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TERM PAPER PESTLE Analysis of Indian Agriculture Submitted by: Sheikh Talha RS1904 B25 10906035

Submitted to: Mr. Vishwas Chakra Narayan LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

Acknowledgement I take this opportunity to present my vote of thanks to all those guidepost who really acted as lightening pillars to enlighten our way throughout this project that has led to successful and satisfactory completion of this study. We are really grateful to our COD Mr.Devdhar shetty for providing us with an opportunity to undertake this project in this university and providing us with all the facilities. We are highly thankful to Mr.vishwas chakra Narayan for his active support, valuable time and advice, whole-hearted guidance, sincere cooperation and painstaking involvement during the study and in completing the assignment of preparing the said project within the time stipulated. Lastly, We are thankful to all those, particularly the various friends , who have been instrumental in creating proper, healthy and conductive environment and including new and fresh innovative ideas for us during the project, their help, it would have been extremely difficult for us to prepare the project in a time bound framework.

SHEIKH TALHA

INTRODUCTION Agriculture’s share in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined from over half at Independence to less than one-fifth currently, agriculture remains the predominant sector in terms of employment and livelihood with more than half of India’s workforce engaged in it as the principal occupation. Agriculture still contributes significantly to export earnings and is an important source of raw materials as well as of demand for many industries. India’s agriculture sector has an impressive long-term record of taking the country out of serious food shortages despite rapid population increase. This was achieved through a favourable interplay of infrastructure, technology, extension, and policy support backed by strong political will. The main source of long-run growth was technological augmentation of yields per unit of cropped area. This resulted in tripling of food grain yields, and foodgrain production increased from 51 million tonnes in 1950–51 to 217 million tonnes in 2006–07. Production of oilseeds, sugarcane, and cotton have also increased more than four-fold over the period, reaching 24 million tonnes and 355 million tonnes and 23 million bales, respectively, in 2006–07. 1.3 But, although GDP from agriculture has more than quadrupled, from Rs 108374 crore in 1950–51 to Rs 485937 crore in 2006–07 (both at 1999–2000 price), the increase per worker has been rather modest. GDP per agricultural worker is currently around Rs 2000 per month, which is only about 75% higher in real terms than in 1950 compared to a four-fold increase in overall real per capita GDP. While slower growth of GDP in agriculture than non-agriculture is expected, the main failure has been the inability to reduce the dependence of the workforce on agriculture significantly by creating enough non-farm opportunities to absorb the labour surplus in rural areas and equipping those in agriculture to access such opportunities. Half of those engaged in agriculture are still illiterate and just 5% have completed Higher Secondary education. Incomes and education are of course least among agricultural labourers. Even families operating farms now suffer from much smaller holdings (70% below 1 hectare in 2003 compared to 56% in 1982), and farming members in such families are twice as likely to be illiterate as nonfarming members. Ensuring food security and farmer welfare thus require support

systems to extend technology and scale benefits in a sustainable manner to a huge existing workforce in agriculture that lacks non-farm skills and is also ageing and getting feminized.

Growth of agricultural GDP decelerated from over 3.5% per year during 1981– 82 and 1996–97 to only around 2% during 1997–98 and 2004–05 . This deceleration, although most marked in rainfed areas, occurred in almost all States and covered almost all major sub-sectors, including those such as horticulture, livestock, and fisheries where growth was expected to be high. Consequently, growth of agricultural GDP has been well below the target of 4% set in both Ninth and Tenth Plans. In fact, Tenth Plan growth averaged even less than that during

Ninth Plan because, as was noted in the MTA, growth plummeted to below 1% during its first three years, that is from 2002–03 to 2004–05. There has been some upturn since then and growth has averaged more than 4% in the subsequent two years, with early indications that this is likely to be maintained in 2007–08 also. This revival gives hope that at least some of the causes of recent poor agricultural performance are being reversed and that the Eleventh Plan target, set at 4%, may actually be attainable. 1.6 The improved performance in the second half of Tenth Plan is a welcome development, but there is no reason for complacency. Not only is the period too short to reach firm judgment on trends, the prolonged deceleration over several years has meant that despite the improvements, per capita output of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and also of some major vegetables and fruits (e.g., potatoes and bananas) in 2006–07 remained below 1996–97 levels. Moreover, despite significant imports, food prices flared up in 2006. This was unlike during 2000–05 when, although production was even lower, prices remained subdued because of low domestic demand and depressed world prices. Part of the recent production upturn is clearly price-led, following a marked hardening of world commodity prices and possibly also responding to the fact that domestic food demand has responded positively to higher overall GDP growth at the introduction of Rural Employment Guarantee. However, although important in the short-run, such price response alone cannot be the basis of sustained agricultural growth at 4%. The

recent trend towards diversion of food crops for biofuels in surplus countries means that food security needs a stronger production response based on tackling supply side problems in the foodgrains sector. The supply side performance of agriculture is affected by a large number of factors, several of which interact among each other. These factors are the natural resource base (including rainfall), technology, infrastructure (including irrigation), and the economic environment comprising price signals and institutions . Analysis by the Steering Group for the Eleventh Plan has identified technological change (using yield potential of varieties of major crops released by the National Agricultural Research System [NARS] as a proxy), public investment (including investment on irrigation), and diversification (represented by area under fruits and vegetables) as the most important proximate determinants of growth. The Steering Group analysis shows that progress on first two of these factors slowed down from early 1990s. However, the negative effect in growth was offset by private investment, which was the fourth most important factor in the analysis, because the terms of trade, which affect profitability and thus private investment, improved during 1990–97. As a result, growth continued to be relatively high in this period. However, terms of trade turned against agriculture from 1999– 2000 to 2004–05 and reduced profitability of farming quite sharply.

POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING INDIAN AGRICULTURE Political influence on Indian agriculture is very much widespread. It ranges from incorporation of new policies for the farmers to the steps taken on their welfare and development. Political factor is often related directly with the central government that is in power. Some of the factors influencing the agriculture are as follows:

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): Economic reforms initiated since 1991 have put the Indian economy on a higher growth trajectory. Annual growth rate in the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has accelerated from below 6 per cent during the initial years of reforms to more than 8 percent in recent years. The Planning Commission in its approach paper to the Eleventh Five-Year-plan has stated that 9 per cent growth rate in GDP would be feasible during the Eleventh Plan period. However, Agriculture that accounted for more than 30 per cent of total GDP at the beginning of reforms failed to maintain its pre-reform growth. On the contrary, it witnessed a sharp deceleration in growth after the mid-1990s. This happened despite the fact that agricultural productivity in most of the states was quite low as it were, and the potential for the growth of agriculture was high.

The GDP of agriculture increased annually at more than 3 per cent during the 1980s. Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996 to 2001-02), India has been targeting a growth rate of more than 4 per cent in agriculture, but the actual achievement has

been much below the target. More than 50 per cent of the workforce of the country still depends upon agriculture for it’s livelihood. Slow growth in Agriculture and allied sectors can lead to acute stress in the economy because the population dependent upon this sector is still very large. A major cause behind the slow growth in agriculture is the consistent decrease in investments in the sector by the state governments. While public and private investments are increasing manifold in sectors such as infrastructure, similar investments are not forthcoming in Agriculture and allied sectors, leading to distress in the community of farmers, especially that of the small and marginal segment. Hence the need for incentivising states that increase their investments in the Agriculture and allied sectors has been felt.

Concerned by the slow growth in the Agriculture and allied sectors, the National Development Council (NDC), in its meeting held on 29th May, 2007 resolved that a special Additional Central Assistance Scheme (RKVY) be launched. The NDC resolved that agricultural development strategies must be reoriented to meet the needs of farmers and called upon the Central and State governments to evolve a strategy to rejuvenate agriculture. The NDC reaffirmed its commitment to achieve 4 per cent annual growth in the agricultural sector during the 11th plan. The Resolution with respect to the Additional Central Assistance scheme reads as below:

Introduce a new Additional Central Assistance scheme to incentivise States to draw up plans for their agriculture sector more comprehensively, taking agro-climatic conditions, natural resource issues and technology into account, and integrating livestock, poultry and fisheries more fully. This will involve a new scheme for Additional Central Assistance to State Plans, administered by the Union Ministry of Agriculture over and above its existing Centrally Sponsored schemes, to supplement the State-specific strategies including special schemes for beneficiaries of land reforms. The newly created National Rainfed Area Authority will on request assist States in planning for rainfed areas.

Basic Features of the RKVY: The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) has been envisaged as a comprehensive intervention based on local agro-climatic conditions to enhance investment to

achieve 4% agricultural growth rate in the 11th Five Year Plan. RKVY is a quantum jump in evolution from the variegated schematic approach followed so far through diverse but strait-jacketed schemes, to a completely new approach in agriculture planning by allowing the States to first plan a strategy and then designs the schemes to meet that strategy by providing variety and flexibility in scheme design. Under Stream-I of RKVY States have undertaken projects in the field of Micro/Minor Irrigation, Watershed Development, Horticulture, Marketing Infrastructure etc. in 2007-08. An amount of Rs. 1247.59 crore has been released to States under RKVY during 2007-08. The RKVY aims at achieving 4% annual growth in the agriculture sector during the XI Plan period, by ensuring a holistic development of Agriculture and allied sectors. The main objectives of the scheme are : (i) To incentivise the states so as to increase public investment in Agriculture and allied sectors. (ii) To provide flexibility and autonomy to states in the process of planning and executing Agriculture and allied sector schemes. (iii) To ensure the preparation of agriculture plans for the districts and the states based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of technology and natural resources. (iv) To ensure that the local needs/crops/priorities are better reflected in the agricultural plans of the states. (v) To achieve the goal of reducing the yield gaps in important crops, through focussed interventions. (vi) To maximize returns to the farmers in Agriculture and allied sectors. (vii) To bring about quantifiable changes in the production and productivity of various components of Agriculture and allied sectors by addressing them in a holistic manner.

AGRICULTURE POLICIES: The beneficial impact on agricultural situation in India of a host of wellintentioned government policies has not been as great as originally envisaged. Agriculture being a State subject, India lacks an Agricultural Policy at the National level and the onus of framing policies for agricultural development lies with the State government. The Standing Advisory Committee on Agriculture, appointed during 1989-90 made a note of it and commented, Even after four decades of independence, India has not been able to come out with a comprehensive agricultural policy nor has there been any worthwhile debate on the role of agriculture in the process of economic development. The earlier school of thought, that growth and advances in the industrial and service sector would transitively benefit the agricultural sector on the whole, has always cast agricultural development in the shadows of industrial growth.

