Principal crops of India and problems with Indian agriculture

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Principal crops of India

According to the Indian Statistical Report, 2011 ^[1], the following are the principal crops of India*.

* Absence of data may contribute to all comparisons. Although other crops such as Tea, Coffee, Natural rubber, Tobacco, Potato, Black pepper, Chillies, Ginger, Coconut, Turmeric as mentioned as principal crops in the report, no state-wise information is available for these.

Comparative trends

The following trends show that both the area under cultivation as well as the yields have remained more or less constant over the last ten years. India's population is projected to grow from 1.2 billion today to 1.6 billion by 2050. We certainly need to increase the yields of our principal crops. However, we cannot encroach upon forest land and wildlife habitats for this purpose nor can we start indiscriminate use of fertilizers and water. The only solution is to increase the yield per hectare in India.' We need to

1. adopt modern agricultural practices,
2. plug in all wastages and inefficiencies,
3. use sustainable agricultural practices and
4. strengthen the storage capabilities and the supply chain

Trends for the principal cereals of India (till 2007-2008)

The following section has been copied from Wikipedia article on Agriculture in India

The following table presents the twenty most important agricultural produce in India, by economic value, in 2009. Included in the table is the average productivity of India's farms for each produce. For context and comparison, included is the average of the most productive farms in the world and name of country where the most productive farms existed in 2010. The table suggests India has large potential for further accomplishments from productivity increases, in increased agricultural output and agricultural incomes.^[2][3]

Major crop areas in India

The Statistics Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization reported that, per final numbers for 2009, India had grown to become the world's largest producer of the following agricultural produce:^[9][10]

Although agriculture in India has shown an increase in average agricultural output per hectare in last 60 years, much more needs to be accomplished to reach the top-ranking countries and ensure our food safety. The table below presents average farm productivity in India over three farming years for some crops. Improving road and power generation infrastructure, knowledge gains and reforms has allowed India to increase farm productivity between 40% to 500% over 40 years.^[11] India's recent accomplishments in crop yields while being impressive, are still just 30% to 60% of the best crop yields achievable in the farms of developed as well as other developing countries. Additionally, despite these gains in farm productivity, losses after harvest due to poor infrastructure and unorganized retail cause India to experience some of the highest food losses in the world.

Problems and solutions

Farmers manually harvesting paddy in Kerala

One study suggests Indian agricultural policy should best focus on improving rural infrastructure primarily in form of irrigation and flood control infrastructure, knowledge transfer in forms of better yielding and more disease resistant seeds with the goal of sustainably producing as many kilograms of food staples per hectare as already produced sustainably in other nations. Additionally, cold storage, hygienic food packaging and efficient modern retail to reduce waste can also dramatically improve India’s agricultural output availability and rural incomes.^[13]

The low productivity in India is a result of the following factors:

• The average size of land holdings is very small (less than 2 hectares) and is subject to fragmentation due to land ceiling acts, and in some cases, family disputes. Such small holdings are often over-manned, resulting in disguised unemployment and low productivity of labour. Some reports claim smallholder farming may not be cause of poor productivity, since the productivity is higher in China and many developing economies even though China smallholder farmers constitute over 97 percent of its farming population.^[14] Chinese smallholder farmer is able to rent his land to larger farmers, China's organized retail and extensive Chinese highways are able to provide the incentive and infrastructure necessary to its farmers for sharp increases in farm productivity.
• Adoption of modern agricultural practices and use of technology is inadequate, hampered by ignorance of such practices, high costs and impracticality in the case of small land holdings.
• According to the World Bank, Indian Branch: Priorities for Agriculture and Rural Development", India's large w:agricultural subsidies are hampering productivity-enhancing investment. Overregulation of agriculture has increased costs, price risks and uncertainty. Government intervenes in labour, land, and credit markets. India has inadequate infrastructure and services.^[15] World Bank also says that the allocation of water is inefficient, unsustainable and inequitable. The irrigation infrastructure is deteriorating.^[15] The overuse of water is currently being covered by over pumping aquifers, but as these are falling by foot of groundwater each year, this is a limited resource.^[16]
• Illiteracy, general socio-economic backwardness, slow progress in implementing land reforms and inadequate or inefficient finance and marketing services for farm produce.
• Inconsistent government policy. Agricultural subsidies and taxes often changed without notice for short term political ends.
• Irrigation facilities are inadequate, as revealed by the fact that only 52.6% of the land was irrigated in 2003–04,^[17] which result in farmers still being dependent on rainfall, specifically the Monsoon season. A good monsoon results in a robust growth for the economy as a whole, while a poor monsoon leads to a sluggish growth.^[18] Farm credit is regulated by NABARD, which is the statutory apex agent for rural development in the subcontinent. At the same time overpumping made possible by subsidized electric power is leading to an alarming drop in aquifer levels.^[19][20][21]
• A third of all food that is produced rots due to inefficient supply chains and the use of the "Walmart model" to improve efficiency is blocked by laws against foreign investment in the retail sector.^[22]

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