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TRENDS IN AGRICULTURE IN INDIA: 2008-2018

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 14 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

TRENDS IN AGRICULTURE IN INDIA: 2008-2018

Dr. Rajni Mathur Assistant Professor, BVIMSR

Divya Jaiswal BA (H) Economics SK Somaiya Institute Of Management

Agriculture plays a strategic role in development of an economy. India is an agrarian economy with
nearly 50% of workforce employed in agriculture, and derives 15% of GDP from this sector. It also
supplies industries with raw materials. Hence a slight tweak in this sector affects the economy. The
government has launches several schemes and policies for increasing production of this sector and to
support those employed it. Through this research I have studied the various changes in the trends of
production, yield per hectare and area under cultivation from the implementation the National Food
Security Mission (NFSM) over the year 2008-2018 and suggestions for the improvement of the
same.

KEYWORDS – Agriculture in India, Five Year Plan, National Food Security Mission

INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is an economic activity carried out by humans from centuries. It has laid down the
foundation for growth of all economies. For a developing nation like India, agriculture and allied
sector plays a very important role. A small change in this sector impacts the economy to a great
extent. The contribution of agriculture in GDP is nearly 15% as per World Bank and contributes to
13% of the country’s total export. Nearly 50% of the country’s work force is employed in this sector.
Agriculture provides food to the country’s growing population and supports other industries by
supplying raw materials required for manufacturing goods. Though, the contribution of the sector to
India’s economy is 15% India’s production of food grains has been increasing every year and India
is among top producers of several crops like rice, wheat, pulses, sugarcaneand cotton.
Indian agriculture has witnessed many changes during the span of six decades after independence.
Agriculture was largely based on monsoon and other climatic parameters before. But this lead to the
yield to be low which was insufficient for the population.
In the first three five year plans the main target of the government was to be self-sufficient in food
grains, meet raw material needs for industries and increase exports. In the I Five Year Plan (1951-
1956), 31% of total plan funds were allotted to this sector. River valley projects were taken up, and
irrigation facilities and fertilizer plants were established. This led to increase in production by 36%.
In the II Five Year Plan (1956- 1961), since the focus was on industrial growth, only 20% of the plan
funds were allotted to agriculture. But the target for food grains were not achieved due to poor
implementation. The III Five Year Plan (1961-1966) the target wasset to increase agricultural produce
30%, but only 10% of production wasincreased.
The government then introduced annual plans for 3 years (1966 – 1969)
.The Green Revolution was kick-started from the year 1966 with of adoption of a high yielding
variety programme to increase agricultural production and productivity. The effects of institutional
reforms were found to manifest from 1968-69 onwards. There was a recorded food grain production
of 95.6 million tonnes in 1967-68 and 1968-69.
The next 3 five year plans focused on rapid growth of agriculture and rural development. The IV Five
Year Plan (1969-1974) focused on providing necessary conditions to increase production by 5% and
enable rural population to participate in the process and share benefits. The Green Revolution had
good results, especially for the wheat producing farmers and they started using High Yield Varity
(HYV) cultivation. The country also saw White Revolution in the year 1970, which aimed to
increase the production of milk by using new methods for animal husbandry, increase rural income
and provide milk to consumers at fair prices.
The V Five Year Plan (1974-1979) focused on evolving HYV seeds for paddy and soil conservation.
The VI Five year (1980-1985) plan focused on land reforms implementation. The actual growth rate,
which was 4.3%for agriculture exceeded the expected growth rate. This was a great success.
 15 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