Industrial growth in India has always been given precedence over agricultural growth and the emphasis and favours bestowed on it have continued even beyond the stage of infancy. The simplistic, reductionist assumption that agricultural sector would automatically respond to the exogenous stimuli through the trickle-down effect generated by the forces of development in industrial, trade and service sectors has prove to be a misplaced conceptualisation under the existing agrarian structure and socio-economic setup of the farming community. Industrial sector so far has been receiving a major portion of the incentives and subsidies, at the cost and neglect of the agricultural sector. It has led to a constant decline in the share of agriculture in India s Gross Domestic Product since independence, with no decrease in proportion of employment provided by this sector.

Nevertheless, statistics pertaining to performance of Indian economy in the late nineties indicate that agricultural performance has a vital role to play in boosting the overall economy. The economic data for 1998-99 reveals that agriculture has once again come to the rescue of Indian economy by maintaining a high growth rate. Projections for 1999-2000 provided by Central Statistical Organisation points out that even if the industry maintains a low growth rate of 5.7 percent, the bumper

agricultural performance during this year could help scale India's Gross Domestic Product of 6 percent. India has made impressive strides on the agricultural front during the last three decades. Much of the credit for this success should go to the several million small farming families that form the backbone of Indian agriculture and economy. Policy support, production strategies, public investment in infrastructure, research and extension for crop, livestock and fisheries have significantly helped to increase food production and its availability. During the last 30 years, India’s foodgrain production nearly doubled from 102 million tons in the triennium ending 1973 to nearly 200 million tons (mt) in the triennium ending (TE) 1999. Virtually all of the increase in the production resulted from yield gains rather than expansion of cultivated area. Availability of foodgrains per person increased from 452 gm/capita/day to over 476 gm/capita/day, even as the country's population almost doubled, swelling from 548 million to nearly 1000 million.

Increased agricultural productivity and rapid industrial growth in the recent years have contributed to a significant reduction in poverty level, from 55 percent in 1973 to 26 percent in 1998. Despite the impressive growth and development, India is still home to the largest number of poor people of the world. With about 250 million below the poverty line, India accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s poor. Child malnutrition extracts its highest toll in this country. About 25% children suffer from serious malnutrition. More than 50 percent of the pre-school children and pregnant women are anemic. The depth of hunger among the undernourished is also high.

India has high population pressure on land and other resources to meet its food and development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and biodiversity is under severe pressure. The massive increase in population (despite the slowing down of the rate of growth) and substantial income growth, demand an extra about 2.5 mt of foodgrains annually, besides significant increases needed in the supply of livestock, fish and horticultural products. Under the assumption of 3.5% growth in per capita GDP (low income growth scenario), demand for foodgrains

(including feed, seed, wastage and export) is projected in the year 2020 at the level of 256 mt comprising 112mt of rice, 82mt of wheat, 39mt of coarse grains and 22mt of pulses. The demand for sugar, fruits, vegetables, and milk is estimated to grow to a level 33mt, 77mt, 136mt and 116mt respectively. The demand for meat is projected at 9mt, fish 11mt and eggs 77.5 billion (Table 1).

Future increases in the production of cereals and non-cereal agricultural commodities will have to be essentially achieved through increases in productivity, as the possibilities of expansion of area and livestock population are minimal. To meet the projected demand in the year 2020, country must attain a per hectare yield of 2.7 tons for rice, 3.1 tons for wheat, 2.1 tons for maize, 1.3 tons for coarse cereals, 2.4 tons for cereal, 1.3 tons for pulses, 22.3 tons for potato, 25.7 for vegetables, and 24.1 tons for fruits. The production of livestock and poultry products must be improved 61% for milk, 76% for meat, 91% for fish, and 169% for eggs by the year 2020 over the base year TE 1999. Average yields of most crops in India are still rather low.

Emerging Trends The agriculture sector recorded satisfactory growth due to improved technology, irrigation, inputs and pricing policies. Livestock, poultry, fisheries and horticulture are surging ahead in production growth in recent years and will have greater demand in the future. Industrial and service sectors have expanded faster than agriculture sector resulting in declining share of agriculture in national accounts. Despite the structural change, agriculture still remains a key sector, providing both employment and livelihood opportunities to more than 70 percent of the country's population who live in rural areas. The contribution of small farmers to the national and household food security has been steadily increasing. The water availability for agricultural uses has reached a critical level and deserves urgent attention of all concerned.

India has high population pressure on land and other resources to meet its food and development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and biodiversity is under severe pressure. Food demand challenges ahead are formidable considering the non-availability of favourable factors of past growth, fast declining factor productivity in major cropping systems and rapidly shrinking resource base. Vast uncommon opportunities to harness agricultural potential still remain, which can be tapped to achieve future targets. There are serious gaps both in yield potential and technology transfer as the national average yields of most of the commodities are low, which if addressed properly could be harnessed.

Concentration was on enhanced production of a few commodities like rice and wheat, which could quickly contribute to increased total food and agricultural production. This resulted in considerable depletion of natural resources and the rainfed dry areas having maximum concentration of resource poor farmers remained ignored, aggravating problems of inequity and regional imbalances. This also led to a high concentration of malnourished people in these rainfed, low productive areas. This era also witnessed rapid loss of soil nutrients, agro-biodiversity including indigenous land races and breeds. The agriculture policy must accelerate all-round development and economic viability of agriculture in comprehensive terms. Farmers must be provided the necessary support, encouragement and incentives. It must focus both on income and greater on-farm and off-farm job and livelihood opportunities. .

NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE FOR WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE (NRCWA): The National Research Centre for Women in Agriculture(NRCWA) has been functioning at Bhubaneshwar, Orissa,for developing methodologies, for identification of gender implications in farming systems approach and to develop women specific technologies under different production systems. There are 16 ongoing research

projects in the areas of gender study on agriculture and household economy, management of coastal agro-eco system, extension methods for farm women, standardization of women specific field practices, occupational health hazards, reducing drudgery of women in agricultural operations, improvement of farming system suited to farm women, eco-friendly pest management technologies for vegetables among farm women, evaluation of interactive learning modules, technological needs in empowering women in rural aquaculture, and improvement in storage practices of seeds and grains. Under project on Development and testing of extension methods for farmwomen in eastern India, the extent of participation of farm women in different farming systems and farm enterprises and the role of change agents in that context, were studied. Contrary to the situation at coastal tract the male extension agents maintained higher contacts with farmwomen than the lady extension agent. The studies under Identification and improvement of farming systems suited to farmwomen in Eastern India project revealed that there is intense involvement of farmwomen in vegetable cultivation necessitating to take follow up supportive activities and interventions in the area of vermicomposting, natural plant pesticides, biological control and IPM. Under the project Standardization of women specific field practices in rice in Orissa data were collected from women heads of 50 farm families on participation of women in relation to varying operations in rice cultivation. Women of family contributed highest hours per season (61.66) in harvesting and post harvesting operations and participated lowest in land preperation. Same pattern was observed from the paid women and total women (family + paid labour).

FARM PRODUCE PRICE POLICY: The main objectives of the Government's price policy for agricultural produce aims at ensuring remunerative prices to the growers for their produce with a view to encouraging higher investment and production. Towards this end, minimum support prices for major agricultural products are announced each year which are fixed after

taking into account the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The CACP, while recommending prices takes into account all important factors, viz: 1. Cost of Production 2. Changes in Input Prices 3. Input/output Price Parity 4. Trends in Market Prices 5. Inter-crop Price Parity 6. Demand and Supply Situation 7. Effect on Industrial Cost Structure 8. Effect on General Price Level 9. Effect on Cost of Living 10.International Market Price Situation 11.Parity between Prices Paid and Prices Received by farmers (Terms of Trade). Of all the factors, cost of production is the most tangible factor and it takes into account all operational and fixed demands. Government organizes Price Support Scheme (PSS) of the commodities, through various public and cooperative agencies such as FCI, CCI, JCI, NAFED, Tobacco Board, etc., for which the MSPs are fixed. For commodities not covered under PSS, Government also arranges for market intervention on specific request from the States for specific quantity at a mutually agreed price. The losses, if any, are borne by the Centre and State on 50:50 basis. The price policy paid rich dividends. The Government have raised substantially the MSPs in recent year

Recent government policies affecting Indian Agriculture: In the recent Union Budget (2007-08), agriculture has got considerable attention with the various policy initiatives from the side of finance ministry. Some of the imp0ortant policies are: 

During 2006-07 (until December 2006), 53.37 lakh new farmers were brought into the institutional credit system. A target of Rs. 225,000 crore as farm credit and an addition of 50 lakh new farmers to the banking system have been fixed

for the year2007-08. The two per cent interest subvention scheme for short term crop loans will continue in 2007-08, and a provision of Rs.1,677 crore has been made for that purpose. 

A special purpose tea fund has been launched for re-plantation and rejuvenation of tea. Government soon plans to put in place similar financial mechanism for coffee, rubber, spices, cashew and coconut.



Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) has been revamped in order to complete more irrigation projects in the quickest possible time. As against an outlayof Rs.7,121 crore in 2006-07, the outlay for 2007-08 has been increased to Rs.11,000 crore.



Rs.17,253 crore had been budgeted for fertilizer subsidies in 2006-07. However, according to the Revised Estimates, this will rise to Rs.22,452 crore.



The National Insurance Scheme (NAIS) will be continued for Kharif and Rabi crops during the year 2007-08. The two per cent interest subvention scheme will continue in 2007-08.



Rs. 100 crores have been allocated to new Rain fed Area Development Programme, set up for coordinating all schemes for watershed development.

ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING INDIAN AGRICULTURE

Economic factors extend to a large number of areas which are as follows:

Micro Finance: Micro finance scheme has been introduced by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the apex bank for agriculture and rural development in India, to improve the access of the rural poor to formal institutional credit and other financial products. In all 547 banks, which include 47 commercial banks, 158 RRBs, 342 cooperative banks are now actively involved in the operation of Self Help Group (SHG)- Bank Linkage Programme to spread the facility of micro finance to the needy small and marginal farmers and tiny entrepreneurs. The programme has enabled nearly 329 lakh poor families in the country to gain access to micro finance facilities from the formal banking system. Capital Formation in Agriculture: The share of the agriculture sector's capital formation in G.D.P. declined from 2.2% in the late 1990s to 1.9% in 2005-06. Stagnation or fall in the public investment in irrigation is partly responsible for this fall. However there is indication of a reversal of this trend with public sector investment in agriculture accelerating since 2002-03.The share of public investment in gross investment in agriculture increased by 6.5 percentage points from 19992000 to reach 24.2% in 2005-06.

