Indian agri culture-1

INDIAN AGRICULTURE

90 per cent of the farmers are doing farming because it is their

ancestral occupation

Definition

• The science or practice of farming, including

cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and

the rearing of animals

INTRODUCTION

• One of the strong sector of Indian economy.

• Around 58 % population of India depends on

Agriculture.

• Average growth rate of agriculture and allied

sector in 2006-07 & 2007-08 has been 4% per

annum.

• 140.7 million hectare area is available for sown.

• Major agricultural products include rice, wheat,

oilseed, cotton, jute, tea.

HISTORY

• Indian agriculture began by 9000 BC as a result of early cultivation of plants.

• Double monsoon leads two harvest in a year.

• The Grow More Food Campaign (1940s) and the Integrated Production Program (1950s) focused on food and cash crops supply respectively.

• In 1960s Green revolution took place. Agriculture production rose. Export increased at 10% in 1990s.

Indian Agriculture- Some Facts

• India ranks second worldwide in farm output

• Total Geographical Area - 328 million hectares

• Net Area sown - 142 million hectares

• Gross Cropped Area – 190.8 million hectares

• Major Crop Production

» Rice 94.1 million tones

» Wheat 74.8 million tones

» Coarse Cereals 36.1 million tones

» Pulses 219.3 million tones

» Oilseeds 340.3 million tones

» Food Grains 27.2 million tones

Indian Agriculture- Some Facts

• Contributes to 14% of GDP

• Provides food to 1Billion people

• Sustains 65% of the population : helps alleviate poverty

• Produces 51 major Crops

• Provides Raw Material to Industries

• Contributes to 1/6th of the export earnings

One of the 12 Bio-diversity centers in the

world with over 46,000 species of plants and

86,000 species of animals recorded.

However, it has been reported that the annual

earnings of the majority of the agriculture

labour in India are so low that they cannot

meet even their minimum consumption needs.

Indian Agriculture Scenario

STRENGTHS

• Indian agriculture is famous for its rich bio-diversity

• Almost 60% of Indian land comprises of agricultural land

• Climate is suitable for agriculture

• Strong and well dispersed research and extension system


• Average yield in India is just 30% to 50% of the highest average yield in the world

• Agriculture in India is not technically developed

• Irrigation facilities are inadequate, which results in farmers still being dependent on rainfall

• Illiteracy and socio-economic backwardness results in low productivity in India

• Share of agriculture in GDP has declined in past few years

WEAKNESS


• Expand operations to include planting and harvesting

• Expanding international level markets

• Partner with firm that only plants and harvests crops

• Technological development in agriculture

• Agro-based Industry

• Agricultural education

OPPORTUNITIES


• Unsustainable Resource Use

• Unsustainable Regional Development

• Change in the government policies

• Production of inferior quality of crops

• Repetitive cultivation of two staple crops

• Low productivity

THREATS

Mile Stones in Agricultural

Development • Green Revolution (1968)

• Ever-Green Revolution (1996)

• Blue Revolution (water, fish)

• White Revolution (Milk)

• Yellow Revolution (flower, edible)

• Bio-Technology Revolution

• ICT Revolution

Green Revolution

• The introduction of high-yielding varieties of

seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and

irrigation are known as Green Revolution

• It provided the increase in production needed to

make India self-sufficient in food grains

• The production of wheat has produced the best

results in fuelling self-sufficiency of India.

NABARD

NABARD is set up as an apex Development Bank with a mandate for facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture

NABARD is entrusted with :-

• Providing refinance to lending institutions in rural areas

• Promoting institutional development

• Evaluating, monitoring and inspecting the client banks

Modern Agricultural Revolutions

Technology allows much greater production (surplus) with less human labor, but has high social and environmental costs.

Metal plows, Reapers, Cotton Gin Tractors (Internal Combustion Engine) Combines Chemical Pesticides/Fertilizers Hybrid crops The Green Revolution Genetically modified crops

Agribusiness: The industrialization of agriculture

Modern commercial farming is very dependent on inputs of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides.

Oil is required to make fertilizer and pesticides.

It takes 10 calories of energy to create 1 calorie of food in modern agriculture.

Small farmer can’t buy needed equipment and supplies.

Fewer than 2% of U.S. population works in agriculture

Shifting Cultivation

Vegetation “slashed” and then burned. Soil remains fertile for 2-3 years. Then people move on.

where: tropical rainforests. Amazon, Central and West Africa, Southeast Asia

Crops: upland rice (S.E. Asia), maize and manioc (S. America), millet and sorghum (Africa)

Declining at hands of ranching and logging.

Major contrasts between “modern” and “smallholder” rice farming

• Modern Farming:

• Large / intermediate scale

• Commercial

• Mechanised

• External inputs (seeds, ag.chemicals)

• Capital intensive

• Smallholder farming:

• Small – variable scale

• Self sufficiency – surplus

• Mainly manual

• Local inputs (seeds, manure, compost, etc.)

• Labour intensive

Modern Agriculture Supposed to be Sustainable Agriculture

Modern agricultural practices enable farmers to meet ALL three goals of sustainability: conserve and protect natural resources;

meet the food and fuel needs of a growing population; and be financially viable for both growers and consumers.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Rice Wheat Cereals Pulses FoodGrains

OilSeeds

94.1 74.8

36.1

Production in Million Tonnes

219.3

27.2

340.3

Share Of Agriculture in GDP of

India

12

14

16

18

2007-082008-09

2009-102011-2012

YEAR

16.4 15.7

14.6 14

PER

CEN

TAG

E

Farmer suicides

• A considerable number of farmers has

committed suicides in the second half of the

1990s, particularly in Karnataka, Andhra

Pradesh and Punjab.