The VII Five Year Plan (1985-1990) focused on water shed development for rain fed agriculture,
social forestry and oilseed production. It aimed at 4% agricultural growth rate. The nation witnessed
Yellow Revolution in 1986 which aimed to increase oilseed production by using HYV seeds and modern
technological inputs. The country also witnessed Blue revolution at the same time, which aimed at
development of fisheries to enhance income of fishers and fish farmers, and to ensure nutritional and
food security in the country.
In 1991 The Golden revolution took place which was focused on horticulture development. The VIII
Five Year Plan (1992-1997) aimed to achieve self-sufficiency through growth and diversification of
agriculture and to generate surplus for exports. A growth rate of 4.7% was recorded for this sector.
The IX and X Five Year Plans (1997-2002 and 2002- 2007)focused to achieve agriculture led growth,
but recorded growth of 2.5% and 2.4% respectively.
Indian agriculture has no doubt grown tremendously, from a country that was frequently plagued by
famines and chronic food shortage to a country which has surplus and exports agricultural produce India
has come a long way. Since Independence, India has witnessed significant increase in food grain
production (green revolution), oilseeds (yellow revolution), milk (white revolution), fish (blue
revolution), and fruits and vegetables (golden revolution). But increasing demand for
industrialization, urbanization, housing and infrastructure is forcing conversion of agricultural land to
non –agricultural uses; the scope for expansion of the area available for cultivation is limited. Also
the growing population put pressure on the land with the primary challenge being provision of food
for it.
National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was launched in 2007-08 to increase the production of food
grains by 20 million tonnes; covering rice, wheat and pulses, by the end of XI Plan (2007-2012)
through area expansion, productivity enhancement, restoring soil fertility and productivity, creating
employment opportunities and enhancing farm leveleconomy. It was continued in the XII Plan (2012-
2017) with a target of 25 million tonnes of increased food grain production. Subsequently coarse
cereals and commercial crops (jute, cotton and sugarcane) were included under this scheme. National
Mission on Oilseeds and Oil palm (NMOOP) for Oilseeds & Oil palm development program was
started in 2014-15 and had similar components such as incentive for seed, demonstration, and farm
implements including efficient water application tools covered under NFSM and hence oil seeds was
merged under revamped NFSM from theyear 2018-19. In the research I have analyzed the increase in
the production of crops, yield per hectares and area under cultivation of the crops from the year 2008
to 2018 since implementation of this scheme and provide some suggestion for better yield.
The information used in this study is based on secondary data which is taken from various sources.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Ramesh Chand and Shinoj Parappurathu (2011) in their studies have discussed five phases in the
growth of Agriculture sector in India based on the historical trends in this sector. Overall assessment
of the sector suggests that green revolution period has been the golden period for Indian agriculture
as tremendous growth in both agricultural output and input use was seen. The future growth in
agriculture sector relies a lot on the manner in which the resources in the sector are put into
productive use and the degree to which farmers are incentivized to continue with farming profession.

Dr. Babita Jaiswal and Chitra Sharma (2015) in their research have analyzed agriculture under the
Five Year Plans. India has made a tremendous growth on the agriculture after independence.
Productivity increased after independence but has been declining over last few years. They have
highlighted problems faced by this sector.

Ajit Maru (2013) in his study has highlighted that Indian farming is largely small holder based with
not only small land holdings but also livestock holdings. He has also highlighted the issues faced by
them which affect the productivity in this sector.
PRS India have found agricultural growth has been varying, ranging from 5.8% in 2005-06 to
 16 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

0.4% in 2009-10 and -0.2% in 2014-15. Such a

variance in agricultural growth has impacted farm incomes as well as farmers’ ability of taking credit
for investing in their land holdings.

Dr. T. Haqque and Ankita Goyel (2013) have studied the NFSM scheme and its role in improving
agricultural productivity. They have found that a lot of farmers in many areas were not familiar with
such a Mission being implemented or even if they were, not many were aware of all the
interventions and the provisions under the NFSM.

C.S.C. Sekhar (2014) in his article has highlighted the need of better access of farmers to input and
output markets, technology and rural infrastructure, so as to be able to increase yield and income.

