AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

AGRICULTURE

• At the time of independence, the land tenure system was characterized by intermediaries (like zamindars) who merely collected rent (Lagaan) from the actual tillers of the soil.
• The low productivity of the agricultural sector forced India to import food from the United States of America.
• The agricultural sector accounted for the largest share of the workforce with approximately 70 75 percent. So, agricultural development was focused right from the First Five Year Plan.

Features (or Problems) of Agriculture

• Low Productivity: Indian agricultural sector was known for its low productivity. Lack of knowledge was responsible for stagnation in this sector.
• Disguised Unemployment: It refers to a state in which more people are engaged in work than are really needed. There were very high incidents of disguised unemployment in the sector between 1950 and 1990.
• 3. High dependency on Rainfall: Due to poor agricultural techniques, farmers depended largely on rainfall. There was minimum growth in this sector in the year that receives the least rainfall.
• Subsistence Farming: It is the practice of growing crops only for one's own use without any surplus for trade. There were also very high incidents of subsistence farming.
• Outdated Technology: There were many obsolete technologies and harvesting machines. Harvesting was generally done manually and was very tedious.
• Conflicts between Tenants and Landlords: Farmers were often a part of a critical contract that bound them to their landlords. Landlords used to extract a huge amount of interest from farmers and deprived them of their necessities.

Policies for Growth of Agriculture

The measures undertaken to promote the growth in the agricultural sector can be broadly categorized as 'Land Reforms' and 'Green Revolution

1. Land Reforms

Definition: Land Reforms primarily refer to changes in the ownership of landholdings, Land reform measures have been introduced by various underdeveloped and developing countries, for attaining a rational land distribution pattern and viable farming structure.

• There was a great need for land reforms in a country like India, where the majority of its population still depends on agriculture.
• Land reforms were needed to achieve the objective of Equity in agriculture.

Abolition of Intermediaries

• The idea behind this step was that ownership of land would give incentives to the actual tillers to make improvements (provided sufficient capital was made available to them).
• The abolition of intermediaries brought 200 lakh tenants into direct contact with the government.
• The ownership rights granted to tenants gave them the incentive to increase output and this contributed to growth in agriculture.

However, the goal of equity was not fully served by abolition of intermediaries because of following reasons:

• In some areas, the former zamindars continued to own large areas of land by making use of some loopholes in the legislation.
• In some cases, tenants were evicted and zamindars claimed to be self-cultivators:
• Even after getting the ownership of land, the poorest of the agricultural laborers did not benefit from land reforms.

Land Ceiling

Definition: Land Ceiling refers to fixing the specified limit of land, which could be owned by an individual.

• Beyond the specified limit, all lands belonging to a particular person would be taken over by the Government and will be allotted to the landless cultivators and small farmers.
• The purpose of land ceiling was to reduce the concentration of land ownership in a few hands
• Land ceiling helped to promote equity in the agricultural sector.
• However, the land ceiling legislation was challenged by the big landlords. They delayed its implementation. This delay time was used by them to get the land registered in the name of close relatives, thereby escaping from the legislation.

Conclusion

Land reforms were successful in Kerala and West Bengal because the governments of these states were committed to the policy of land reforms. Unfortunately, other states did not have the same level of commitment and vast inequality in landholdings continued.

1. New Agricultural Strategy: Green Revolution

• The new agricultural strategy was adopted in India during the Third Plan, i.e., during 1960s. The traditional agricultural practices followed in India were gradually being replaced by modern technology and agricultural practices. The aim of this strategy was to raise agricultural production and productivity in selected regions of the country through the introduction of modern inputs like fertilizers, credit, marketing facilities, etc.

Green Revolution

• India's agriculture vitally depends on the monsoon and in case of a shortage of monsoon, the farmers had to face a lot of Green Revolution troubles.
• Moreover, the productivity in the agricultural sector was very low due to the use of outdated technology and absence of required infrastructure.
• As a result of intensive and continued efforts of many agricultural scientists, this stagnation in agriculture was permanently broken by the 'Green Revolution'

Green Revolution refers to the large increase in production of food grains due to the use of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds. Green Revolution is a spectacular advancement in the field of agriculture.

