52% of India’s agricultural households are indebted; with an average outstanding loan of Rs 47,000
India’s foodgrain production rose five times over six decades, according to 2016 government data, the latest available. But with the average Indian farm half as large as it used to be 50 years ago and yields among the lowest in developing economies, both the agriculture sector and farmers have been driven to the brink, shows an IndiaSpend analysis.
Output of foodgrains in India increased from 50.82 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 252.22 million tonnes in 2015-16, according to the Agriculture Statistics At A Glance 2016 report. Yield increased as well, from 522 kg per hectare (ha) in 1950-51 to 2,056 kg/ha in 2015-16.
Though it is the largest producer of pulses in the world, India’s pulses crop yield (659 kg/ha) was the lowest among BRICS countries in 2014.
Cereal yield in India was the second lowest in the BRICS list, above Russia (2,444 kg/ha), according to Food and Agriculture Organisation’s 2014 data, the latest available. China reported the highest yield of cereals (5,888 kg/ha) and pulses (1,725 kg/ha) among BRICS nations.
The reason for the low yield is excessive dependence–52% of India’s farmland is not irrigated–on the annual monsoons, which climate change is making ever more erratic, IndiaSpend reported on June 8, 2017.
“The preponderance of small and marginal holdings makes this high volatility even more worrisome, as small and marginal farmers are highly vulnerable to adverse climatic conditions,” said the State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 report.
Small and marginal farmers cannot afford to adopt modern techniques of irrigation and production. They also find it hard to use modern machinery on small plots. Stressed and burdened by indebtedness, successive crop failures and low yields, 4,659 farmers opted to end their lives in 2015, as IndiaSpend reported on January 2, 2017.
The impact of these multiple problems is that the agriculture sector’s share in India’s economy is declining. It contributed 17.5% to the country’s gross value added (current price 2011-12 series) in 2015-16, down from 18.2% in 2012-13; 18.6% in 2013-14 and 18% in 2014-15. This is further expected to decline, as the data suggest.
The contribution of the services sector is rising, from 50% in 2012-13 to 52.9% in 2015-16.
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