ANALYSIS
1. PRODUCTION INDEX
1.1 The total crop production can be classified into broad categories of Food grains and Non-
Food grains. The data analysis shows that from 2008- 2018, there has been increase of 30.28% in
production of total crops. The food grain production increased by 28.45% and the production of non-
food grains increased by 32.06%. The production declined in the period 2014-2015, food grains
declined by 6% and non-food grains by 3%. Recovery was noticed in the subsequent years.
TABLE 1-INDEX NUMBERS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
Year All crops Food-grains Non- food- grains
2008-09 107.0 106.5 107.6
2009-10 102.7 100.6 104.9
2010-11 121.0 114.3 128.0
2011-12 124.3 119.5 129.3
2012-13 124.2 119.4 129.0
2013-14 129.8 123.3 136.4
2014-15 124.0 115.9 132.3
2015-16 120.8 115.7 126.1
2016-17 132.8 131.1 134.7
2017-18 139.4 136.8 142.1
Weights 100 50.66 49.34
(Base : Triennium Ending 2007-08=100)
Notes : 1. - : Not Available.
Source : Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.
 17 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

1.2 In the case of food grains, the production of total cereals (rice + wheat= coarse cereals) increased
by 18.44% with increase in production of rice and wheat by 13.83% and 23.75% respectively. The
production of coarse cereals and pulses increased by 15.73% and 78.14% respectively. There was a
decline in production in 2014-2015. The cereals declined by 5.1% (wheat by 9.7% and rice by 1.1
%), coarse cereals by 1.1% and pulses by 10%, however there has been recovery in the following
years.
 18 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

1.3 In case of non-food grains, the total oilseed production increased by 13.79% with production
of groundnut, mustard, sesame and coconut increased by 28.99%, 17.14%,17.94% and 61.64%
respectively. Cotton and sugarcane production increased by 47.34% and 33.29% respectively while
Jute production declined in this period by 0.42%.
TABLE 3-INDEX NUMBERS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION -COMMERTIAL
CROPS
Year Oil- Ground-nut Sesame Rape- Coconut Cotton Jute Sugar-
seeds seed/ (Lint) cane
Mustard
2008-09 100.8 97.6 95.3 100.9 97.5 99.7 94.7 86.8
2009-10 88.9 73.9 87.5 92.6 104.0 107.5 110.4 89.0
2010-11 116.8 112.5 132.9 114.6 104.1 147.7 98.4 104.3
2011-12 106.5 94.8 120.6 92.6 104.1 157.6 105.6 110.0
2012-13 107.4 63.9 101.9 112.5 149.9 153.2 101.7 103.9
2013-14 119.0 132.2 106.3 110.4 154.2 160.7 109.0 107.3
2014-15 99.7 100.8 123.2 88.1 135.1 155.8 104.4 110.4
2015-16 92.5 91.7 126.5 95.3 146.5 134.3 97.8 106.1
2016-17 111.2 101.6 111.1 111.0 158.3 145.8 102.6 93.2
2017-18 114.7 125.9 112.4 118.2 157.6 146.9 94.3 115.7
Weights 13.25 4.11 0.47 3.6 1.19 4.41 0.66 9.89
(Base : Triennium Ending 2007-08=100)
: Oilseed data comprises of total oilseeds.
Notes 1.
2. - : Not Available.
Source : Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.
There is a decline in production of groundnut, mustard and coconut of 23.8%, 20.2% and 12.4%
respectively leading to decline in total oilseed production by 16.22% in the period of 2014-2015.
The cotton and jute production also declined by 3.05% and 4.2% in this period. There is a decline in
sesame (12.2%) and sugarcane (12.16%) production in the year 2016-2017.
 19 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

Index No. (base yr. 2007-2008)

2. YIELD PER HECTARE

2.1 The yield per hectare here is calculate as Kg/Hectare. The data shows that the yield per hectare of
total food grains increased by 17.08% during the period 2008-2018. The yield per hectare for total
cereals increased by 21.71% and for pulses by 29.44%. The increase for rice, wheat and coarse
cereals are 18.27%, 15.86% and 32.56% respectively.
During the period of 2012-2015, there is a decline in the yield per hectare of food grains by 2.77%.
The pulses declined by 5.70% and cereals declined by 3.10%. The yield per hectare of rice and
wheat decline by 2.89% and 7.86% respectively. The yield per hectare of coarse cereals decline in
2015 -2016 by 8.68%. Recovery was seen in subsequent years.
TABLE 4- YIELD PER HECTARE - FOODGRAINS (Kg/hectare)
Year Pulses Total Food
Rice Wheat Coarse Cereals Total grains
Cereals
2008-09 2178 2907 1459 2183 659 1909
2009-10 2125 2839 1212 2075 630 1798
2010-11 2239 2988 1531 2256 691 1930
2011-12 2393 3177 1590 2415 699 2078
2012-13 2461 3117 1617 2449 789 2129
 20 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

