Indian agriculture is the largest private sector enterprise in the country of over 100 million farmers. It contributes 24 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides food to nearly one billion people of the country. The sector produces 51 major crops, provides raw material to the country's agro-based industries and contributes nearly 1/7th of its total export earnings.

    India inherited a stagnant agriculture at the time of Independence registering an annual rate of growth of 0.3 per cent in the first half of the century. But thanks to the Government's planned endeavour and the hard work put in by the farmers, Indian agriculture has achieved an annual growth rate of 2.7 per cent in the post-Independence period, imparting great resilience to agricultural production.

    The year 1998-99 witnessed the resurgence of Indian agriculture which steered the overall growth of the country's economy. Despite weather aberrations in some parts of the country, Indian agriculture acquitted itself admirably and the production system presented many encouraging features. For the first time foodgrain production crossed the 200 million tonnes mark and is expected to reach 202.5 million tonnes, recording an impressive 5.25 per cent gain in one single year. Wheat production is likely to rise to 71 million tonnes, 7.7 per cent higher than the previous year.

    Rice output is expected to be 3 per cent higher than last year. Sugarcane production emerged out of its cyclic phase of depression to reach a new high of 291 million tonnes. Potato production is estimated at over 22 million tonnes. This is 25 per cent higher than the level achieved last year. Production of onions reached a record level of 4.8 million tonnes. The oilseed production is estimated to post yet another record of 25.7 million tonnes. Production of pulses is likely to cross, for the first time, 15 million tonne mark. This time it is estimated to be 15.9 million tonnes. Cotton production, affected by aberrant climatic conditions, at 12.8 million bales, is better than the previous year's level, by 1.6 million bales.

Fruits and Vegetables

    India has emerged as the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world with an annual production of 41 million tonnes of fruits and 73 million tonnes of vegetables, contributing nearly 10 per cent and 13 per cent respectively of their world production. India has also emerged as the second largest producer of rice, wheat and groundnut in the world in the last 50 years. An ambitious Action Plan has been launched to double food production and make India hunger-free in ten years. A regionally-differentiated strategy, based on agro-climatic regional planning, which takes into account agronomic, climatic and environmental conditions, has been adopted to realize the full potential of growth in every region and make the Action Plan a grand success. An outlay of Rs. 1400 crore has been earmarked in the Ninth Plan Document for the purpose. The Action Plan aims at increasing the production of foodgrains to 300 million tonnes by the year 2007-08. The output of horticultural produce is planned to be increased from 141 million tonnes in 1996-97 to 265.5 million tonnes in 2007-08.

    Sustainable development is of prime concern in the long-term interest of Indian agriculture. Of the total cultivated area of 142 million hectares in the country, the rainfed area accounts for 89 million hectares or 63 per cent. The rainfed areas contribute 45 per cent of the country's total foodgrain production. The Government has accorded the highest priority to a holistic and integrated development of rainfed areas in order to meet the projected foodgrain requirements as also to bridge the regional disparities in terms of production and productivity between the rainfed and irrigated areas. An area of 43 lakh hectares in 25 States and 2 Union Territories has already been covered under the programme during the Eighth Plan. Areas contiguous to the existing ones have been taken up for development during the Ninth Plan. A 25-year perspective plan costing Rs. 75,800 crore has been prepared for sustainable development of rainfed areas through watershed development to cover about 63.5 million hectares.

    A Watershed Development Fund with a corpus of Rs. 200 crore has been created by NABARD. Its objective is to spread the message of participatory watershed development in the priority districts. The Fund will be utilised to create the necessary framework conditions to replicate and consolidate the isolated successful initiatives under different programmes in the Government, semi-Government and NGO sectors to enable all the sectors involved such as - watershed community, Central and State Government Departments, banks, agricultural research institutions, NGOs and NABARD to act in concert to make a breakthrough impact in participatory watershed management.

Crop Insurance

    A Pilot Scheme on Seed Crop Insurance has been launched by the Government from the current financial year to provide financial security and income stability to breeders and seed growers. The Scheme will help in strengthening confidence and stimulate participation of breeders and seed growers to undertake seed production of newly released hybrid and improved varieties. Breeder, foundation and certified seeds of paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, soyabean, sunflower, groundnut, gram, red gram and cotton in ten major States have been covered under the proposed Scheme.

    A series of initiatives have been taken to create a favourable economic environment for the growth of the agricultural sector. Timely and adequate availability of credit is crucial for sustaining the growth of agricultural sector. The flow of institutional credit for agriculture and allied activities has increased from Rs. 15,169 crore in 1992-93 to Rs. 31,698 crore in 1997-98 and is anticipated to further increase to Rs. 38,054 crore during 1998-99.

Credit

    Commercial banks have been advised to increase the flow of credit to agriculture, to set up specialized agriculture branches to deal with high-tech agriculture advances and to extend cash credit facilities for meeting the composite credit requirements of farmers. The capital base of NABARD has been increased to strengthen its financial capability. The weak regional rural banks have been recapitalized. The total credit flow from all agencies is expected to go up to Rs. 60,842 crore by 2002.

    In order to ensure adequate and timely support from the banking system to the farmers for their cultivation needs on the basis of their land holdings, including agricultural inputs, in a flexible and cost-effective manner, a Kisan Credit Card Scheme has been introduced. Farmers eligible for production credit of Rs. 5,000 or more are eligible for issue of Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs). The implementation of the Scheme has been taken up by 27 commercial banks, 148 central cooperative banks and 134 regional rural banks. Till September 1999, 35.4 lakh KCCs had been issued against a target of 20 lakh cards for the whole year.

    Inadequate availability of post-harvest facilities, particularly the storage and cold storage facilities result in huge post-harvest losses and has been a major constraint in the development of horticultural crops. The Government has given utmost priority to establishment of cold chain infrastructure and has taken several initiatives for the development of viable cold storage system. It has been decided to provide a capital subsidy of 25 per cent for construction, modernization and expansion of cold storages and storages for horticultural produce. Addition of 12 lakh tonnes of new, modernization of 8 lakh tonnes of cold storage capacity and creation of 4.5 lakh tonnes of storage capacity is planned under the scheme. The scheme will be implemented through National Horticulture Board, NABARD and the National Cooperative Development Corporation.

    With the hard work put in by the Indian farmers and the resilience built into its structure, the future of our agriculture is indeed bright.