Summary Sheet – Helpful for Retention

For

Agriculture Characteristics and Status

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 Important Points

1. This Summary Sheet shall only be used for Quick Revision after you have
read the Complete Notes

2. For Building Concepts along with examples/concept checks you should

rely only on Complete Notes

3. It would be useful to go through this Summary sheet just before the

exam or before any Mock Test

4. Questions in the exam are concept based and reading only summary
sheets shall not be sufficient to answer all the questions

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 Table of Contents
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Facts and Figures of Indian Agriculture ........................................................................................ 4
2 Characteristics of Indian agriculture ..................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Dependance on Monsoon............................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Diversity in Agriculture systems.................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Low productivity ........................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 Diversity in Agricultural Technology ............................................................................................. 5
2.5 Small size landholdings ................................................................................................................. 6
2.6 Environmental Degradation .......................................................................................................... 6
2.7 Regional Inequalities in Food Production ..................................................................................... 6
2.8 Poor Linkage with Industrial Sector .............................................................................................. 6
3 India’s Advantage in Agriculture ........................................................................................................... 7
4 Technical and Institutional changes in Indian Agriculture .................................................................... 7
4.1 Technological Reforms include ..................................................................................................... 8
4.2 Institutional Reforms include ........................................................................................................ 8
4.3 Steps taken by the Government to modernise agriculture .......................................................... 9
4.4 Food Security ................................................................................................................................ 9
4.5 Bhoodan and Gramdan Movement ............................................................................................ 10
4.5.1 Bhoodan .............................................................................................................................. 10
4.5.2 Gramdan ............................................................................................................................. 10
4.6 Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture ....................................................................................... 10
4.6.1 Measures that can be taken to overcome these problems ................................................ 10

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 “Nothing in Nature blooms all year. Be patient with yourself.” - Unknown

1 Introduction
✓ Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for more than half of India’s population.

1.1 Facts and Figures of Indian Agriculture

✓ During 2019-20* crop year, food grain production was estimated to reach a record 295.67 million
tonnes (MT). In 2020-21, Government of India is targeting food grain production of 298 MT.
✓ Production of horticulture crops in India was estimated at a record 320.48 million metric tonnes
(MMT) in FY20 as per second advance estimates.
✓ India has the largest livestock population of around 535.78 million, which translates to around 31%
of the world population.
✓ Milk production in the country is expected to increase to 208 MT in FY21 from 198 MT in FY20.
✓ The organic food segment in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% during 2015--25 and is
estimated to reach Rs. 75,000 crore (US$ 10.73 billion) by 2025 from Rs. 2,700 crore (US$ 386.32
million) in 2015.
✓ Sugar production in India reached 26.46 MT between October 2019 and May 2020 sugar season
according to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).
✓ India is among the 15 leading exporters of agricultural products in the world. Agricultural export
from India reached US$ 38.54 billion in FY19 and US$ 35.09 billion in FY20.
✓ As per the Economic survey of India, 2020-21, the growth rate of agriculture is estimated to be
3.4%. While the contribution of the sector to Gross Value Added (GVA) declined from 18.3% to
17.8% between 2014-15 and 2019-20, it is estimated to increase to 19.9% in 2020-21.
✓ The overall budget of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers saw a miniscule
increase of five per cent from last year’s Revised Estimates (RE) but was eight per cent below the
2020-21 Budget Estimates (BE). The total allocation for 2021-22 was Rs 1.23 lakh crore, compared
to 1.16 lakh crore in RE 2020-21 and 1.34 lakh crore in BE.
✓ According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the Indian food
processing industry has cumulatively attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflow of
about US$ 10.15 billion between April 2000 and June 2020.
✓ As per Agriculture Census 2015-16, the average size of operational holding has declined to 1.08
hectare in 2015-16 as compared to 1.15 hectare in 2010-11. The small and marginal holdings (<2 ha)
now constitute 86%, while the large holdings (>10 ha) are merely 0.57% of the total land holdings.

Note: Kindly note, this is status of Indian Agriculture as per the recent data available. For any updates,
please refer to current Affairs section and Reports and Schemes section.