Agricultural Finance: Credit: Availability of adequate credit is vital for every sector and agriculture is not an exception. In India, Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks, and Regional Rural

Banks ( RRBs) are responsible for smooth flow of credit to agricultural sector. But a huge unorganized market exists for credit to agricultural sector in India, which provide timely fund to this sector but at the exorbitant rate of interest. Among organized credit disbursement to agriculture commercial banks play a vital role with a share of about 70% where as cooperative sector and RRBs contribute 20% and 10 % respectively.Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced to provide adequate and timely support from the banking system to the farmers for their cultivation needs. This scheme has made rapid progress and more than645 lakh cards issued up to October 2006. The 'Farm Credit Package' announced by the Government of India in June 2004 stipulated doubling the flow of institutional credit for agriculture in ensuing three years. Annual targets for this package are being surpassed in the two consecutive years from its introduction and it is likely to surpass in the third year also.

Insurance: Insurance is a prime necessity to mitigate uncertainty that persists in agriculture. In India, agriculture is still affected by such factors, which are beyond control of human being. So, there is a great need for agricultural insurance in India. Keeping this inmind, Government of India in coordination with the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), had introduced National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) from rabi 1999-2000 season. The main objective of this scheme is to protect the farmers against losses suffered by them due to crop failure on account of natural calamities. Agricultural Insurance Company of India (AICIL) which was incorporated in December 2002 took over the implementation of NAIS. AICIL introduced Rainfall Insurance Scheme called 'Varsha Bima' during 2004 southwest monsoon period. Varsha Bima provided for five different options suiting varied requirements of farming community:

1. Seasonal rainfall insurance based on aggregate rainfall from June to September. 2. Sowing failure insurance based on rainfall between June 15 and August 15. 3. Rainfall distribution insurance with the weight assigned to different weeks June and September. 4. Agronomic index constructed on the basis of water requirements of crops. 5. A catastrophe option covering extremely adverse deviation of 50% and above in

rainfall during the season. During kharif 2006, this Varsha Bima scheme is being implemented in around 150 districts covering 16 states across the country. AICIL is also piloting another weather related insurance product for mango and coffee.

INFLATION: Inflation raises prices for farm inputs as well as farm products, resulting in uncertain effects on the current net incomes of farmers, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said in its monthly report. Inflation may benefit people with flexible money incomes but not those whose money incomes are fixed. Farmers have flexible money incomes. Therefore, theoretically at least, they should benefit from an unanticipated increase in the rate of inflation. Empirical studies however, have not found this connection, the NCAER study said. As inflation increases, prices paid by farmers for various inputs increase faster than the prices they receive for their products, thereby the terms of trade for farmers deteriorate as the rate of inflation rises. General inflation when accompanied by growth may be associated with a slight increase in the demand for farm output. However, increase is likely to be small due to the low-income elasticity of demand for farm output. On the other hand, higher marketing margins due to imperfections in the agricultural markets, stirred up by higher wages and various other marketing costs, reduce the demand for farm output at the farm level, NCAER said. These opposing forces suggest that the net impact of inflation in the national economy on prices received by farmers is small in comparison to the impact on prices paid. Studies in the United States have observed that in the short run, a rise in input prices by 10 per cent reduced net income of farmers by 2.3 per cent in short run of 1-2 years and 1.2 per cent in the long run.

The impact of inflation on agriculture is multifaceted. Firstly, it raises the sector's costs of production through increased material input costs. Secondly, higher production costs may be shifted to consumers, but this possibility is limited by the competitive imports, thus reducing farmers' rate of return, the NCAER study said.The low current income from farming motivates farmers to seek higher support prices and to extend price support policies to more commodities. Such policies result in further higher prices and higher rates of inflation. The high input prices lead farmers to take recourse to more credit, especially noninstitutional credit for their farm operations which ultimately leads farmers into a debttrap, the study said. Policies towards agriculture, especially in an inflationary setting, must come to grips with trade-offs intensified by the phenomenon. Policies that may have beneficial effects in periods of stable prices quite frequently have overwhelming adverse side effects during inflationary periods impeding achievement of the original policy goals, it said. Agriculture hasn’t received the investment it requires, considering nearly two-thirds of our population depends on crops, animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry and agro-processing for their livelihood. The recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers are crying for attention.” This area is a blind spot. Domestic policies of agriculture do not address the longterm problem of food security. The result of these policies has been that the country, which was self-sufficient in food, had to import nearly 7.5 million tones of wheat during 2006 and 2007. The imports were made at substantially higher prices than paid to Indian farmers, creating a reason for more criticism. Moreover, the high-price imported wheat also added to the subsidy bill. Paying higher prices for imports, even as domestic farmers are given a minimum price barely enough to recover costs, is certainly not justified. It is clear that the government has to focus on the supply side.

SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING INDIAN AGRICULTURE Since long time, Indian farmers have been facing a number of socioeconomic problems, such as harassment by moneylenders, inability to repay debts following crop loss, inability to get medical treatment for the family, etc. The problem is compounded by lack of positive and cooperative support from banks especially in the face of inclement weather and market fluctuations. Economic plight of farmers might be illustrated with the fact that a farmer having as much as 15 acres of land and hence considered a well off farmer in Vidarbha, with an average income of Rs 2700 per acre per annum, had an income just little more than what he would have earned the legal minimum wage for all 365 days of the year.

India consisting of 16% of world's population sustains only on 2.4% of land resource. Agriculture sector is the only livelihood to the two-third of its population which gives employment to the 57% of work force and is a raw material source to large number of industries. Despite of portrayal of farming as a healthy and happy way of life, agriculture sector experiences one of the highest number of suicides than any other industry. Farmers' suicide is not only reported in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, but also from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka.