2013-14 2424 3075 1677 2438 764 2101

2014-15 2390 2872 1729 2373 744 2070
2015-16 2400 3034 1579 2392 656 2056
2016-17 2494 3200 1750 2525 786 2129
2017-18 2576 3368 1934 2657 853 2235

Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

2.2 In case of oilseeds, the yield per hectare for total oilseed increasedby 27.63%. The yield per
hectare for groundnut and mustard (rapeseed) increased by 62.77% and 23.36% respectively for the
period of 2008- 2018. For sugarcane and cotton the yield per hectare increased by 24.24% and
9.93% respectively. In the period of 2014-15 there was decline in yield per hectare of oilseeds by
10.06% - 20% in groundnut and 8.33% in mustard; and cotton by 13.35%. The yield per hectare for
sugarcane declined in year 2012-13 and 2016-17 by 4.76% and 2.43% respectively, but has
recovered in subsequent years. The yield per hectare for jute saw fluctuations but increased overall by
17.58% in periodof 2008-2018.
TABLE 5- YIELD PER HECTARE - COMMERTIOAL CROPS (kg/hectare)
Rapeseed & Total Raw
YEAR Groundnut Mustard Oilseeds Sugarcane Cotton Jute &
Mesta
2008-09 1163 1143 1,006 64,553 403 2,071
2009-10 991 1183 958 70,020 403 2,349
2010-11 1411 1185 1,193 70,091 499 2,192
2011-12 1323 1121 1,133 71,668 491 2,283
2012-13 996 1262 1,169 68,254 486 2,281
2013-14 1750 1188 1,153 69,839 532 2,449
2014-15 1400 1089 1,037 69,859 461 2,550
2015-16 1465 1,183 968 70,720 415 2,421
2016-17 1398 1,304 1,195 69,001 512 2,585
2017-18 1893 1,410 1,284 80,198 443 2,435
Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
 21 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

3. AREA UNDER CULTIVATION

3.1 The area under cultivation has kept fluctuating over years. For food grains it increased by
 22 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

3.84% over the period of 2008-2018. The area under cultivation for pulses increased by 34.90%,
despite decrease of 8.44% during the period 2014-15. For cereals in total, the area under cultivation
decreased by 2.92% - for rice and coarse cereals there was decrease of 3.84% and 11.48
respectively. For wheat an increase of 7.03% was seen, despite of decrease of 4.1% during the period
2014-18.
TABLE 6 - AREA UNDER CULTIVATION - FOODGRAINS (lakh hectares)
Year Rice Wheat Coarse Total Pulses Total Food gains
Cereals cereals
2008-09 455 278 275 1007 221 1228
2009-10 419 285 277 981 233 1213
2010-11 429 291 283 1003 264 1267
2011-12 440 299 264 1003 245 1248
2012-13 428 300 248 975 233 1207
2013-14 440 312 257 1008 252 1260
2014-15 439 310 242 990 231 1220
2015-16 435 304 244 983 249 1232
2016-17 440 308 250 998 294 1292
2017-18 438 297 243 978 298 1275
2018-19 438 291 220 949 290 1239
Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

3.2 In case of oilseeds, the area under cultivation for total oilseeds has declined by 11.10% with
decline of 20.13% and 5.40% for groundnut and mustard (rapeseed) respectively. The area under
cultivation for jute declined by 17.78%.
Though there was decline in the area of cultivation during 2014-17 for cotton (17.20%) and
sugarcane (13.62%), the area of cultivation had increased overall for period 2008-2018 for
sugarcane and cotton by 7.01%and 33.90% respectively.
TABLE7- AREA UNDER CULTIVATION - MAJOR COMMERCIAL CROPS (lakh
hectares)
Year Groundnut Rapeseed & Total Sugarcane Cotton (Lint) Raw Jute
Mustard Oilseeds & Mesta