2 Characteristics of Indian agriculture

✓ Indian economy is dependant on agriculture. It not only provides food to growing human
population, and fodder to millions of live-stock, but also provides our agro-based industries with
exclusive raw materials.
✓ Nearly three-fourth of the total population of our country is directly or indirectly dependent on it.

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 ✓ Let us now study about such a unique system of India.

2.1 Dependance on Monsoon

✓ Agriculture in India mainly depends on monsoon. If monsoon is good, the production will be more
and if monsoon is less than average then the crops fail. Sometimes floods play havoc with our crops.
✓ As irrigation facilities are quite inadequate, the agriculture depends on monsoon.
✓ Owing to the failure of monsoon crop failure occurs at an interval of three to five years with
monotonic regularity.
✓ The worst crop failures tend to spread over two to three consecutive years as it happened in 1962-
64 and 1986-88 in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.
✓ In certain parts of the country like Marathwada (Aurangabad, Ahmadnagar, Bhihar, Osmanabad)
and Rajasthan (Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur) agriculture is almost annually vulnerable to
drought.

2.2 Diversity in Agriculture systems

✓ India has a great number of agricultural systems. Its large latitudinal sprawl and diverse climates
have re-sulted into diverse agricultural systems.
✓ In different parts of the country, agriculture has conspicuously different traits appertaining to
terrain, slope, temperature, rainfall, soil properties, and size of holdings, technology, and availability
of irrigation, labour, infrastructure and marketing facilities.
✓ Consequently, there are macro and meso regional variations in agricultural topologies and
agricultural systems.
✓ For example, the hill dwellers of northeast India are still practicing jhum (shifting cultivation) while
in the upper Brahmaputra valley (Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Jorhat) tea plantation is the dominant
economic activity.
✓ The Indian agricultural landscape thus has all sorts of agricultural systems ranging from no-madic
herding and shifting cultivation to subsistence agriculture, plantation and commercial farming.

2.3 Low productivity

✓ The agricultural productivity in India is low when compared to other developed countries.
✓ In majority of the agroclimatic regions, the per unit production is very less when compared to the
national and international levels.
✓ The low levels of agricultural return can be attributed to obsolete technology, small size of
holdings, scattered fields and inequality in ownership.
✓ Most of the farmers in India are tradition bound, superstitious, uneducated, and conservative and
moreover, their risk taking capacity is very low.
✓ Their poor economic condition acts as barrier in the purchase of new seeds, fertilizers, good tools
and technology and development of irrigation and other infrastructural facilities in their fields.

2.4 Diversity in Agricultural Technology

✓ India has great diversity in agricultural systems.

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 ✓ Each agriculture type and crop cultivation demand appropriate tools and technology.
Consequently, there is great diversity in the technology used by the cultivators of the different
parts of the country.
✓ For example, in Mewar and Marwar (Rajasthan) camel is the draught animal while the progressive
farmers of Punjab use tractors and harvesters in their farms.
✓ The use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides, herbicides, rodenticides and fungicides also
varies from one part of the country to another.

2.5 Small size landholdings

✓ Due is increase in population the pressure on land holding increased. Land holdings get
fragmentated and subdivided and become uneconomical. Machinery and equipment can not be
used on such farms.
✓ This is leading to tremendous increase in the number of agricultural workers and marginal
cultivators who assist the big farmers in the cultivation of crops.
✓ The big farmers are carrying on their agriculture with the help of agricultural labourers and
sharecroppers, who were once small and Marginal farmers.
✓ These workers, marginal farmers and sharecroppers are often exploited by the landlords.

2.6 Environmental Degradation

✓ Population growth and need for foreign exchange have compelled the Indian farmers to intensify
their agriculture.
✓ While the production of cereal crops has gone up, the intensification of agriculture has also brought
about environmental degradation.
✓ The impact of agricultural growth is being increasingly felt in the arid, semiarid, humid rain forest
regions and mountainous areas. There is encroachment of agriculture into the pastures, forests
and hilly tracts.
✓ The major environmental changes that have occurred are soil erosion, desertification, water logging
and salinization.

