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History of Agriculture in India:
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India has the History of cultivation of various crops since times immemorial.
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The crops like Wheat and Barley were cultivated in the Indian sub continent by 9000 BC.
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Some animals like sheep and Goat were also domesticated.
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There was also history of storing the grains in the granaries.
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By 5th millennium BC Cotton was cultivated.
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Some fruits like Mango were native to the Indian sub continent.
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Peas, Sesame and dates were cultivated by the Indus valley people.
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Even today the agriculture is considered to be the main stay of Indian economy.
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Importance of Agriculture in Indian Economy:
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Agriculture is the predominant occupation in India employing more than 50% of the population In India.
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The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the indicator of the performance of an economy.
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At present (2010) the Indian GDP is $1.53 trillion.
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By the year 2015 it is expected that the India’s GDP would touch $ 2 trillion.
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The agriculture contributes about 18% to the India’s GDP.
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Though the input into the agriculture is declining for past few years, the agriculture still continues to be the biggest contributor.
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This provides raw material to various agro-based (agriculture based) industries such as Sugar, Cotton textile, Jute etc.
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Through the system of transport, processing and marketing it contributes to the tertiary sector.
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Agriculture meets the food requirement of the people in India.
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The surplus produced is exported to other countries and can generate foreign exchange.
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It provides a large market for industrial goods like fertilizers, pesticides, machinery etc.
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Agriculture reduces the inequalities in income if the agricultural income is increased.
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Progress of Agriculture in India since Independence:
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In 1947, the agricultural productivity was very low, about 50 million tonnes.
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The agriculture was mainly rained and was being done as a subsistence farming using mainly animate sources of farm power and traditional tools and equipment’s.
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More than 80% of the population living in rural areas was dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.
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The ICAR (Indian Council of Agriculture Research) was set up in the year 1929.
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ICAR is located in New Delhi
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Up to 1947 the efforts in agricultural engineering research and education was very low.
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Agriculture requires developing equipment and technologies for mechanization of agriculture for maximizing efficiency of costly inputs like seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, plant protection chemicals, and energy sources to increase higher production and productivity, reduction of drudgery; post-harvest technology and value addition, waste utilization, and generating income and employment in rural areas.
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Besides these research-cum-academic institutions, a good amount of research opportunity was opened up in the soil and water engineering with the establishment of the 1st river valley project, the Damodar Valley Corporation in 1949, to tackle the problems of soil and water conservation in Bihar and West Bengal.
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First five year plan (1951 to 1956) gave high priority to agriculture
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Soil conservation centres at different regions of the country from the First Five-Year plan.
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Subsequently all these centres were administratively combined together as a Central Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute at Dehra Dun under the ICAR in 1975, with 6 regional centres.
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Some organizations other than the ICAR have shown interest in sponsoring research in different areas of agricultural engineering, by giving financial support and as integral part of the activity of these organizations.
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Example:
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Organizations are Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources
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Department of Science and Technology; Department of Agriculture and Co-operation
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Tata Energy Research Institute
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Indian National Committee of Irrigation and Drainage
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The ICAR has remained the most important organisation in the country supporting the research in all areas of agricultural engineering and technologies
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In 1954 the ICAR for the first time sponsored a scheme to conduct state-wise survey of the existing tools and implements used by farmers.
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Note: Before that ploughs, bulls and horses were used for ploughing. Even today also the same practices are continued.
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During sixties and seventies the indigenous production of power tillers, stationary engines, power threshers, plant protection equipment and other agricultural equipments were started and expanded to cope up with the increasing demand of improved agricultural machinery for crop production and processing.
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During this period, 3 ICAR Institutes namely Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana and National Research Centre on Women in Agriculture with a unit at CIAE Bhopal (to work on reducing drudgery of Women in Agriculture) were established and 10 All India Coordinated Research Projects and number of AP Cess funded ad-hoc schemes were initiated in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering by the ICAR, as a result of which very good work have been done, both, in quality and quantity in development of equipment and technology.
Agriculture engineering:
This comprises four segments
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Farm implements and power
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Rural structures
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Soil conservation, drainage and irrigation
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Rural electricity.
