDIAN AGRICULTURE
• Agriculture in India has a significant history. Today, India
ranks second worldwide in farm output.
• Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries
accounted for 13.9% of the GDP in 2011-2012 (at 2004-
2005 prices), about 50% of the total workforce.
• The economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is
steadily declining with the country's broad-based
economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically the
broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in
the overall socio-economic fabric of India

4. • Rice, Coarse cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds, Sugarcane, Cotton, Jute and
Mesta contributes major share in total agriculture production in India.
• The agricultural sector of India has occupied almost 43 percent of
India's geographical area.

5. Role of Agriculture in Indian Economy:-
Agriculture is the main sector of Indian economy which is amply
powered by the following points:-
1) Contribution to National Income :-
From the very beginning, agriculture is contributing a major portion in our
National Income. It contributed 55.1% in 1950-51 to 37.6% in 1981-82 &
further to 18.5% in 2006-07 and 17.9 % in 2008-2009 and to 14.5% in 2009-
2010 and it sharply declined to 13.9% in 2010-2012 .But agriculture still
continues to be the main sector because it provides livelihood to a majority
of the people.

6. 2) Largest Employment Providing Sector:-
In 1951, 69.5% of the working population was engaged in agriculture.
This percentage fell to 66.9% in 1991 & to 56.7% in 2001. However,
with rapid increase in population the absolute number of people
engaged in agriculture has become exceedingly large.

7. 3) Agriculture & Industrial Development :-
Agriculture in India has been the major source of supply of raw materials
to various important industries of the country. About50% of the income
generated in the manufacturing sector comes from the agro-based
industries of the country.
4) Commercial Importance :
Indian agriculture is playing a very important role both in the Internal &
External Trade of the country. Nearly 70% of India’s exports are originated
from agricultural sector. Further , agriculture is helping the country in
earning foreign exchange to meet the required Import Bill of the country.
5) Sources of Government Revenue :
Agriculture is one of the major sources of revenue to both the Central &
the State Government of the country. The Government gets a substantial
income from raising land revenue.
Thus, the agricultural sector is playing a very important role in the
country like India & the prosperity of the Indian Economy still largely
depends on agricultural sector. Agricultural development is the basic pre-
condition of sectoral diversification & development of the economy.

8. PROBLEMS OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE
In spite of dominating among all the sectors, agricultural sector in India
has been subjected to a number of problems. The following are some of the
major problems responsible for the poor state of Indian agriculture :
1) Inequality in Land Distribution :
The distribution of agricultural land in India has not been fair. Rather there
has been a considerable degree of concentration of land holding among
the rich landlords, farmers & money lenders throughout the country. The
vast majority of small farmers own a very small & uneconomic size of
land, resulting in higher cost per unit.
2) Land Tenure System :
The land tenure system practiced in India has been suffering from a lot of
defects. Insecurity in tenancy was a big problem for the tenants, particularly
during the pre-independence period, which still prevails to some extent due
to the presence of absentee landlords & benami transfer of land in various
states of the country

9. 3) Poor Farming Techniques & Agricultural Practices :
The farmers in India have been adopting orthodox & in efficient methods &
techniques of cultivation. It is only in the recent years that the Indian farmers
have been started adopting improved implements in agriculture.
4) Inadequate Use of Inputs :
Indian agriculture has been suffering from inadequate use of inputs like
fertilizers & HYV seeds. Indian farmers are not applying sufficient quantity of
fertilizers on their lands. Moreover, the supply of HYV seeds in the country is
also minimum.
5) Inadequate Irrigation Facilities :
Indian agriculture is still suffering from lack of assured &controlled water
supply through artificial irrigation facilities. Thus, Indian farmers have to
depend much upon rainfall which is neither regular nor even. The proportion
of irrigated land to total cropped area is only about 53% as per 1998-99
reports. Therefore, in absence of assured & controlled water supply, the
agricultural productivity in India is bound to be low

10. 6) Absence of Crop Rotation :
Proper rotation of crops is very much essential for successful agricultural
operations as it helps to regain the soil fertility. As the Indian farmers are
mostly illiterate, they are not very much conscious about the benefits of
crop rotation due to which the land loses its fertility.
7) Lack of Organized Agricultural Marketing :
Indian farmers are facing the problem of low income from their
marketable surplus crops in the absence of proper organized markets &
adequate transportation & communication facilities.
8) Agricultural Indebtedness :
One of the greatest problems of Indian agriculture is its growing
indebtedness. The rural people are borrowing heavy amounts of loans
regularly for meeting their requirements needed for
production, consumption & also for meeting their social commitments.
Due to crop failure, poor income arising out of low prices of crops, the
farmers fall into debt trap & cannot arrange for sufficient money to repay
their debts. Thus, the debt of farmers gradually increases leading to the
problem of rural indebtedness.

