March 25, 2021

Indian Agriculture Sector Class 12 | Problems | Green Revolution |

By admin Class 12 Economics, Class 12 Indian Economy 0 Comments

Table of Contents

Indian Agriculture Sector

Agriculture Sector is also called as Primary sector of the country and is the primary source of livelihood for many people. Agriculture refers to activity of growing crops, fruits, flowers and rearing of livelihood. It is called as primary activity because it involves use of natural resources directly and provides raw material to industries or secondary sector.

Significance of Agriculture Sector

Some Significances of agriculture sector are as follow:

Provides Employment: Agriculture sector can also be called as employing sector because India is a Village based country have largest number of employees who are working in fields. Since Independence agriculture is providing employment to all the needy ones and till now it is the largest employer sector of India.
Helps in Capital Formation: Agriculture helps in capital formation through contributing in the GDP and exporting surplus production to other countries. The activities which are perform under agriculture sector are classified as primary activities of the country and are added in the production of Primary Sector and are consider to be the significant component for the wealth of the country. With the time, the contribution is declining due to the growth of Secondary and tertiary sector in the country but that does not decrease its importance.
Works as a Feeder: Agriculture Sector provides raw material to different kinds of industries due to which agriculture sector has a prime significance in the economy. It also provides goods to households which are also known as wage goods and are necessities for life such as wheat, rice, different kinds of pulses etc.
Works as a Provider: Agriculture sector supports the transportation sector as the bulk of the production is transferred through the roadways or by railways which indirectly supports to the infrastructure of the country.
Share in Trade: Agriculture sector shares a major part in the domestic as well as international trade. The surplus production from the agriculture sector is exported to foreign countries so that currency of different countries can be earned and provides contribution in domestic trade also as farm products are needed by everyone.

Features of Indian Agriculture Sector in India

Features of agriculture sector in India are as follow:

Population Pressure: The agriculture sector bears a very large number of population which give rise to the hidden unemployment which is also known as disguised unemployment. It occurs when the number of people employed on a piece of land is much greater than the actually needed for the same production activity.
Subsistence in Nature: Subsistence refers to that type of farming which is done for the self consumption or for the family. Majority of farming activity in India is subsistence based. It does not done for the purpose of earning profits which shows that the farming in India is not commercialised.
Depend on Monsoon: Agriculture in India is traditionally based due to which Indian farmers lacks with modern irrigation facilities and have to depend upon monsoon for the irrigation of their land. Agriculture requires moderate rainfall but sometimes, the rainfall is less due to which the production of the finished food grain is of cheaper quality whereas more rainfall implies same to the production.
Dominance by Animals: In India, bulk of farmers are dependent on animals for different kinds of activities to be perform for the production of food grain which shows backwardness in terms of technology and rely more on animals as well as human power.
Less Productivity: Inspite of the fact that surplus production is exported to other countries but the productivity level in India is very low. Productivity refers to the output which is produced from per hectare of land. With the use of different kinds of fertlisers, the fertility of the land is decreasing.
Small and Scattered Lands: In India, the farming land are small in size and are of at different places of the same person due to which the farmer have to invest more money for the production.

Problem with Indian Agriculture Sector in India

Some Problems with agriculture sector in Indian are as follow:

Lack of Investment: Investment in the agriculture sector is decreasing day by day as many people are moving to urban areas from rural areas in search of jobs and for better quality of life. Due to which the investment in the agriculture sector is decreasing and lacks with the resources.
Bad Irrigation Facilities: The irrigation facility in India is dependent on rainfall. Good rainfall implies good production whereas bad rainfall implies bad production.
Organised System of Marketing: The agriculture market in India is not well organised due to which only large farmers can sell their output in the market but the small farmers are left to sell their production in the market and have to sell their production at a price lower than the fixed by the government of India.
Availability of Inputs/ Resources: In India, the farmers lack with the use of modern resources like fertilisers, pesticides, tractors, harvesters etc. for the production. Instead of this farmers uses outdated techniques and resources which resulted in the less production of the output.
Facilities of Storage: The facilities of storage is does not with the farmers due to which a part of production is destroyed or deteriorated with the passage of time.