In 1990s, India woke-up to a spate of suicide among farmers community. The first state where suicides were reported was Maharashtra with particular reference to Vidarbha region. A look at the figures given out by State Crime Records Bureau makes it evident those farmers as a professional category is suffering from this problem of high-suicide rates. Approximately 3.4 million cotton farmers occupy the Vidarbha region (includes Akola, Buldana, Washim, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara, Yavatmal, Gadchiroli, and Wardha districts) and 95% of them struggle with massive debt, according to the Vidarbha Jan Aandolan Samiti (VJAS; Local Farmers' Support Network). Incidence of farmers ending their lives in this region had hit epidemic like proportions recently .

In a country of 70 million farmers, it is 10 in every 100,000 farmers committing suicide. This is higher than the total national suicide rate. The number of farmers committing suicide in India is more than twice of the total number of suicides being committed in the top 100 countries on the suicide list! This indeed is worrying factor. The Government's measures including waiving off loans, construction of dams, and other assisting measures have not produced positive results so far.

In India, the national data show that suicide rate was 9.7/lakh population in 1995. [1] The population of Vidarbha is 12 lakhs, so number of suicide should be around 116 per year. But according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, suicides in Vidarbha is 600 in 2007 till June, 1065 in 2006, 572 in 2005, 620 in 2004, 170 in 2003, and 122 in 2002. These figures definitely suggest suicide rate in Vidarbha is high since 2002 in comparison to national suicide figure. A total of 7000 farmers have committed suicide during the last 3 years. That is an average of over six farmers committing suicide per day! More than 2190 per year!! Farmers' suicides in Vidarbha in the last 3-4 years have already crossed 2500 causing a great anxiety.

Wardha district in particular is also facing this problem with increasing number of claims for government ex gratia grant on steady rise. [9] In 2008 till April alone there were 26 claims, as compared to 29 in 2004, 26 in 2005, 154 in 2006, and 128 in 2007. Subsequently Hon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Vidarbha and promised a package of Rs. 11,000 crores to be spent by the government in Vidarbha. The families of farmers who had committed suicide were also offered an ex gratia grant to the tune of Rs. 1 lakh by the government. This figure kept on varying, depending on how much pressure the government was facing from the media and the opposition parties for being uncaring toward the farmers' plight.

TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING INDIAN AGRICULTURE Long since the start of green revolution Indian Agriculture has moved very far.With the inception and adoption of new technology and improved way of farming agriculture sector has taken long strides. Few of the factors affecting Indian agriculture are:

Agricultural Mechanisation: Strategies and programmes have been directed towards replacement of traditional and inefficient implements by improved ones, enabling the farmers to own tractors, power tillers, harvesters and other machines, availability of custom services, support services of human resource development, testing and evaluation and research and development. A large industrial base for manufacturing of the agricultural machines has also been developed. Introduction of technologically advanced equipments through extension and demonstration besides institutional credit has also been taken up. Equipments for resource conservation have also been adopted by the farmers. Under various Government sponsored schemes like Macro Management of Agriculture, Technology Mission for Oilseeds, Pulses and Maize, Technology Mission on Horticulture and Technology Mission on Cotton, financial assistance is provided to the farmers for the purchase of identified agricultural implements and machines. 

Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institues: Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institutes (FMT and TIs) have been established at Budni (Madhya Pradesh), Hissar (Haryana), Garladinne (Andhra Pradesh) and at Biswanath Chariali (Assam) having capacity to train 5,000 personnel annually on various aspects of agricultural mechanisation. These institutes also undertake testing and performance evaluation of agricultural machines including tractors in accordance with the national and international standards. Since inception about 93,503 personnel have been trained and about 2,162 machines tested by these Institutes till 31 March 2006. During 2005-06 these Institutes have

trained 5734 personnel and tested 112 machines. The training programmes have been revised for giving more emphasis on crop/area/technology specific issues for optimised training duration for their implementation through Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institutes w.e.f. 1 April 2005. 

Outsourcing of Training: This is a new component approved for the Tenth Plan under the Central Sector Scheme “Promotion and Strengthening of Agricultural Mechanisation through Training, Testing and Demonstration” in order to train large number of farmers at nearby places. The training programme shall be arranged through the identified institutions by each State namely State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), Agricultural Engineering Colleges/ Polytechnics, etc. This Department has released Rs 73 lakh during the year 2004-05 and Rs 38.03 lakh during the year 2005-06 to various State Governments and ICAR for conducting training programmes at the identified institutions. For the year 2006-07, a target to train 3000 farmers has been kept.

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State Agro Industries Corporation: Seventeen State Agro Industries Corporations, Joint Sector Companies, have been promoted by the Government of India and by the State Governments concerned. The objectives of these Corporations envisage manufacture and distribution of agricultural machines, distribution of agri-inputs, promotion and execution of agro based industries and providing technical services and guidance to the farmers and others. The Government of India’s share in Six State Agro Industries Corporations viz. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have been disinvested in favour of the respective State Governments.

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Legislative Framework: The Dangerous Machines Regulation Act, came into force with effect from 14 December 1983. The Act provides for the regulation of trade and commerce and production, supply and use of products of any industry producing dangerous machines with a view to securing the welfare of persons operating any machine and for payment of compensation for death or bodily injury suffered while operating any such machine. Power threshers used for threshing of the agricultural crops have been brought under the ambit of this Act. The Government of India have notified the laying down the

specifications for the feeding chutes and for installation of the power threshers. Apart from power threshers the inclusion of power operated chaffcutter and sugarcane crusher under this Act is in process. 