11.  LOW AGRICULTURAL PRODUTCIVITY
The condition of Indian agriculture still largely remains backward although it is
considered as the backbone of the Indian economy.
Agricultural productivity which is composed of both productivity of land & labour
as well, is among the lowest in the world. Average yield per hectare in India is
quite below the world average in all crops. It is much lower as compared with
even the yield rates prevailing in less advanced countries of the world.
 CAUSES OF LOW AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ININDIA
Factors which are responsible for this backwardness or low agricultural
productivity in Indian agriculture can be convenient grouped under three broad
headings :
Institutional Technological
General Factors
Factors Factors

12.  General Factors
Following are some of the General Factors which are responsible for low
agricultural productivity in Indian agriculture :
1) Socio-Economic Factors :
Various socio-economic factors like farmer’s conservative
outlook, ignorance, illiteracy, superstition etc. stand in the way of adoption of
modern technology in Indian agriculture. Unless this discouraging rural
atmosphere is changed, it is not possible to improve the condition of agriculture
in this country.
2) Lack of Adequate Finance :
Indian agriculture still remains backward due to its inadequate financial
provisions. Until recent times, farmers had to depend much on village money
lenders who charged high rates of interest, to repay which the farmers had to
part with their land & become landless agricultural labourers. Other financial
institutions although exists, their contributions are almost insignificant in
quantity.
3) Lack of Productive Investment :
There is nearly absence of productive investment in Indian agriculture as the
investment in agriculture land is found to be less attractive than the alternative
investments in jewellary trade & moneylending. This also adds up to be one of
the causes of low agricultural productivity in the country.

13. Institutional Factors
The following are some of the Institutional Factors which are equally responsible
for the backwardness of Indian agriculture :
1) Small Size of Holdings :
The average size of agricultural holding in India is very small & uneconomic & it
is even less than 2 hectares or 5 acres. Besides, the agricultural holdings in India
are fragmented too. With such uneconomic & fragmented holdings, no scientific
cultivation with improved implements, seeds etc. are ever possible. This has
resulted in low yield in Indian agriculture.
2) Defective Pattern of Land Tenure :
Land tenure system in India is totally defective & it is standing in the way of its
agricultural development. Even after the abolition of
Zamindary System & enactment of Tenancy Legislation, the position of tenants is
still far from satisfactory. The cultivator shave to pay high rent to the landlords &
are subject to frequent ejectment by the landlords. All these have led to lack of
incentives & confidence on the part of cultivators to make provisions for any
permanent development of their land.

14.  Technological Factors
The following Technological Factors are responsible for low agricultural productivity
in Indian agriculture :
1) Lack of High Yielding Seeds :
Indian farmers are still applying seeds of indifferent quality. They have no sufficient
financial ability to purchase good quality HYV seeds. The supply of HYV seeds is
also minimum in the country. Thus, the farmers are mostly applying traditional
variety of seeds whose average yield is just half of the yield of improved variety of
seeds.
2) Scanty Use of Fertilizers :
The Indian farmers are not applying sufficient quantity of fertilizers on their lands.
Constant cultivation of land causes deterioration of the fertility of soil. For
revitalization of soil fertility, application of various types of fertilizers is much
required. But the poor cultivators cannot afford to purchase costly chemical
fertilizers for applying on their lands. Thus in India, the use of both chemical
fertilizers & even farm yard dung manure is totally inadequate.

