Indian Agriculture: Performance and Challenges – A Case Study

Abstract

The post economic reform policies have diversified the Indian economy from an agro based economy to a partially industrialised and service based economy. This decrease in agriculture’s contribution to GDP has not been accompanied by a matching reduction in the share of agriculture in employment. About 52% of the total workforce is still employed by the farm sector which makes more than half of the Indian population dependant on agriculture for subsistence. Therefore the declining trend in agricultural growth has emerged as a major concern for researchers and policymakers. A large number of studies have enquired into the growth process of agricultural sector and has criticised the neo-liberal policy regime for a general neglect of the sector. The sector has recorded wide variations in yield and productivity and there was a shift towards cash crop cultivations. Moreover, agricultural indebtedness pushed several farming households into poverty and some of them resorted to extreme measures like suicides. In this context, the present paper reviews the performances and challenges of the Indian agriculture with special reference to the tribal agricultural farmers. The paper also concludes that much of the slowdown in agriculture is caused by the following factors like infrastructure, technology and environmental factors, lack of political commitment and poor implementation of policies.