Demonstration of newly developed agricultural/horticultural equipments: With an objective of introducing new technology in agricultural production system, demonstration of newly developed/improved agricultural and horticultural equipments has been approved from the year 1999-2000 which now forms a component of the restructured Central Sector Scheme “Promotion and Strengthening of Agricultural Mechanisation through Training, Testing and Demonstration”. Under this component, 100 per cent Central grant-in-aid is provided to implementing agencies for procurement and demonstration of new/ improved equipments. The Scheme is implemented through State/Central Government organisations. This component has helped in adoption of new agricultural/horticultural equipments by the farmers. During 2005-06, 8099 demonstrations of different new equipments were conducted benefiting 3, 06,798 farmers. During 2006-07, 1500 such demonstrations will be conducted through the implementing agencies.

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Extension Activities:

Agricultural Extension aims at improving technology dissemination of farm technologies to the farmers. The Extension System has undergone several changes over a period, in terms of content and delivery approaches. Agricultural Extension is a State subject, however, the Ministry of Agriculture supplements States’ efforts in improving extension services.

The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation lays down major policy guidelines on extension matters and the Directorate of Extension implements specific programmes and activities in close collaboration with the State Departments of Agriculture, the State Agricultural Universities and other concerned agencies.

Current efforts in improving extension services include the following:

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Providing innovative and decentralised institutional arrangements in the form of an Agriculture Technology Management Agency(ATMT) to make extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable

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Encouraging Public Private Partnership (PPP) in various modes/forms can provide synergistic approach in the extension efforts

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Augmentation of Mass Media Support to Agriculture Extension by providing for location-specific broadcasts through 96FM stations of All India Radio, 180 Low Powered/High Powered Transmitters, 18 Regional Kendras of Doordarshan and also on DD National Channel for 30 minutes, 5/6 days a week;

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Operation of Kisan Call Centres through toll free(1551) lines throughout the country to provide expert advise to farmers from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm on all 7 days of the week. The replies to the queries of the farming community are being given in 21 languages

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Providing fee based advisory and other support services to the farmers by training agriculture graduates in agri-business development and establishing agri-clinics

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Mainstreaming gender concerns in agricultural policies and programmes.

E-Chaupal: E-Chaupal is a business platform consisting of a set of organizational subsystems and interfaces connecting farmers to global markets. It has been initiated by International Tobacco Company (ITC) who are quite active in agricultural sector in India. This e-chaupal business platform consists of three layers each of different level of geographic aggregation. Each of the three layers is characterized by three key elements 1. the infrastructure(physical or organizational)through which transaction takes place 2. the entity( person or organization) orchestrating the transactions , and 3. the geographical coverage of the layer.

The first layer consists of the village level kiosks with internet access (e-chaupals), managed by an ITC trained local farmer and within walking distance 5 kilometers of each target farmer. Each cluster of five villages gets an e-chaupal, which is justified by sparse population in rural India. The second layer consists of a brick and mortar infrastructure called hub managed by the traditional intermediary who has local knowledge/skills called Samayojak and within tractorable distance(2530 kilometer) of then target farmer.

Agricultural Commodities Exchanges: To introduce future trading in agricultural commodities in India, two commodity exchanges have been introduced in 2003 for future trading. They are, National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX). These exchanges are majorly dealing in agricultural commodities. They are involved in forward trading to mitigate price risks of the farmers.

ENVIRONMRNTAL FACTORS AFFECTING AGRICULTURE

The correlation between Indian agriculture and monsoon: Rains is the lifeblood for India agricultural sector. The country is one of the world's largest producers and consumers of everything from sugar, rice, vegetables t soybeans. Agriculture sector employs around 60 per cent of the total workforce in India an contributes about 17 per cent of the India' GDP. Agriculture also contributes about 20 25 per cent of India's national income; hence a decline in agricultural growth will pull down the overall growth rate in GDP. If agricultural output declines, overall GDP growth will perhaps be restricted at 5-6 per cent instead o 7-8 per cent.

In India, monsoon is crucial for summer sow crops, like, soybean, rice, cotton an sugarcane. With only 40 percent of farmland irrigated, the vast majority of India's

small farmers depend on monsoon to water their seeds. Insufficient rains this year have cause acreage of all major crops to lag behind in term of year-on-year (Y-o-Y) estimates, halting prospects for bigger harvests of rice, oilseed and sugar cane. Indian Farm Minister, Shara Pawar told Parliament on 24th July that monsoon rains has remained weak in the State of Bihar, India's leading corn producer, an Uttar Pradesh, which normally produces more than half of India's sugarcane.

Between June 1 and July 15, rains have been 43 per cent below normal in the crucial Northwest region, the nation's 'Grain Bowl' reported the weather bureau. The region includes the biggest grain-growing states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. All of major agri states of India, including Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana kept waiting for rain in the month of June, which ultimately arrived in the last wee of June, but indeed with a very weak progress.

According to official estimates, the cumulative seasonal rainfall between 1st June and 15th July is 27 per cent below normal levels. The deficient rainfall has adversely affected the kharif sowing, as the total are under kharif crops has declined to 112 lake hectares in 2009 compared to 136 lakh hectare in the corresponding period in 2008, a drop of 17.1 per cent. The worst hit crops are rice oilseeds, especially groundnut and soybean sugarcane. Coincidentally, these are the crops which have observed sharp price rise in the last year.

