Agricultural Sector In India

The book provides a comprehensive discussion on the different aspects of changes and challenges faced by Indian since the Green Revolution. It also looks at how Indian farmers and policymakers are responding to the challenges.

Contributed articles on economic aspects of agriculture in India.

This open access book provides an evidence-based roadmap for revitalising Indian agriculture while ensuring that the growth process is efficient, inclusive, and sustainable, and results in sustained growth of farmers’ incomes. The book, instead of looking for global best practices and evaluating them to assess the possibility of replicating these domestically, looks inward at the best practices and experiences within Indian states, to answer questions such as -- how the agricultural growth process can be speeded up and made more inclusive, and financially viable; are there any best practices that can be studied and replicated to bring about faster growth in agriculture; does the prior hypothesis that rapid agricultural growth can alleviate poverty faster, reduce malnutrition, and augment farmers’ incomes stand? To answer these questions, the book follows four broad threads -- i) Linkage between agricultural performance, poverty and malnutrition; ii) Analysing the historical growth performance of agricultural sector in selected Indian states; iii) Will higher agricultural GDP necessarily result in higher incomes for farmers; iv) Analysing the current agricultural policy environment to evaluate its efficiency and efficacy, and consolidate all analysis to create a roadmap. These are discussed in 12 chapters, which provide a building block for the concluding chapter that presents a roadmap for revitalising Indian agriculture while ensuring growth in farmers’ incomes.

Presenting Professor V. S. Vyas's approach to the major national and global challenges facing Indian agriculture, this book makes available his research and writing on how policy interventions, technological changes, and institutional developments are impacting the economy of those directly dependent on it for their livelihood.

In developing countries like India agriculture sector has enormous human and economic implications. What is the roel of backward and forward linkages in agricultural development. This book tries to make sense of policy and implementation barriers. The establishment of efficient backward and forward linkages plays an important role which determine the productionand distribution potential at a given time and space. Among the issues the author addresses are, inpute management and distribution, production contribution, factor contribution, market contribution and growth of allied sectors. The study analyses the policies formulated and programmes implemented since the First Five Years Plan towards promotion of HYVs, fetilisers, and farm implements and their economic impact. The study is based on state-wise secondary data.

Research report on interrelations between agricultural development and industrial development in India - based on a simulation macroeconomic model and using trend data from 1961 to 1972, discusses the linkage between the agricultural sector and industrial sector; and finds that 1 per cent increase in agricultural production leads to an increase in agricultural income and consumer demand for industrial products, thus stimulating a further 0.5 per cent increase in industrial production. Bibliography and graphs.

This work analyzes growth and structural change in Indian agriculture over the last three decades. In order to develop a global perspective, the Indian agricultural growth experience is introduced using parallels and contrasts with other parts of the Third World. The book is characterized by an empirical approach to the underlying economic data and a multi-disciplinary approach to the ramifications of agricultural growth. Considered among these are the transformation of the female labor force, population migrations and changes in human welfare. This book differs from the numerous others on Indian agriculture insofar as it takes a regional perspective, focusing on the causes and effects of inter-state variations.

This book presents an extensive study on India’s agricultural and nonfarm sectors, examining prices, investments and policies, and suggesting various essential technological changes. It offers appropriate financial, institutional, and policy frameworks that can help to sustain agricultural growth and augment farmers’ incomes across geographical locations. Further, it addresses agricultural growth and rural poverty reduction through multiple pathways that also tackle varied geographical locations, making it a highly useful guide to understanding the changing contours in agriculture and rural areas across the country and among rural households with various social and economic backgrounds.

India’s recent performance in agriculture has been favorable, with agricultural production growing over the past 30 years. Yet there is widespread consensus that, relative to the rest of the economy, agriculture is lagging and that it can and must do much better to support india’s overall high economic growth and dynamism. This book explores the future and presents the audacious question: what could the agricultural sector in India look like 30 years from now and how should it look if it is to successfully meet the needs of the country’s affluent society? In order to address this question, this book proposes a set of recommendations that should be implemented on a priority basis. These recommendations are as follows: (i) make public programs much more focused and effective; (ii) recognize water as a critical, long-term constraint to India’s agricultural growth and give top priority to significantly improving the efficiency of water use; (iii) promote new high-yield seeds and related technologies, including mechanization, to improve yields and productivity; (iv) improve the effectiveness of agricultural research and extension; (v) support further improvements of the farm-to-market value chain and reduce spoilage; and (vi) improve markets and incentives related to agriculture through reforms of prices, trade, and subsidies. The vision of what India’s economy in 2040 should and can look like, with an affluent and modern agricultural sector, will require fundamental changes in both the demand and supply sides of Indian agriculture. The vision is based not on projections but on how India’s agricultural sector needs to adapt to match the economy’s progress as a whole. This vision is plausible but it is by no means certain.