2.7 Regional Inequalities in Food Production

✓ Several states of the country are deficient in food production while a few are the surplus producers.
✓ The states of Punjab and Haryana are the surplus producers of wheat and rice, exporting these
cereals to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
✓ Same is the case in the production of cash crops (sugarcane, jute, cotton, tea, coffee, spices, and
fruits), milk products, fisheries and forest products.

2.8 Poor Linkage with Industrial Sector

✓ Indian agriculture in most parts of the country has a very limited forward linkage with other
activities. The links between agriculture and industry in terms of labour and material inputs are still
very weak.

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 ✓ The existing links are to provide raw materials for agro based industries and a provider of raw
materials to the industrial sector.
✓ The farmers are not in a position to dictate the terms in the fixation of price of agricultural
commodities. Also, the farmer’s poor economic status comes in the way of developing strong
linkages with industries.

3 India’s Advantage in Agriculture

Though there are so many threats and weaknesses Indian agriculture faces, it does has many
opportunities and advantages, which is very well presented in the below table.

Note: For the latest updates, kindly refer the ‘Reports and Schemes’ section. We shall provide the
important data points from the latest release of the annual reports of the relevant ministries and
departments.

4 Technical and Institutional changes in Indian Agriculture

✓ Agriculture has been practiced in India for thousands of years. Sustained uses of land without
compatible techno-institutional changes have hindered the pace of agricultural development.
Agriculture provides a livelihood for more than half of population in India.
✓ The Government of India initiated technological and institutional reforms to ensure the increase in
agricultural production.

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 4.1 Technological Reforms include
✓ The Green Revolution* based on the use of package technology and the White Revolution**
(Operation flood) were some of the strategies initiated to improve Indian agriculture.
✓ Introduction of High Yielding Varieties of seeds, chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides.
✓ Development of surface and ground water irrigation and rural electrification.
✓ Introduction of modern farming tools and equipment like power tiller, tractor, harvester etc.
✓ Special weather bulletins and agricultural programs for farmers were introduced on radio and
television to acquaint farmers with modern farming techniques.
✓ In the 1980s and 1990s, a comprehensive land development program was initiated, which includes
both institutional and technological reforms.

4.2 Institutional Reforms include

✓ Collectivisation, consolidation of land holdings, cooperation etc. were given priority by the
government after independence.
✓ Abolition of zamindari system and land reforms was the main focus of our first five-year plan.
✓ Establishment of Grameen Banks, cooperative societies and banks for providing loan facilities to the
farmers at lower rates of interest.
✓ Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease.
✓ The government also announces minimum support price (MSP) and remunerative and procurement
prices for important crops to check the exploitation of farmers by speculators and middlemen.
✓ Kisan credit cards and personal accident insurance schemes introduced.

* Green Revolution: It refers to increase in crop production. It is based on package technology which
include
✓ Use of HYV seeds
✓ Use of chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides
✓ Development of surface and ground water irrigation
✓ Farm mechnisation
✓ Rural electrification, development of rural roads, and storage facilities for crops.

** White Revolution: It refers to increase in milk production in the country. It is also called Operation
Flood. This has been achieved by
✓ introducing better breeds Of cattle
✓ providing them nutritious food
✓ controlling their diseases etc. Contribution of agriculture to the national economy, employment and
output.

Agriculture has been the backbone of the Indian economy though its share in the Gross Domestic
Product has registered a declining trend from 1951 onwards.

✓ Share in employment: Agriculture is the largest employment providing sector in India.

✓ Share in GDP: The share of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Products is less when compared to the
employment.

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 ✓ Source of raw materials: Agriculture provides raw materials to a large number of agro-based
industries in India.
✓ Food security: Agriculture ensures food security to people in India.
✓ Source of foreign exchange: Agriculture is one of the most important sources of foreign exchange in
India. India earns a lot of foreign exchange by exporting agro-products.

4.3 Steps taken by the Government to modernise agriculture

The government of India made concerted efforts to modernise agriculture.
✓ Establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
✓ Establishment of Agricultural Universities
✓ Providing veterinary services and animal breeding centers.
✓ Horticulture development.
✓ Research and development in the field of meteorology and weather forecast.

