Volume : VII, Issue : XI, November - 2017

Agricultural Development for Inclusive Growth in India

Kuntala Ramesh

Abstract :

 India‘s agriculture sector continues to be the lifeline of its people and a key factor in the economy‘s overall productivity. Historically, India‘s agriculture growth has lagged growth in the overall economy. In fact, long–term average growth in agriculture has been close to 2%. India‘s population has been growing at 1.4%. Consequently, India has just managed to maintain its per capita growth in food and non–food crop production. Increasing profitability in agriculture through higher productivity has been an important goal in developing countries like India. It has become more relevant in recent years due to limited scope for expansion of arable land. Increasing yield to their technically highest level may be feasible, through adequate investment in infrastructure and technology i.e. irrigation, land development, storage, markets, etc. Besides appropriate pricing of inputs and outputs, availability of credit and extension services would facilitate access to available technology. Like most other developing countries, India has predominantly been an agrarian economy, with agriculture sector contributing the largest share to gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Under the colonial regime, Indian agriculture was geared towards the production of commercial crops (tea, coffee, rubber, cotton, etc.), while the food crops suffered from neglect. After independence, India depended heavily on imports of food grains as it inherited a stagnant, low–productivity, food–crop sector. This paper analyses the dynamics of structural transformation of the Indian economy and major drivers of transformation, giving an overview of the past achievements and the future challenges in Indian agriculture, finally identifying the key policy issues and strategies to accelerate sustainable oad–based growth in the agriculture sector in the country. 

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

KUNTALA RAMESH, Agricultural Development for Inclusive Growth in India, INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH : Volume-7 | Issue-11 | November-2017

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