Agricultural Resources in India

Introduction

The term agriculture is derived from Latin words, ‘ager’ meaning land and ‘cultura’ meaning cultivation. Thus, agriculture meaning land cultivation. Agriculture is purely land based activity. Agriculture with its allied sectors which includes animal husbandry, forestry and pisiculture is the largest livelihood provider in India, especially in rural areas. Agriculture employs about 54.6 percent of workforce of India and has played a vital role in development of the economy of India. It is the backbone of Indian economy.

As such, a prosperous agricultural sector, ensuring higher purchasing power in the rural areas, generates demand for the industrial goods. It contributes a great figure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). India has a vast land area, high percentage of cultivable land, rich soils, wide climate range and a long growing season. The environmental factors provide a wide agronomic range where a variety of crops comprising cereals, pulses, oil-seeds and industrial crops like jute, cotton, sugarcane and tea can be grown. Besides food grains, it also produces raw material for various industries.

Indian Agriculture: Traditional and Modern (Agricultural Resources in India)

In India, agriculture has been the way of life. It was described as intensive subsistence agriculture before independence because Indian farmers were cultivating small land holding with draught animals and family labor. The techniques were primitive and chemical fertilizers were not used. Hence, the productivity per unit area is very low.

There was a lack of infrastructural facilities like electricity, irrigation and credit. A few individuals owned land and majority of the tillers were tenants. It had dismal performance in the first half of 20th century. This period witnessed severe droughts and famines. During partition about one-third of the irrigated land went to Pakistan. To overcome this problem Government has took some measures.

• The construction of multipurpose projects with the development of irrigation as one of its major components was the first serious step towards the provision of agriculture infrastructure
• Land reform was the main focus of Five Year Plan. The right to inheritance has already resulted in fragmentation of land holdings necessitating consolidation of holdings. The laws of land reforms were  enacted but implementation was lacking.
• The Community Development Program was started in 1952 in order to bring about overall development including agriculture development but it could not make any significant progress
• The Intensive Agricultural District Program (IRDP) was started in 1952 on pilot basis. It aimed at technical know-how, credit and agricultural technology to set up agricultural production.
• A break through in seed technology was achieved by mid-sixties and the High Yielding Variety  (HYV) programme was launched in 1967-68. This strategy of agricultural development was based on water, fertilizer and seeds. This is also known as ‘Package Technology’ or ‘Green Revolution Technology’.
• The White Revolution initiated to improve Indian agriculture. But this too led to the concentration of development of few selected areas
• Provision for crop insurance against drought, flood, cyclone, fire and disease, establishment of Grameen Banks and cooperative societies.
• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) personal Accident Insurance Scheme introduced by the Government of India.

Agricultural Production

Agriculture production is the process of transformation agriculture resources into a form that gives the maximum satisfaction as per the output is concerned. The production includes actual area cultivated and actual yield of a crop. Whatever is used in producing a commodity is called the input e.g. soil, tractor, tools, seeds, manure, water etc. These inputs are categorized into two groups- primary and secondary inputs. Primary inputs render service only and secondary inputs merged with the commodity for which they are used.

Agricultural production, including food and other crops and livestock husbandry. It is determined by the interaction of natural resources like soil, water, flora and fauna; land tenure, labour relations; international trade agreements; public opinion and concerns and environmental fluctuations.

There are four factors of agricultural production.

• Land is the most crucial factor for production. Regardless of the power machines used and decline of traditional methods of farming, the importance of land cannot be undermined. States having high percentage of Net sown area like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat have holding size above the national average.
• Labour Land is a passive factor whereas labour is an active factor of production. The efforts done by humans both mentally and physically with the aim of increasing income is known as labour. Even though mechanized agriculture is in trend , there are some agricultural activities which can only be performed by the labour.
• Capital It is needed for all the purchase of inputs, be it seeds, fertilizers or machines. Capital forms the core of agriculture. All the man-made goods used in the production of crops and allied activities are included in the capital. The big farmers can buy better implements, purchase better seeds and even can have better market for their products whereas for small farmers face much difficulty.
• Entrepreneur An entrepreneur is a person who organizes the other factors and undertake the risks and uncertainties involved in the production. He hires the other three factors, brings them together, organizes and coordinates them so as to earn maximum profit. Entrepreneur is ubiquitous, an attribute of the market mechanism that can never be absent. It’s not always the profit motive which drives the entrepreneur, it’s also the person who identifies new opportunities among the other factors without necessarily controlling them.