www.OnlineIAS.com
History of Agriculture in
India:
ü India has the History of cultivation of
various crops since times immemorial.
ü The crops like Wheat and Barley were
cultivated in the Indian sub continent by 9000 BC.
ü Some animals like sheep and Goat were also
domesticated.
ü There was also history of storing the grains
in the granaries.
ü By 5th millennium BC Cotton was
cultivated.
ü Some fruits like Mango were native to the
Indian sub continent.
ü Peas, Sesame and dates were cultivated by the
Indus valley people.
ü Even today the agriculture is considered to
be the main stay of Indian economy.
www.OnlineIAS.com
Importance of Agriculture in
Indian Economy:
ü Agriculture is the predominant occupation in
India employing more than 50% of the population In India.
|
ü The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the indicator
of the performance of an economy.
ü At present (2010) the Indian GDP is $1.53
trillion.
ü By the year
2015 it
is expected that the India’s GDP would touch $ 2 trillion.
|
ü The agriculture contributes about 18% to the
India’s GDP.
ü Though the input into the agriculture is
declining for past few years, the agriculture still continues to be the biggest
contributor.
ü This provides raw material to various
agro-based (agriculture based) industries such as Sugar, Cotton textile, Jute
etc.
ü Through the system of transport, processing
and marketing it contributes to the tertiary sector.
ü Agriculture meets the food requirement of the
people in India.
ü The surplus produced is exported to other
countries and can generate foreign exchange.
ü It provides a large market for industrial
goods like fertilizers, pesticides, machinery etc.
ü Agriculture reduces the inequalities in
income if the agricultural income is increased.
www.OnlineIAS.com
Progress of Agriculture in
India since Independence:
ü In 1947, the agricultural productivity
was very low, about 50 million tonnes.
ü The agriculture was mainly rained and
was being done as a subsistence farming using mainly animate sources of farm
power and traditional tools and equipment’s.
ü More than 80% of the population living
in rural areas was dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.
ü The ICAR (Indian Council of Agriculture Research)
was set up in the year 1929.
ü ICAR is located in New Delhi
ü Up to 1947 the efforts in agricultural engineering
research and education was very low.
ü Agriculture requires developing equipment and technologies
for mechanization of agriculture for maximizing efficiency of costly inputs
like seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, plant protection chemicals, and
energy sources to increase higher production and productivity, reduction of
drudgery; post-harvest technology and value addition, waste utilization, and
generating income and employment in rural areas.
ü Besides these research-cum-academic institutions, a
good amount of research opportunity was opened up in the soil and water
engineering with the establishment of the 1st river valley project, the Damodar
Valley Corporation in 1949, to tackle the problems of soil and water
conservation in Bihar and West Bengal.
www.OnlineIAS.com
ü First five year plan (1951 to 1956) gave high
priority to agriculture
ü Soil conservation centres at different regions of
the country from the First Five-Year plan.
ü Subsequently all these centres were
administratively combined together as a Central Soil and Water Conservation
Research Institute at Dehra Dun under the ICAR in 1975, with 6 regional centres.
ü Some organizations other than the ICAR have shown
interest in sponsoring research in different areas of agricultural engineering,
by giving financial support and as integral part of the activity of these
organizations.
www.OnlineIAS.com
Example:
ü Organizations are Ministry of Non-conventional
Energy Sources
ü Department of Science and Technology; Department of
Agriculture and Co-operation
ü Tata Energy Research Institute
ü Indian National Committee of Irrigation and
Drainage
ü The ICAR has remained the most important organisation
in the country supporting the research in all areas of agricultural engineering
and technologies
ü In 1954 the ICAR for the first time sponsored a
scheme to conduct state-wise survey of the existing tools and implements used
by farmers.
ü Note: Before that ploughs, bulls and horses were
used for ploughing. Even today also the same practices are continued.
ü During sixties and seventies the indigenous
production of power tillers, stationary engines, power threshers, plant
protection equipment and other agricultural equipments were started and
expanded to cope up with the increasing demand of improved agricultural
machinery for crop production and processing.