• The spate of suicides by farmers in Karnataka

is still continuing.

Farmers’ leader Prof. M. D. Nanjundaswamy

blames

free imports,

falling prices and

lack of social security

for farmers for this situation (Farmer suicides).

He also believes that the compensation amount

of Rs. one lakh for farmers committing suicide

must be cancelled because it acts as an

incentive

The burden of indebtedness in rural India is

great, and it falls mainly on the households of

rural working people.

The credit market is highly fragmented and

regressive.

Moneylenders attend the most urgent-felt needs

like consumption, medical aid, emergency

situations, and daughter’s marriage

Study has shown that following are some of the

reasons for the increasing suicides among

farmers:

(i) Failure of institutional credits for small and

marginal farmers.

(ii) Withdrawal of government intervention from

safety nets such as fair price shops (FPS), and the

exclusion of poor and indebted from the food

distribution system. Continued…

…reasons for suicides…

• (iii) Increasing cost of agriculture inputs like

seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.

• (iv) Reduced price of agriculture produces.

• (v) Increasing dependence of small farmers on

moneylenders, at rates of interest from 24 to 60

per cent per annum, sometimes even more.

• (vi) Cumulative crop loss.

The Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Market

Intervention Scheme (MIS) are designed to alleviate the

agency of the farmer. However, the process of

administering the MSP and MIS is at market prices. A

study carried out by Karnataka government shows a

number of lacunae in the MSP and MIS. The study

noted that the overhead charges at the procurement

centre are so high that the farmers end up in selling well

below the prescribed MSP.

During 1989-99, the population of the country

increased by 21.5 per cent, while the reported suicides

increased by 32.5 per cent as per the data from

National Crime Records Bureau for the same period,

clearly showing higher growth in suicide rates in the

country.

The incidence of suicides increased from

40,000 in the year 1967 to 110,000 in the year 1999

recording an increase by 175 per cent.

Karnataka had no history of farmers committing

suicide when crops or market failed, although there

were agitations of farmers in the past. The first

incidence of farmers’ suicide, which attracted

considerable attention of media and public, was

reported on 12 December 1997 when Mr. Shivaraj

Mainalle of Siddeshwar village in Bidar district

committed suicide. A few studies were available on

this first phase of suicides in Karnataka.

Within two decades suicide rate in India has

increased from 40 to 115 per lakh. The suicide rate

in India in the year 1999 was 11 persons per lakh

of population per year with 110,000 reported

suicides according to a study by the National

Institute for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences.

Karnataka with 12,488 suicides, stood third among

the states in India during 1999, next only to West

Bengal and Maharashtra.

Farmers suicides are a feature of drought prone and

economically backward districts; also, have spread to all

regions including prosperous agriculture belts. The negative

impact of globalization on agriculture through the World Trade

Organization regime has already compounded the agrarian

crisis brought in by drought. Several agricultural commodities

have seen a fall in the prices in the last three years owing to

imports. The lifting of agricultural and power subsidies have

pushed up the cost of cultivation substantially. the withdrawal

of safety nets like the universal public distribution system for

food has increased expenditures for poor families.

Growing indebtedness in the rural areas among the

farmers is the main reason for the farmers to commit

suicide in Karnataka.

Almost all the farmers who have committed suicide

have taken the loan, which costs more than their total

land assets.

Situation became worst when the government

institutions stopped giving loan to the farmers. While

there are varieties of reasons, indebtedness is the

common factor in all the suicides.

Several relief measures are available in the schemes

sponsored by both the Government of India and the State

Governments.

They include the Calamity Relief Fund, National Family

Benefit Scheme, Raitha Sanjeevani Scheme, Pledge

Loan Scheme, Rashtriya Krishi Bhima Yojana, Minimum

Support Price, and ‘Sankata Harana’ scheme

implemented by the IFFCO. Many insurance schemes are

available for both farmers and public.

All these schemes are guided by the policies applicable

in general to any insured persons.

Some of the insurance schemes like (i) Janatha Rural

Personal Accident Insurance, (ii) Rajarajeswari Mahila

Kalyana Insurance, (iii) Bhagyashree Female Child

Kalyana Yojane, (iv) Insurance for Agriculture Pump-sets,

(v) Horticulture/ Plantation/ Floriculture/ Flower Insurance

Scheme, (vi) Insurance on Livestock, (vii) Insurance on

Poultry, (viii) Insurance on Carts, and (ix) Standard Kissan

Package Policy have all been offered by the Oriental

Insurance Company which directly or indirectly aims at

covering the farmers and their families.

SUSTAINABLE TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES USED IN THE

CARIBBEAN

• Intercropping & polyculture: symbiotic relations ‘tween plants (shade, rooting systems), plant diversity encourages natural biological control of insect pests, provides year round food supply.

• Crop rotation w/ legumes: helps retain soil fertility & year round food supply, (rotations involve red peas, gungo peas, cowpeas, string beans etc)

Extension Administration did not bother about poor farmers

Lack of control on quality seeds and inputs and basic

guidance for selection of crop to be grown in rain fed areas

based on soil health. There can be many other reasons like

mortgage of land by farmers to private money lenders/local

dealers and so on and so forth. Left out poor farmers don’t

have access to new technology and information Poor

farmers started copying the wealthy farmers who had water

resource and new technology, and failed.

Result – farmers suicide

THANK YOU

JAI HO