Over the years, the State has been witnessing a trend in which large tracts of agricultural land remains uncultivated or used for non-farming activities. Size of agricultural land shrank by about 3.72 lakh hectares in the last decade.
According to official reports, nearly 62.59 lakh hectares of land was cultivated in 2000-01, which decreased to 57.96 lakh hectares in 2003-04 and 54.24 lakh hectares in 2013-14. While the area where one crop was grown was 28.41 lakh hectares in 2003-04, it rose to 36.30 lakh hectares by 2013-14.
According to the Economic Survey Report of the Odisha Government, only 28.3 per cent land of the total land has irrigation facilities which are far below the size compared to States such as Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar.
The State Government has admitted that States such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have better irrigation facilities in comparison to Odisha.
While 98 per cent land producing major crops is irrigated in Punjab, it is 85 per cent in Haryana as against the national average of 45 per cent. Further, the number of major and medium farmers was declining though the percentage of small farmers was on the rise.
According to 2011 Census, there were 41 lakh farmers and 67,040,000 agriculture labourers out of 175,042,000 involved in agriculture in the State. While the percentage was 64.8 in 2001, it has come down to 61.82 per cent now. Similarly, the number of female farmers has reduced in both the Census reports.
According to the Agriculture Census Report, the contribution of agriculture to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is less than other sectors.
While the agriculture sector had contributed 21.67 per cent by 1999-2000 fiscal as per the 2004-05 report, it was reduced to 12.74 per cent by 2013-14.
large quantity of land being converted to non agricultural purposes is a cause of concern as the State Government pumped huge investments to create irrigation facilities. It seems that the cheap rice scheme is creating havoc on the agricultural economy of the State, feel experts.
With cheap rice available at door steps, villagers are in no mood to go to the field
to work and a serious dearth of agricultural labourers is posing a threat to the primary sector.
The Re 1- a- kg flagship programme of the Odisha Government is being successfully implemented with over three crore people getting benefited.
The scheme is contributing considerably to weaken the agriculture sector in the State and a steady decline in agricultural activities, feel agricultural experts.