Indian Agriculture: On the Cusp of Self-sufficiency
15 August 2017 Since independence, India’s foodgrain production has registered an over a five-fold increase, to around 273 million tonnes in 2016-17, according to an article on TheHinduBusinessLine.com. The country has largely attained self-sufficiency as it transformed itself from a status of ‘ship-to-mouth’ to an exporter over the past 70 years.
Despite this progress, the agriculture sector faces major challenges as yields stagnate amidst dwindling average size of landholdings and the vagaries of climate change.
The adoption of Green Revolution in the 1960s gave a major impetus to foodgrain production in the country, which then had largely depended on imports to feed the demand. The rise in irrigation cover, coupled with the adoption of improved and hybrid seeds, largely led to the increased foodgrain output.
The average yields of cereals such as rice and wheat have more than doubled since the 1970s, but are still lower than that of China or the US. The sluggish growth in yields of pulses and oilseeds still remain a concern. Cotton yields have more than doubled since 2001 with the introduction of genetically modified seeds.
Read the full story on TheHinduBusinessLine.com.
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