Poor rain could affect cane crops in the main growing region of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Other than being the world' top consumer of sugar, India, is also the biggest producer of it after Brazil. However, it has become the large importer in 2008-09, after exporting a record 5 million tonnes of sugar is the year to September 2008. Now any impact on the production of sugarcane could lead to more imports of sugar. Such is the impact of report regarding the possible decline in India' sugarcane production due to weak monsoon that sugar values in the New York raw sugar market have rallied to a three-year high of 17.3 cents per lb.

LEGAL FACTORS AFFECTING INDIAN AGRICULTURE Legal factors include various laws, reforms and new policies drawn up by the government for improving the current scenario of agriculture sector. Some of the important aspects of legal factors are discussed below.

Irrigation. Provision has been made in a number of ,states for constructing, improving irrigation works. The legislative measures passed in Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra provide for the irrigation works. The policy of entrusting the maintenance of small irrigation works to the Panchayati Raj organizations has been accepted by the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and in some other states, the implementation is under way.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation is considering to undertake a study of all the existing enactments on state tube-well in the various states with uniform model circulating it to the states of entrusting the main- works to the Panchayati Raj has been accepted by the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, in some states the implementation of this policy is under way.

The ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has impressed upon the state governments the need for introducing legislation on ground-water and has circulated a draft model Bill for the purpose. The purpose of the Bill is to regulate and control the development of ground-water to Prevent over-exploitation and deterioration in water quality. It has been suggested to the state governments to introduce legislation authorizing them to notify the areas for controlling and regulating ground-water development, granting permits for lifting and using water and for registering the existing users in such areas. Laws for this purpose are under consideration in the

states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Goa.

Crop protection:. The Destructive Insects and Pest Act, 1914, passed by the central Government provided for means against the entry of diseases from other countries into India. Suitable provisions also exist in the Act for preventing the spread of plant pests and diseases from one state to another in the country. For implementing the provisions relating to the prevention of the entry of injurious pests and diseases into the country, a chain of plant quarantine and fumigation stations has been established in all important airports and seaports and land frontiers. The state governments have also passed suitable legislative measures for dealing with tile epidemics of plant diseases and pests, empowering them to organize measures for chemical control. The success of plant protection measures largely depends upon the efficacy of the chemicals used for controlling the plant pests and diseases. At the same time, it is important that the chemicals used do not pose any serious risk to human and animal life. It is necessary to ensure the quality of chemicals manufactured in the country or imported and marketed for undertaking plant protection measures.

Fertilizers : The Central government promulgated in May 1957 a fertilizers (Control) Order, 1957, under Clause 111 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The law envisaged the statutory control of the prices of three fertilizers, namely ammonium sulphate, urea and calcium ammonium nitrate; provided for the registration of dealers in fertilizers; and for restrictions on the specifications of fertilizers in relation to the maximum and minimum of various important constituents. Under the provisions of the fertilizers (Control) Order, 1957, powers for fixing the prices of fertilizers vest with the Government of India and the State Governments have been authorized to fix the price at which the fertilizers mixture may be sold by a manufacturer or a dealer. The Central Government also promulgated the fertilizers Movement Control Order, 1973, in May 1973 under Clause IV of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to ensure the equitable distribution of fertilizers in various states and to stop the unauthorized inter-state movement of fertilizers. This Order prohibits the inter-state movement of fertilizers, except by manufacturers listed in the

schedule to the Order, by the Food Corporation of India, central housing Corporation, State Warehousing Corporation or in accordance with the authority of the Central Government or the states.

Apart from these positions, most of the states, viz., Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat,Assam, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh have amended their Municipal Acts making obligatory on the part of the Municipal committees to adopt competing as a method of refuse disposal.

Soil and water conservation: In order to prevent soil deterioration owing to erosion, most of the states have enacted legislation, empowering their governments to take up early antisoil-erosion measures.

Legislative measures dealing with soil and water conservation have been passed in all the states, except Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. Among the Union Territories, the Land Development Schemes Regulations, 1963, is in force in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In other Union Territories, the question of enacting suitable legislation is in various stages of examination and consideration. In many states, there are other Acts which have an indirect bearing on the subject of soil and water conservation dealing with the preservation and protection of forests, etc.

Conclusion From a nation dependent on food imports to feed its population, India today is not only self--sufficient in grain production, but also has a substantial reserve. The progress made by agriculture in the last four decades has been one of the biggest success stories of free India. Agriculture and allied activities constitute the single largest contributor to the Gross Domestic Product, almost 33% of it. Agriculture is the means of livelihood of about two--thirds or 67% of the work force in the country. This increase in agricultural production has been brought about by bringing additional area under cultivation, extension of irrigation facilities, the use of improved high yielding variety of seeds, better techniques evolved through agricultural research, water management, and plant protection through judicious use of fertilizers, pesticides and cropping practices. Yet there are some discrepancies in the agriculture sector which need to be sorted out so as to represent india on the forefront of leading agriculturally advanced countries. All the five factors i.e. Political. Economical, Social, Technological , Legal and environmental need to be addressed properly wherever needed.

REFERENCES 

www.india.gov.in

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www.agriculture.indiabiz.com

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www.indianjpsychiatry.org/article.asp?issn=00195545;year=2008;volume=50;issue=2;spage=124;epage=127;aulast=Behere

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http://www.ficci-b2b.com/sector-overview-pdf/Sector-agri.pdf

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http://agricoop.nic.in/Rkvy/Rkvyfinal-1.pdf

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Eleventh Five-year plan report