• HYV Seeds: Main Reason for Agricultural Revolution
• These seeds can be used in those places where there are adequate facilities for drainage and water supply.
• As compared to other ordinary seeds, these seeds need heavy doses of chemical fertilizers (4 to 10 times more fertilizers) to get the largest possible production.
• So, to derive benefit from HYV seeds, Indian farmers need seeds, the yield multiplied to have:
• • Reliable irrigation facilities
  • Financial resources (to purchase fertilizers and pesticides).

Important Effects of Green Revolution

The spread of Green Revolution technology-enabled India to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains. India was no longer at the mercy of America, or any other nation, regarding the food requirements.

• Attaining Marketable Surplus: Green Revolution resulted in 'Marketable Surplus’. Marketable surplus refers to that part of agricultural produce that is sold in the market to farmers after meeting their own consumption requirement
• Growth in agricultural output makes a difference to the economy only when proportion of this increase is sold in the market.
  • Fortunately, a good proportion of rice and wheat produced during the green revolution period was sold by the farmers in the market.
  • Buffer Stock of Food Grains: The green revolution enabled the government to procure a sufficient amount of food grains to build a stock, which could be used in times of shortage.
• Benefit to low-income groups: As a large proportion of food grains was sold by the farm in the market, their prices declined relative to other items of consumption. The low-income groups, who spend a large percentage of their income on food, benefited from this decline in relative prices.

Risks involved Under Green Revolution

• Risk of Pest Attack: The HYV crops were more prone to attack by pests. Therefore, there was a risk that small farmers who adopted this technology could lose everything in a pest attack. However, this risk was considerably reduced by the services rendered by research institutes established by the government.
• Risk of Increase in Income Inequalities: There was a risk HYV Crops were prone to that costly inputs (HYV seeds, fertilizers, etc.) required attack by Posts under green revolution will increase the disparities between small and big farmers since only the big farmers could afford the required inputs.

Favorable steps taken by the government led to the eradication of these fears:

• True access to the needed inputs. The government provided loans at a low-interest rate to small farmers so that they could also have access to the needed inputs.
• Since the small farmers could obtain the required inputs, the output on small farms equaled the output on large farms in the course of time. As a result, the green revolution benefited small as well as rich farmers.

Subsidies to Agriculture

Definition: Subsidy, in the context of agriculture, means that the farmers get inputs at prices lower than the market prices.

 Economists in Favour of Subsidies

• The government should continue with agricultural subsidies as farming in India continues to be a risky business.
• Majority of the farmers are very poor and they will not be able to afford the required inputs without the subsidies.
• Eliminating subsidies will increase the income inequality between rich and poor farmers and will violate the ultimate goal of equity.

Economists against the Subsidies

• According to some economists, subsidies were granted by the Government to provide an incentive for adoption of the new HYV technology. Therefore, after the wide acceptance of technology, subsidies should be phased out as their purpose has been served.
• Subsidies do not benefit the poor and small farmers (target group) as benefits of a substantial amount of subsidy go to the fertilizer industry and prosperous farmers.

Critical Appraisal of Agricultural Development (1950-1990)

• The Land Reform measures and Green Revolution' were the greatest achievements of the Indian Government, in enhancing agricultural production and productivity.
• Between 1950 and 1990, there had been a substantial increase in agricultural productivity. As a result of Green revolution, India became self-sufficient in food production. Land Reforms resulted in abolition of zamindari system.
• The Proportion of GDP between 1950 and 1990 contributed by agriculture declined significantly, but not the population depending on it.
• Around 65% of the country's population continued to be employed in agriculture, even till 1990. Agricultural output could have been grown with much less people working in the sector, but industrial and service sectors were unable to absorb the extra people involved in agriculture.