ü During this period, 3 ICAR Institutes namely
Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal Central Institute
of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana and National
Research Centre on Women in Agriculture with a unit at CIAE Bhopal (to work on
reducing drudgery of Women in Agriculture) were established and 10 All India
Coordinated Research Projects and number of AP Cess funded ad-hoc schemes were
initiated in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering by the ICAR, as a
result of which very good work have been done, both, in quality and quantity in
development of equipment and technology.
Agriculture
engineering:
This
comprises four segments
1. Farm implements and power
2. Rural structures
3. Soil conservation, drainage and irrigation
4. Rural electricity.
ü Because of the peculiar local conditions, the lack
of development of electricity in a large scale, and immediate utility of
implements, agricultural engineering in India has come to mean more of
agricultural implements and machinery. But in fact, agricultural engineering is
a very vast subject.
www.OnlineIAS.com
What was done?
ü Application of the knowledge, techniques and
disciplines of various fields of engineering to the solution of problems
arising in the fields of agriculture and rural living
ü Object is to reducing labour
ü Improving agricultural productivity per worker
ü Raising the standard of living of the farmers
ü Increasing the overall earnings per worker
ü Agricultural universities, several agricultural
engineering colleges were established, offering graduate and postgraduate
courses.
ü In most of the states, where such colleges were
established, they took over research, education and extension from the state
departments of agriculture.
ü The most important step in the reorganization has
been the establishment of agro-industries corporations, one in each state, with
the financial assistance of the Central Ministry of Agriculture.
ü Some of these industries are being substantially
assisted by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India.
ü The private industries as well as the government,
through their agro-industries corporations, are in the field now for the supply
of agricultural machinery to the farmers. To present the charging of exorbitant
prices for tractors the government has fixed the maximum prices of tractors
with the assistance of the Bureau of Cost Accounting in the Ministry of
Finance. This organisation has helped the farmers a lot.
ü Agricultural electronics has also begun and the
remote-control tractors are being designed and tested in some countries.
ü Linking of rivers is under consideration for quite
long period of time
ü India is in a position to generate more electricity
in future. Availability of more electricity from atomic energy will make the
progress of farm mechanization in India speedier.
www.OnlineIAS.com
Problems in Indian Agriculture:
1. Infrastructure
2. Irrigation
(surface irrigation and ground irrigation)
3. Note:
Ineffective management of protecting surface water
4. Lack
of mechanization
5. Low
capital
6. Inadequate
number of warehouses
7. Transportation
8. Small
land holdings
9. Seeds
and fertilizers
10. Productivity
11. Farmer’s
suicide
12. Using
agricultural land for other for industrial purposes
13. Knowledge
deficit
14. High
risk because of volatile nature
15. Ineffective
banking system to provide loans (hence Money lenders)
www.OnlineIAS.com
National Policy for farmers:
ü The
National Commission on Farmers (NCF) was headed by professor MS Swaminathan
ü Final
report was submitted in the year 2006
ü It
also submitted National Policy for Farmers
ü The
primary focus is on farmer. It was defined holistically and not just on
agriculture
ü It
is more comprehensive than the agriculture policy
ü The
objective is to improve economic viability of farming through sustainably
improving net income of farmers.
ü Emphasis
will be on increased productivity, profitability, institutional support, and
improvement of land, water, and support services apart from provisions of
appropriate price policy, risk mitigation measures and so on.
ü Government has already implemented the
National Policy for Farmers (NPF), 2007, which aims to improve economic
viability of farming and increase net income of farmers.
(As per Minister of
Agriculture in March 2015 in Rajya Sabha)
ü Policy provisions in NPF-2007 include,
inter-alia, asset reforms in respect of land, water, livestock, fisheries and
bio-resources; supply of good quality seeds and disease-free planting material,
issue of soil health passbooks to the farmers and integrated pest management
system; region and crop specific implements and machinery; support services for
women; timely, adequate and easy reach of institutional credit at reasonable
interest rates and farmer-friendly insurance instruments; support services and
inputs like application of frontier technologies; agricultural bio-security
system; use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and setting up of
farm schools to revitalize agricultural extension; coverage of farmers under a
comprehensive national social security scheme; effective implementation of
Minimum Support Price (MSP) across the country and establishing community
foodgrain banks; development of agricultural market infrastructure and terminal
markets for agriculture; curriculum reforms in agricultural universities;
special categories of farming like organic farming and contract farming; rural
non-farm employment initiative for farm households; and integrated approach for
rural energy, etc.