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Because of the peculiar local conditions, the lack of development of electricity in a large scale, and immediate utility of implements, agricultural engineering in India has come to mean more of agricultural implements and machinery. But in fact, agricultural engineering is a very vast subject.
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What was done?
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Application of the knowledge, techniques and disciplines of various fields of engineering to the solution of problems arising in the fields of agriculture and rural living
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Object is to reducing labour
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Improving agricultural productivity per worker
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Raising the standard of living of the farmers
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Increasing the overall earnings per worker
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Agricultural universities, several agricultural engineering colleges were established, offering graduate and postgraduate courses.
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In most of the states, where such colleges were established, they took over research, education and extension from the state departments of agriculture.
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The most important step in the reorganization has been the establishment of agro-industries corporations, one in each state, with the financial assistance of the Central Ministry of Agriculture.
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Some of these industries are being substantially assisted by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India.
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The private industries as well as the government, through their agro-industries corporations, are in the field now for the supply of agricultural machinery to the farmers. To present the charging of exorbitant prices for tractors the government has fixed the maximum prices of tractors with the assistance of the Bureau of Cost Accounting in the Ministry of Finance. This organisation has helped the farmers a lot.
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Agricultural electronics has also begun and the remote-control tractors are being designed and tested in some countries.
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Linking of rivers is under consideration for quite long period of time
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India is in a position to generate more electricity in future. Availability of more electricity from atomic energy will make the progress of farm mechanization in India speedier.
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Problems in Indian Agriculture:
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Infrastructure
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Irrigation (surface irrigation and ground irrigation)
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Note: Ineffective management of protecting surface water
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Lack of mechanization
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Low capital
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Inadequate number of warehouses
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Transportation
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Small land holdings
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Seeds and fertilizers
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Productivity
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Farmer’s suicide
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Using agricultural land for other for industrial purposes
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Knowledge deficit
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High risk because of volatile nature
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Ineffective banking system to provide loans (hence Money lenders)
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National Policy for farmers:
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The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) was headed by professor MS Swaminathan
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Final report was submitted in the year 2006
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It also submitted National Policy for Farmers
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The primary focus is on farmer. It was defined holistically and not just on agriculture
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It is more comprehensive than the agriculture policy
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The objective is to improve economic viability of farming through sustainably improving net income of farmers.
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Emphasis will be on increased productivity, profitability, institutional support, and improvement of land, water, and support services apart from provisions of appropriate price policy, risk mitigation measures and so on.
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Government has already implemented the National Policy for Farmers (NPF), 2007, which aims to improve economic viability of farming and increase net income of farmers.
(As per Minister of Agriculture in March 2015 in Rajya Sabha)
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Policy provisions in NPF-2007 include, inter-alia, asset reforms in respect of land, water, livestock, fisheries and bio-resources; supply of good quality seeds and disease-free planting material, issue of soil health passbooks to the farmers and integrated pest management system; region and crop specific implements and machinery; support services for women; timely, adequate and easy reach of institutional credit at reasonable interest rates and farmer-friendly insurance instruments; support services and inputs like application of frontier technologies; agricultural bio-security system; use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and setting up of farm schools to revitalize agricultural extension; coverage of farmers under a comprehensive national social security scheme; effective implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP) across the country and establishing community foodgrain banks; development of agricultural market infrastructure and terminal markets for agriculture; curriculum reforms in agricultural universities; special categories of farming like organic farming and contract farming; rural non-farm employment initiative for farm households; and integrated approach for rural energy, etc.
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National Food Security Mission (NFSM):
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It was adopted during the 11thplan in the year 2007
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The mission is to increase the production of rice by 10 million tones , wheat 8 and pulses by 2MT by the end of 11thplan
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It continued even during the 12thplan with a total production of food grains by 25 million tones
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Rice 10 MT, wheat 8 MT, pulses 4 MT and 3 MT coarse cereals
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The government also introduced Krishi Karman awards in the year 2010-11for best performing states in food grain production
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The latest awards were