Contents 1 Overview 2 History

2.1 Agriculture and colonialism 2.2 Indian agriculture since 1947

3 Agricultural Products in India 4 State support for agriculture 5 Agricultural output in 2011 6 Agriculture in India, largest crops by economic value 7 Mitigation of effects of petroleum shortages 8 Electrical energy efficiency on farms

INTRODUCTION The word agriculture is the English adaptation of Latin agriculture, from ager, "a field",[10] and cultra, "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil".[11] Thus, a literal reading of the word yields "tillage of a field / of fields". Agriculture is called farming or husbandry is the cultivation Of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fiber, biofuel and other products used to sustain life.[1] Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science. Agriculture generally speaking refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant and termite. AGRICULTURE IN INDIA Agriculture in India has a significant history. Today, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted for 16.6% of the GDP in 2009, about 50% of the total workforce.[1] The economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is steadily declining with the country's broad-based economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India.

Overview Per 2010 FAO world agriculture statistics, India is the world's largest producer of many fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, major spices, select fresh meats, select fibrous crops such as jute, several staples such as millets and castor oil seed. India is the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world's major food staples. India is also the world's second or third largest producer of several dry fruits, agriculturebased textile raw materials, roots and tuber crops, pulses, farmed fish, eggs, coconut, sugarcane and numerous vegetables. India ranked within the world's five largest producers of over 80% of agricultural produce items, including many cash crops such as coffee and cotton, in 2010. India is also one the world's five largest producers of livestock and poultry meat, with one of the fastest growth rates, as of 2011. One report from 2008 claimed India's population is growing faster than its ability to produce rice and wheat. Other recent studies claim India can easily feed its growing population, plus produce wheat and rice for global exports, if it can reduce food staple spoilage, improve its infrastructure and raise its farm productivity to those achieved by other developing countries such as Brazil and China. In fiscal year ending June 2011, with a normal monsoon season, Indian agriculture accomplished an all time record production of 85.9 million tons of wheat, a 6.3 percent increase from a year earlier. Rice output in India also hit a new record at 95.3 million tons, a 7% increase from the year earlier. Lentils and many other food staples production also increased year over year. Indian farmers thus produced about 71 kilograms of wheat and 80 kilograms of rice for every member of Indian population in 2011. The per

capita supply of rice every year in India is now higher than the per capita consumption of rice every year in Japan. India exported about 2 billion kilograms each of wheat and rice in 2011 to Africa, Nepal, Bangladesh and other regions of the world. Aquaculture and catch fishery is amongst the fastest growing industries in India. Between 1990 and 2010, Indian fish capture harvest doubled, while aquaculture harvest tripled. In 2008, India was the world's sixth largest producer of marine and freshwater capture fisheries, and the second largest aquaculture farmed fish producer. India exported 600,000 metric tonnes of fish products to nearly half of all the world's countries. India has shown a steady average nationwide annual increase in the kilograms produced per hectare for various agricultural items, over the last 60 years. These gains have come mainly from India's green revolution, improving road and power generation infrastructure, knowledge gains and reforms. Despite these recent accomplishments, agriculture in India has the potential for major productivity and total output gains, because crop yields in India are still just 30% to 60% of the best sustainable crop yields achievable in the farms of developed as well as other developing countries. Additionally, losses after harvest due to poor infrastructure and unorganized retail cause India to experience some of the highest food losses in the world. History Main article: History of agriculture in India Vedic literature provides some of the earliest written record of agriculture in India. Rigveda hymns, for example, describes plowing, fallowing, irrigation,

fruit and vegetable cultivation. Other historical evidence suggests rice and cotton were cultivated in the Indus Valley, and plowing patterns from the Bronze Age have been excavated at Kalibangan in Rajasthan. Bhumivargaha, another ancient Indian Sanskrit text, suggested to be 2500 years old, classifies agricultural land into twelve categories: urvara (fertile), ushara (barren), maru (desert), aprahata (fallow), shadvala (grassy), pankikala (muddy), jalaprayah (watery), kachchaha (land contiguous to water), sharkara (full of pebbles and pieces of limestone), sharkaravati (sandy), nadimatruka (land watered from a river), and devamatruka (rainfed). Some archaeologists believe rice was a domesticated crop along the banks of the Indian River Ganges in the sixth millennium BC. So were species of winter cereals (barley, oats, and wheat) and legumes (lentil and chickpea) grown in Northwest India before the sixth millennium BC. Other crops cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago, include sesame, linseed, safflower, mustards, castor, mung bean, black gram, horse gram, pigeonpea, field pea, grass pea (khesari), fenugreek, cotton, jujube, grapes, dates, jackfruit, mango, mulberry, and black plum. Indian peasants had also domesticated cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs and horses thousands of years ago. Some scientists claim agriculture in India was widespread in the Indian peninsula, some 30005000 years ago, well beyond the fertile plains of the north. For example, one study reports twelve sites in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh providing clear evidence of agriculture of pulses (Vigna radiata and Macrotyloma uniflorum), milletgrasses (Brachiaria ramosa and Setaria verticillata), wheat (Triticum diococcum, Triticum durum/aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), finger millet