15. 3) Inadequate Irrigation Facilities :
Indian agriculture is still suffering from lack of assured &controlled water supply
through artificial irrigation facilities. Thus, Indian farmers have to depend much
upon rainfall which is neither regular nor even. The proportion of irrigated land to
total cropped area is only about 53% as per 1998-99 reports. Therefore, in
absence of assured & controlled water supply, the agricultural productivity in India
is bound to be low.
4) Lack of Agricultural Research :
Agricultural research in India is still very poor in comparison to its requirements.
Whatever research is being conducted, its result is not even made available to the
farmers fully for its application. Thus, many chronic problems of agricultural
operation faced by the farmers still remain largely unattended.
Thus, we have seen that there is gross absence of many basic facilities in
Indian agriculture & all these have resulted in low agricultural productivity & also
backwardness of agricultural sector in the country.

16. POLICIES AND INTIATIVE STEPS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF
AGRICULTURE BY INDIAN GOVERNMENT :-
Due to problems and low agricultural productivity government of India
implemented many number of policies since its first five year plan and some of them
were discussed below :
1) LAND REFORMS
Land Reforms measures to abolish intermediary interests in land
(viz., zamindars, jagirdars, etc.) and transfer of land to actual tiller of soil were
expected to be taken up on a priority basis.
a) Abolition of Intermediaries,
b) Tenancy reforms
2) CONSOLIDATION OF LAND HOLDINGS
In a bid to reorganize agriculture and prevent subdivision and fragmentation of
holdings, the Indian agriculture policy introduced the programs of co-operation and
consolidation of holdings.

17. 3) INSTITUTIONAL CREDIT
Another important initiative was the expansion of institutional credit to
farmers, especially through co-operatives and commercial banks. After
nationalization of banks in 1969, national banks have paid increasing attention to
needs of agriculture.
4) INPUT SUBSIDIES
The government has provided massive subsidies to farmers on agricultural
inputs like irrigation, fertilizers and power. The Objective of input subsidization is
to increase agriculture production and productivity by encouraging the use of
modern inputs in agriculture.
5) GREEN REVOLUTION
The Introduction of High-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of
fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, which
provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food
grains, thus improving agriculture in India.

18. 6) NATIONAL AGRICULTURE POLICY (2000)
The Government of India announced this policy on July 28, 2000. This policy
seeks to “actualise the vast untapped growth potential of Indian
agriculture, strengthen rural infrastructure to support faster agricultural
development, promote value addition, accelerate the growth of agro
business, create employment in rural areas, secure a fair standard of living for
the farmers and agriculture workers and their families, discourage migration to
urban areas and face the challenges arising out of economic liberalization and
globalization.
7) NATIONAL POLICY FOR FARMERS (2007)
Government of India has approved this policy taking into account the
recommendations of the National Commission on farmers and after consulting
the state governments. This includes :
 Economic well-being of the farmers in addition to production and
productivity.
 Asset Reforms
 Water use efficiency
 New Technologies
 National Agricultural Bio-security System
 Seeds and Soils Health.

19.  REASONS FOR FAILURE :-
Even after implementation of so many programs and policies framed by
Government of India there is still under utilisation of agriculture property or
recourses and lack of proper implementation of policies and programs. Some are
discussed below :
1) Uneven or un-estimated climatic conditions are also major reason for failure of
agriculture and government to over come this problem provided irrigation
facilities but that are no where satisfying the requirements of farmers across the
country.
2) Land Reforms and consolidated of land holdings are still not fully implemented or
fully practiced except its first stage, still there are existence of lenders and no
proper distribution of land.
3) Lack of long term policy perspective, it is surprised to find that only recently the
government has come out with a national agricultural policy.
4) Neglect of Capital formation.
5) Lagging Research and Development Efforts
6) Technology Generation and Dissemination
7) Rising Soil Degradation and Over-exploitation of ground water.

20. 8) Degradation of Natural Resources
9) Agriculture’s Terms of Trade and Farm Price Volatility
10) No power for farmers to fix prices.
11) Intermediaries between farmers and consumers.
12) Under utilisation of advanced technology by insufficient training facilities to
farmers.

21. CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Thus, the agricultural productivity in India can be improved with the adoption of
aforesaid measures in the agricultural sector of the country.
Hence, from the above analysis it can be well concluded that although the Indian
agricultural sector is subject to certain limitations, it has got enormous potential of
growth & development with some changes in certain fields, including methodology of
agricultural production.
Policies framed by government should implement fully in order get more benefits
from agriculture and increase living standards of people in rural areas and
development of economy because agriculture provides major employment share and
livelihood to people.
Thus we say there are so many mistakes in implementing the policies and
government should go with long term prospective instead of short term.