4.4 Food Security

Eat food is essential for living like air and water. It is more than getting two square meals. It has three
dimensions

1) Food availability i.e., total food production in the country plus the imported food plus buffer stocks
maintained in govt. granaries like FCI in previous years.

2) Food accessibility i.e., food should be within the reach of every person.

3) Food affordability i.e., an individual should have enough money to buy proper, safe and nutritious
food to meet his dietary needs.

✓ The need for achieving food security is felt significantly in the recent years due to enormous
pressure from the ever increasing population in India.
✓ India after 66th year of independence has not only seen development and progress but also
becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This accomplishment takes a
shattering twist when one looks at the hunger problem booming within it.
✓ Out of the estimate 1.27 billion population, more than half of them are considered poor and
vulnerable, and millions of people fail to get two square meals a day.
✓ In the recently released Global Hunger Index of 2020, India ranked 94th out of 107 countries and
this report is quite disturbing because India is one of the largest producers of food in the world.
✓ The number of people who do not have food security is disproportionately large in some regions of
our country particularly in economically less developed states with the higher incidence of poverty.
✓ In order to ensure availability of food to all sections of society the Government of India carefully
designed a national food security system.
✓ It consists of two components (a) buffer stock and (b) public distribution system (PDS)
✓ The primary objective of India’s food security policy is to ensure availability of food grains to
common people at an affordable price.

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 ✓ The focus of this policy is on growth in agricultural production and on fixing the support price for
procurement of wheat and rice to maintain their stocks.
✓ Food Corporation of India is responsible for procuring and stocking foodgrains. The FCI procures
food grains from the farmers at the government announced minimum support price.

4.5 Bhoodan and Gramdan Movement

✓ This movement was initiated by Acharya Vinoba Bhave(1951). Mahatma Gandhi declared Vinoba
Bhave as his spiritual heir. He also participated in Gandhiji’s Satyagraha as one of the foremost
satyagrahis.
✓ He was one of the votaries of Gandhiji’s concept of gram swarajya.
✓ This Bhoodan-Gramdan movement is also known as the Blood-less Revolution because not a single
drop of blood was shadded in this movement. The zamindars and land owners willingly donated
their land and villages to landless villagers.

4.5.1 Bhoodan
It means donation of land to landless farmers by the landlords. It is also known as Land Gift Movement.

4.5.2 Gramdan
It means of donation of villages to landless by zamindars and owners of the villages. Many land-owners
chose to provide some part of their land to poor farmers due to the fear of land ceiling act.

4.6 Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture

✓ Globalisation means integrating the economy of the country with the world economy. Under this
process, goods, and services along with capital, labour and resources can move freely from one
nation to another.
✓ Under globalisation, particularly after 1990, the farmer in India have been exposed to new
challenges. They are
o Despite being an important producer of rice, cotton, rubber, tea, coffee, jute and spices our
agricultural products are not able to compete with the developed countries. This is because of
the highly subsidised agriculture in those countries.
o Reduction in public investment in agriculture.
o Subsidy on fertilizers is deceased leading to increase in the cost of production.
o Reduction in import duties on agricultural products.
o Debt-trap and farmers suicides.

4.6.1 Measures that can be taken to overcome these problems

✓ The impacts of globalization prompts the need for making Indian agriculture successful and
profitable by improving the conditions of small and marginal farmers and countering the negative
effects of Green Revolution.
✓ Introduction of Genetic engineering may be beneficial in India. Genetically modified crops have
higher productivity, resistant to pests and insects, require less water etc.
✓ We must emphasis on organic farming which reduces exposure to pesticides and chemical fertilisers
and conserves soil and water.

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 ✓ Indian farmers should diversify their cropping pattern from cereals to high-value crops. This will
increase incomes and reduce environmental degradation simultaneously.
✓ India’s diverse climate can be harnessed to grow a wide range of high-value crops like fruits,
medicinal herbs, flowers, vegetables, bio-diesel crops (jatropha & jojoda) which require less water.

Note: For the latest updates, kindly refer the ‘Reports and Schemes’ section. We shall provide the
important data points from the latest release of the annual reports of the relevant ministries and
departments.

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