www.OnlineIAS.com
National Food Security Mission
(NFSM):
ü It was adopted during the 11th
plan in the year 2007
ü The mission is to increase the production of
rice by 10 million tones , wheat 8 and pulses by 2MT by the end of 11th
plan
ü It continued even during the 12th
plan with a total production of food grains by 25 million tones
ü Rice 10 MT, wheat 8 MT, pulses 4 MT and 3 MT
coarse cereals
ü The government also introduced Krishi Karman
awards in the year 2010-11for best
performing states in food grain production
ü The latest awards were issued in February
2015 for the year 2013-14
www.OnlineIAS.com
Irrigation in India:
ü Water is the most critical input for enhancing agricultural
productivity, and therefore expansion of irrigation has been a key strategy in
the development of agriculture in the country.
ü India’s irrigation potential has increased from 22.6 mha in
1951 to about 90 mha at the end of 1995. It is estimated that even after
achieving the full irrigation potential, nearly 50 percent of the total
cultivated area will remain rain fed.
ü The share of water use other than for agriculture was only
13 percent in 1985, which is likely to become 27 percent by 2025. Such a fast
growth of water need in the face of emerging supply constraints is likely to
result in a wide supply gap for irrigation water in the near future.
ü Rain water is the main source of water in
India
ü The Ministry of water resources divided the
country into 20 river basins for the effective management of waters.
ü UP has the highest length of rivers followed
by J and K
ü Water resources are divided into rivers,
canals, reservoir, tanks etc
ü Types of irrigation in India:
1.
Border irrigation
2.
Drip irrigation (trickle irrigation)
3.
Sprinkler irrigation
4.
Basin irrigation
www.OnlineIAS.com
ü Management of
water resources:
ü Supplemental irrigation by run-off recycling
ü Watershed management including agriculture
ü Pond culture adjunct to canal system
ü Rice-fish integrated farming
ü Using pressurized irrigation system
ü Groundwater management
ü Flood water management
ü Management of drainage and water-logging.
ü Note: Ultimately the approaches have to be compatible with
socio-economic adjustments of the target population.
www.OnlineIAS.com
High Yielding Variety (HYV)
Seeds:
ü HYV seeds are very delicate and sensitive and
therefore require a great deal of care if a successful harvest is to be
obtained.
ü In order to get a satisfactory agricultural return,
the farmer should be in a position to arrange the costly inputs on time for
which sufficient surplus capital should be available. In the case of
non-availability of capital, the farmer should have an easy access to the
credit facilities.
ü Irrigation is the most important input required for
the successful cultivation of HYV.
ü Better results from HYV depend largely on assured
and controlled irrigation.
ü The timings of irrigation and the quantity of water
supplied are decisive for the performance of the crop.
ü The associated inputs like chemical fertilizers,
insecticides and pesticides also perform satisfactorily only if timely
irrigation is provided to the crop.
ü It may be emphasized that excessive irrigation and
inadequate irrigation are both injurious to HYV of wheat and rice.
ü In the case of wheat, for example, appropriate
timing and spacing of irrigation raise the yield by as much as 50 per cent
even if the other inputs are not given.
ü The first irrigation to wheat around the third week
of sowing alone raises yield by as much as 30 per cent than that when it is
delayed.
ü In the case of rice, inadequacy of moisture in the
primordial initiation can reduce production to the extent of 50 per cent.
ü To meet water requirements, there must be a
controlled source of water at the disposal of farmers.
ü The other inputs like chemical fertilizers and
plant protection chemicals can enhance the yield further.
ü The natural fertility of land is declining with the
passage of time. For the recuperation of fertility, the soils are rested in the
form of fallowing or they are enriched by applying manures (compost and green)
and chemical fertilizers (NPK).
ü After irrigation, chemical fertilizer is the second
most important input required for the successful cultivation of HYV.