Reforms Marked in Indian Agriculture Sector

In agriculture sector, the government of India has taken majorly three reforms after independence by which the problems can be tackled in the agriculture sector. It is also known as agrarian reforms.

Reforms of agriculture sector in India are as follow:

Technical Reform: Technical reforms are those reforms which are related with the technique of farming in India.

Use of HYV Seeds: HYV stands for High Yielding Variety of seeds. Through these seeds the production capacity can be increase which is also promoted by the government of India at the time of Green Revolution by which the production capacity has been increased in many parts of the countries.
Use of Chemical Fertilisers: Chemical fertilisers are used to enhance the production. These are used to kill the insects which deteriorate the crops.
Use of Scientific Farming: Under this reform the scientific farming practice for the cultivation of crop has increased. Under this the crop which is to be cultivated is selected along with the keeping in mind about the quality. After that, Soil is prepared and seeds are selected along with the ferilisers for the cultivation process.
Mechanisation: Under this, many steps are taken for the spread of machineries by enabling cheap credit for the small farmers by cooperative institutions so that all the farmers can get the benefit of mechanised cultivation

Institutional Reform: Institutional reforms are those reforms which are related with the land. Therefore, it is also known as land reforms.

Consolidation of Scattered Land Holdings: The lands which are scattered of a farmer are provided with a single piece of land at one place by the government so that the farmer has not to invest more money and now can cultivate more with the low level of investment.
Rent Regulation: To end the illegal extortion of money in the form of rent has now been abolished by fixing the rates of rent. In general the tenant of the land is allow to pay only 1/3^rd of the value of the crop.
Discontinuations of Intermediaries: Intermediaries which are known as zamindars have been abolished by providing the ownership of the land to the actual cultivator of the land.

General Reform: General reforms are those reforms which are in general.

Better Irrigation Facilities: Irrigation facilities are increase by building dams, canals so that better quality of food grains can be produced and farmers are not to depend on rainfall to irrigate their land.
Organised Market: Organised markets are formed for the small farmers also so that they can also sell their produced food grain to gain some profit.
Credit Facilities: credit facilities are provided by the banks and many different types of institutes are formed by the government to provide credit facilities to the farmers.

Green Revolution – Boon or Bane

The term Green means crops and Revolution means spurt. It is the revolution in which production is increase by using different kinds of modern inputs to make the country self-sufficient in the terms of food grains. In the beginning it is restricted to wheat and rice cultivation but with the passage of time many types of crops are involved in it.

Features of Green Revolution:

Increase in Crop Productivity: The productivity of the crop has been increased as different kinds of inputs were being used.
Increase in Commercial Farming: With the implementation of green revolution, the farmers were having surplus production in their hand which they sold in the market to earn some profit which shows a sign of growth of development in agriculture sector.
Self Sufficiency: With the increased production now the India have started maintaining buffer stock of the produced food grains.

Limitation of Green Revolution:

All though a green revolution shows a rise in the production level of food grain but have some limitations which are as follows:

The green revolution comes only in some crops such as wheat and rice. It does not cover all the produced goods like jute, cotton etc.
The spread of green revolution is only remarkable in the states like Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra but the states like Eastern UP, Bihar its impact is very less
The majority of farming population is belong to small farmer due to which the technologies which are used in green revolution are expensive which they can not afford.

You May Also Read Indian Economy on The Eve of Independence, Economic Planning, Agriculture Sector, Strategy of Industrial Growth, India’s Foreign Trade, Economic Reforms Since 1991, Poverty, Human Capital Formation, Rural Development, Unemployment, Environment, India China Pakistan Comparative Study for better understanding of the chapters and scoring higher in upcoming exams.

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