2008-09 61.6 63 275.6 44.2 94.1 9

2009-10 54.8 55.9 259.6 41.8 101.3 9.1
2010-11 58.6 69 272.2 48.8 112.4 8.7
2011-12 52.6 58.9 263.1 50.4 121.8 9
2012-13 47.2 63.6 264.8 50 119.8 8.7
2013-14 55.3 67 285.3 50.1 116.9 8.5
 23 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

2014-15 46.9 57.9 257.3 51.4 130.8 8.1

2015-16 45.9 57.4 219.3 49.3 122.9 7.8
2016-17 53.4 60.7 261.8 44.4 108.3 7.6
2017-18 49.2 59.6 245 47.3 126 7.4
Notes 1. Oilseed data comprises total for nine oilseeds out of the eleven in all.
: 2. -: Not Available.

Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

CONCLUSION
Agricluture in India has grown significantly over years. Under the policy of NFSM better
seeds , farming inputs, demonstration for cropping system and other incentives were provided by the
government for cultivation of the crops; which led to increase in the the production and yeild per
herctare of the crops. The area under cultivation has decreaseddue to population pressure. Increasing
demand for industrialization, urbanization, housing and infrastructure is forcing conversion of
agricultural land to non –agricultural uses has limited the scope for expansion of the area available
for cultivation. Increaing population alsoputs strain on water resource and as more water is used to
fulfil industrial and housing needs; less is available for irrigation.Hence there is need for better water
resource management and enhancing irrigation facilities and make these available to farmers. Also
there is a need to spread awareness about soil nutrient management so as to maintain soil fertility and
ensure better yield. Lastly I want to suggest that farmers should be made aware about the various
government schemes and iniciatives so that the can take full benefit form it and increase their
incomes and crop production.

REFRENCES
1. Ramesh Chand and Shinoj Parappurathu, “Historical and Spatial Trends in Agriculture: Growth
Analysis at National and State level in India”, Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy
Research, 2011
2. Dr. Babita Jaiswal and Chitra Sharma, “Agriculture: Under the Five Year Plan and Ahead”,
International Research Journal of Management Science andTechnology, Vol. 6 Issue 12. , 2015
3. Ajit Maru, “Agriculture, Farming, Food, Nutrition and Technology: From the Green Revolution to
the Ever Green Revolution: The Case of India”, GlobalForum on Agricultural Research, 2013
4. Dr. T. Haqque and Ankita Goyel, “Role of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in Improving
Agricultural Productivity in Selected Districts”, Councilfor Social Development (CSD), 2013.
5. C.S.C. Sekhar, “Indian Agriculture – A Review of Policy and Performance”,Yojana, June 2014
 24 JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF MUMBAI, ISSN: 0972-0766, Vol. XCVI, No.9, 2023

6. Abhishek Mukherjee, “Initiatives in Agriculture Sector”, Kurukshetra, Vol.67,October 2019

7. MOSPI, “Statistical Year Book India 2015-16”, Chapter 8 Agriculture,
http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/Statistical_year_book_india_chapters/Agri culture_writeup.pdf
8. PRS India, “State of Agriculture in India”,2017 https://www.prsindia.org/policy/discussion-
papers/state-agriculture-india
9. RBI, Annual Reports, “Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy”
https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?head=Handbook%20of
%20Statistics%20on%20Indian%20Economy
10. http://agricoop.nic.in/
11. https://nfsm.gov.in/
12. https://darpg.gov.in/sites/default/files/National%20Food%20Security%20Missi on.pdf
13. https://www.ibef.org/industry/agriculture-india.aspx
14. http://www.fao.org/india/fao-in-india/india-at-a-glance/en/
15. http://psa.gov.in/sites/default/files/pdf/Report%20of%20Policies%20and%20A ction_4-9-2019.pdf

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