Agriculture is a critical sector of the Indian economy. Though its contribution to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has fallen from about 30 percent in 1990-91 to less than 15 percent in 2011-12, a trend that is expected in the development process of any economy, agriculture yet forms the backbone of development. An average Indian still spends almost half of his/her total expenditure on food, while roughly half of India’s work force is still engaged in agriculture for its livelihood. Being both a source of livelihood and food security for a vast majority of low income, poor and vulnerable sections of society, its performance assumes greater significance in view of the proposed National Food Security Bill and the ongoing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.
The agriculture sector in India has undergone significant structural changes in the form of decrease in share of GDP from 30 percent in 1990-91 to 14.5 percent in 2010-11 indicating a shift from the traditional agrarian economy towards a service dominated one. This decrease in agriculture’s contribution to GDP has not been accompanied by a matching reduction in the share of agriculture in employment. About 52% of the total workforce is still employed by the farm sector which makes more than half of the Indian population dependant on agriculture for sustenance (NSS 66th Round). However,within the rural economy, the share of income from non-farm activities has also increased.
Growth Performance of Agriculture
Overall Growth
The growth performance of the agriculture sector has been fluctuating across the plan periods (Fig 1.3). It witnessed a growth rate of 4.8 per cent during the Eighth plan period (1992–97). However, the agrarian situation saw a downturn towards the beginning of the Ninth plan period (1997–2002) and the Tenth plan period (2002–07), when the agricultural growth rate came down to 2.5 percent and 2.4 percent respectively. This crippling growth rate of 2.4 percent in agriculture as against a robust annual average overall growth rate of 7.6 per cent for the economy during the tenth plan period was clearly a cause for concern. The trend rate of growth during the period 1992-93 to 2010-11 is 2.8 percent while the average annual rate of growth in agriculture & allied sectors-GDP during the same period is 3.2 percent.
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State of Indian Agriculture
Land use in India
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