Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of Indian agriculture, considering India’s transition from a food deficient country requiring food aid to a food surplus economy, which is able to export grain. Various technological changes in Indian agriculture are reviewed. Low yield from land and the continuing preponderance of subsistence farming are identified as two continuing problems in Indian agriculture. Policy options for improving the performance of Indian agriculture are considered, as are prospects for invigorating high value-added agriculture.
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Notes
- 1.
See Kurosaki (2017) for a comparative analysis of the performance of Indian agriculture.
- 2.
Another issue of concern is soil degradation. See Bhattacharyya et al. (2015).
- 3.
See http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=113204 (Accessed 20 February 2017). See also FAO (2010) and (2015), Sen (1962) and Pattanayak and Puttaiah (2014).
- 4.
See also Table 1.8.
- 5.
Since household size varies, these numbers are not to be interpreted as a proportion of the population.
- 6.
Jha and Rhodes (1999) show that the small size of landholdings has acted as a deterrent to technical efficiency in Indian agriculture.
- 7.
For definitions of these subsidies see Fan et al. (2008).
- 8.
- 9.
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Jha, R. (2018). Introduction and the State of Indian Agriculture. In: Facets of India's Economy and Her Society Volume II. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95342-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95342-4_1
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