Agriculture continues to remain the backbone of the country’s economy. If it lags behind, it will surely drag down growth, writes RAJESH AGGARWAl
India achieved a record food grain production of 259.29 million tonnes in the 2011-2012 crop year. The output was an increase over the previous crop year's production of 235.88 million tonnes, which again was a record in itself. While in the year 2012-2013, the output fell slightly to 255.36 million tonnes due to drought in some parts of the country, this year again expectations indicate a record breaking production.
Data from the Economic Survey shows that in 1961, the time preceding the Green Revolution, the per capita food grain availability in India was 468.7 grams. The population at this point of time in India was around 439.2 million. As India entered the era of the Green Revolution, the food grain production increased manifold. At the same time, India's population too grew rapidly. In 1991, when India had doubled its population to 846.4 million, the per capita availability of foodgrains too had increased to 510.1 grams.
However, thereafter, the yields started plateauing and the per capita availability of food grain started falling as the Indian population continued to grow, crossing the one billion mark. In 2011, 438.6 grams of foodgrains were available to each Indian citizen. With a population of 1.2 billion people and growing, India as a country has the most number of mouths to feed after China. But, unlike China whose population is expected to peak over the next 10 years, India's population is likely to keep growing well till 2060. This drives home the point that Indian agriculture sector is in urgent need to overcome plateauing yields to meet the growing demand at home.
Right up to the mid 1960s, when India witnessed a major food crisis and famine, requiring massive food aid and shipments from abroad, Indian farmers battled erratic rainfall, crop failures and low yields. However, with the introduction of intensive farming to increase production per unit of land, the agricultural yields increased and food could be made available to the Indian plate. The results were revolutionary.
Yet, over four decades after the agriculture boom, Indian food production needs another revival. We are adding to our population every day but our land area is not increasing. The increasing population of India (already 16 per cent of the world lives in India which has two per cent of the total landmass of the world) is limiting the availability of per capita cultivable land. In such a scenario, how will we ensure that in the next 50 years, our food production remains sufficient to feed the increasing population of the countryIJ Indian farmers are among the leading producers of wheat, rice, fruit, sugarcane, groundnut and tobacco. They are also the world's largest producers of pulses, jute, tea and cauliflower. However, there is still immense potential to increase the total production if they judiciously and intelligently use agro-chemicals to augment their production.
Despite being the fourth largest producer of agro-chemicals globally, after the US, Japan and China, the usage of insecticides in India is actually very low — at just 0.58kg per hectare. The world's average pesticide consumption is three kilogram/ha.
Some of the reasons for low consumption in India are low purchasing power of farmers, lack of awareness among them, limited reach and lower accessibility of products. Effort is required in this area so that we are able to increase our production per unit of land and ensure the per capita availability of food doesn't fall.
For farmers, the use of agro-chemicals is very crucial to take care of the health of their crops and protect them against the menace of pest attacks. The market size of Indian agro-chemicals industry is expected to more than double to five billion dollars by 2017 on rising agri-production and increasing awareness among farmers. This is a positive sign. In India, per capita pesticide consumption is less than 500 grams/hectare, which is far below the world average of about three kilograms per hectare. This needs to increase to keep up with our rising food requirements.
Agriculture continues to be the backbone of Indian economy; it employs 58 per cent of the total workforce, and accounts for a major share of exports. With sufficient production, it plays a crucial role in ensuring that as a country we are self-sufficient in feeding our people. And agro-chemicals remain a key to the success of Indian agriculture.