“Agriculture is the of process of cultivation of land or soil for production purpose”. Agriculture plays a very vital role for economy of Pakistan and its development. 48% of labour force is engaged directly with agriculture. So it is the main source of living or income of the major part of economy population.
Agriculture is the backbone of Economic System of a Given Country. Increasing population means that there has to be an increased focus the primary sector. This ensures that the country can focus more on developing the economy.
Indian farmers are facing the problem of low income from their marketable surplus crops in the absence of proper organized markets and adequate transportation facilities. Scattered and sub-divided holdings are also creating serious problem for marketing their products.
Meaning and Types of Agriculture
- Shifting Cultivation (rotating crops).
- Intensive Pastoral Farming (focused on grazing animals).
- Subsistence Cultivation (seeking out a living; often done for consumption by family).
- Commercial Cultivation (usually focused on cash crops such as cocoa, cotton, palm oil, etc.
5 Key Measures to Improve Farming Productivity
- Smart water management. Using of drop by drop or sprinkler irrigation systems you can increase crop yields up to 50 percent.
- Varieties selection.
- Conservation tillage.
- Nitrogen.
- Farm management software.
8 Salient Features of Indian Agriculture
- Subsistence agriculture: Most parts of India have subsistence agriculture.
- Pressure of population on agriculture:
- Importance of animals:
- Dependent upon Monsoon:
- Variety of crops:
- Predominance of food crops:
- Insignificant place to given fodder crops:
- Seasonal pattern:
(i) Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy because about 60% of our population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture. (ii) It provides raw materials to the industries. (iii) India earns foreign exchange by exporting agricultural products. (iv) It contributes about 29% to the Gross Domestic Product.
i Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy because about 67% of our population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture. ii It provides raw materials to the industries. iii India earns foreign exchange by exporting agricultural products. iv It contributes about 29% to the gross domestic product.
Sector-wise GDP of India
| Sector | GVA in 2020-21 (Rupees in Crore) |
|---|
| share (%) |
|---|
| 1 | Agriculture Sector | 16.38 % |
| 1.1 | Agriculture,forestry & fishing | 16.38 % |
| 2 | Industry Sector | 29.34 % |
India is a global agricultural powerhouse. It is the world's largest producer of milk, pulses, and spices, and has the world's largest cattle herd (buffaloes), as well as the largest area under wheat, rice and cotton.
Agriculture is important to human beings because it forms the basis for food security. It helps human beings grow the most ideal food crops and raise the right animals with accordance to environmental factors.
According to the Economic Survey (2017-2018), Indian agriculture sector accounts for 17-18 percent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment to around 50% of the country's workforce. Agriculture sector in India is therefore rightly called as backbone of Indian economy. sustaining growth in India.
Agriculture is an applied science which encompasses all aspects of crop production including horticulture, livestock rearing, fisheries, forestry, etc. Agriculture is defined as an art, science and business of producing crops and livestock for economic purposes.
Farming systems often consist of a range of interdependent gathering, production and post-harvest processes, so that, besides farming, rural household livelihoods can encompass various activities in other key agricultural sub-sectors including livestock, agro-forestry and fishing and aquaculture.
3.3 India's economy has been described as 'huge, complex and growing'. to World Bank calculations based on purchasing power parity (PPP), India was rated as the world's fifth largest economy in 1994 and it is expected to be the fourth largest economy in the world by about 2020, behind China, United States and Japan.
The following are some of the institutional factors which are equally responsible for the backwardness of Indian agriculture:
- Small Size of Holdings: The average size of agricultural holdings in India is very small and uneconomic and it is even less than 2 hectares or 5 acres.
- Defective Pattern of Land Tenure:
An average Indian farming household earns Rs 77,124 per annum; it is Rs 216,708 for a farmer from Punjab. A Punjabi farmer, therefore, is also an aspiration for millions of others in the country, over 80 per cent of them being small and marginal farmers.
Farming is a remarkable part of the economy in India, as it adds about 18 per cent of the absolute GDP. It gives employment to over 60 per cent of the population. (2). Farmers are an important part of the existence of our various societies because they provide food and fiber, which gives us nutrition and cloth.
For the modernization of agriculture, scientific methods should be applied. Qualitative seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides should be made available to the Indian farmers. Multipurpose projects are being built in all the states of India. These projects have made irrigation facilities approachable to the farmers.