ü The recommended dose of chemical fertilizer for
the new seeds of wheat and rice in terms of NPK in 90-45-45 kg per hectare.
ü In the developed countries like the UK, Germany,
Netherlands and Japan the consumption of chemical fertilizers is much higher to
that of India. For example, the per hectare consumption of chemical fertilizers
in India is only about 75 kg per hectare as against 525 kg per hectare in the
Netherlands and about 500 kg per hectare in Japan. Most of the Indian farmers
being poor have very little purchasing power and are unable to supply the
prescribed doses of fertilizers.(Ministry of Agriculture)
ü These insects and pests seriously attack the
plants, hamper their growth and reduce the yield substantially. The danger of
pests and insects may be reduced by using plant protection chemicals. The
problem may be tackled either by developing the disease resistant seeds or by
spraying insecticides and pesticides at the prescribed schedules devised for
different crops.
ü Availability of capital is also a vital constraint
in the adoption and successful cultivation of HYV. The adopters of HYV must
have operational capital for the purchase of seeds, installation of tube
wells, drilling of pumping sets, chemical fertilizers, plant protection chemicals,
tractors, harvesters, threshers and other accessories. In case the farmer does
not possess the operational capital, he should have an easy access to credit.
ü In India, most of the farmers, excepting a few
larger ones, have no surplus over consumption, and therefore, no saving or
operational capital at their disposal. The agrarian institutions like banks and
cooperative credit societies have great responsibilities. They should advance
loans to the farmers at a reasonable rate of interest.
ü Unfortunately, the credit agencies in India,
generally, serve the larger farmers who are economically well off and
politically well connected.
ü The poor and small farmers are thus deprived of the
required inputs, so essential for the successful cultivation of HYV of wheat
and rice.
ü The infrastructural facilities like transport
network, marketing and storage facilities are also very crucial for the
successful cultivation of HYV.
ü It is the transport network which determines the
types of crops grown in an agricultural region.
ü It also
helps in the marketing and storage of the agricultural commodities.
www.OnlineIAS.com
MISCELLANEOUS:
ü On December 13, 2012 the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs approved a urea investment policy, which is likely to
incentivize Fertilizer Company to set up new plants and expand existing
capacity.
ü At present India imports 30 percent of urea
requirement.
ü The new policy is aimed at attracting Rs. 35,
000/- crore to increase domestic production.
ü Under new policy the government gives 12 to
20 percent post tax return on fresh capital infused by the manufacturers for
setting up of new plants as well as expansion and revamp of the existing ones.
ü To ensure the return the government would
cover the entire cost of natural gas which is the main feedstock of urea and
accounts for 80 percent of the cost. The government controls the urea sector
and fixed the MRP (maximum retail price) at Rs. 5360/- a tonne. The difference
between the cost of production and MRP is given as subsidy to manufacturers.
ü The new policy was approved by a GoM headed
by Pranab Mukherjee on February 24, 2012.
ü The country produces 22 million tonnes
against the requirement of 32 million tonnes.
ü
ü The
agriculture sector in India provides employment to more than 50 percent of the
population.
ü The
agriculture meets the food requirement of the people in India.
ü The
agriculture also contributes to the service sector (tertiary) through
transport, processing and marketing.
ü India
is one of the leading producers of vegetables in the World.
ü India
is also one of the leading producers of fruits in the World.
ü Agricultural
products are the prominent exports for India.
ü The
Primary sector (agriculture) gives an impetus to the growth of secondary
(industry) sector and trade and commerce (tertiary) by providing needed raw
material and wage goods.
www.OnlineIAS.com
ü What measures
taken by the government to increase the productivity?
ü The
net area under the cultivation during 1950-51 was 118.7 million hectares.
ü It
has been increased to 142.6 million hectares by 2006-07.
ü At
present about 47 percent of the land in India is under cultivation.
ü Note:
In India the total estimated area is 304.2 million hectares.
ü Gross
Sown area: Raising more than one crop during the year from the same area. At
present it is 192 million hectares.
ü Land
Productivity: Yield per hectare.
ü The
fertilizer consumption also increased rapidly to 22.5 million tonnes from
66,000 tonnes in the year 1952-53.
www.OnlineIAS.com