(Eleusine coracana), cotton (Gossypium sp.), linseed (Linum sp.), as well as gathered fruits of Ziziphus and two Cucurbitaceae. Some claim Indian agriculture began by 9000 BC as a result of early cultivation of plants, and domestication of crops and animals.Settled life soon followed with implements and techniques being developed for agriculture.a Double monsoons led to two harvests being reaped in one year. Indian products soon reached the world via existing trading networks and foreign crops were introduced to India. Plants and animalsconsidered essential to their survival by the Indianscame to be worshiped and venerated. The middle ages saw irrigation channels reach a new level of sophistication in India and Indian crops affecting the economies of other regions of the world under Islamic patronage. Land and water management systems were developed with an aim of providing uniform growth. Despite some stagnation during the later modern era the independent Republic of India was able to develop a comprehensive agricultural program. Agriculture and colonialism Over 2500 years ago, Indian farmers had discovered and begun farming many spices and sugarcane. It was in India, between the sixth and fourth centuries BC, that the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the famous reeds that produce honey without bees being grown. These were locally called , pronounced as saccharum (). On their return journey, the Macedonian soldiers carried the "honey bearing reeds," thus spreading sugar and sugarcane agriculture. People in India had also invented, by about 500 BC, the process to produce sugar crystals. In the local language, these crystals were called khanda , which is the source of the word candy.

Prior to 18th century, cultivation of sugar cane was largely confined to India. A few merchants began to trade in sugar - a luxury and an expensive spice in Europe until the 18th century. Sugar became widely popular in 18th century Europe, then graduated to becoming a human necessity in the 19th century all over the world. This evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient unleashed major economic and social changes. Sugarcane does not grow in cold, frost-prone climate; therefore, tropical and semitropical colonies were sought. Sugarcane plantations, just like cotton farms, became a major driver of large and forced human migrations in 19th century and early 20th century - of people from Africa and from India, both in millions - influencing the ethnic mix, political conflicts and cultural evolution of various Caribbean, South American, Indian Ocean and Pacific island nations.The history and past accomplishments of Indian agriculture thus influenced, in part, colonialism, first slavery and then slavery-like indentured labor practices in the new world, Caribbean wars and the world history in 18th and 19th centuries. Indian agriculture since 1947 Over 50 years since its independence, India has made immense progress towards food security. Indian population has tripled, but food-grain production more than quadrupled: there has thus been substantial increase in available food-grain per capita. Prior to the mid-1960s India relied on imports and food aid to meet domestic requirements. However, two years of severe drought in 1965 and 1966 convinced India to reform its agricultural policy, and that India could not rely on foreign aid and foreign imports for food security. India adopted significant policy reforms focused on the goal of foodgrain self-sufficiency.

This ushered in India's Green Revolution. It began with the decision to adopt superior yielding, disease resistant wheat varieties in combination with better farming knowledge to improve productivity. The Indian state of Punjab led India's green revolution and earned itself the distinction of being the country's bread basket.[41] The initial increase in production was centred on the irrigated areas of the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. With both the farmers and the government officials focusing on farm productivity and knowledge transfer, India's total foodgrain production soared. A hectare of Indian wheat farms that produced an average of 0.8 tons in 1948, produced 4.7 tons of wheat in 1975 from the same land. Such rapid growths in farm productivity enabled India to become self-sufficient by the 1970s. It also empowered the smallholder farmers to seek further means to increase food staples produced per hectare. By 2000, Indian farms were adopting wheat varieties capable of yielding 6 tons of wheat per hectare.[5][42]

Men and women at work in rice paddy fields in Tamil Nadu With agricultural policy success in wheat, India's Green Revolution technology spread to rice. However, since irrigation infrastructure was very poor, Indian farmer innovated with tube-wells, to harvest ground water.

When gains from the new technology reached their limits in the states of initial adoption, the technology spread in the 1970s and 1980s to the states of eastern India Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal. The lasting benefits of the improved seeds and new technology extended principally to the irrigated areas which account for about one-third of the harvested crop area. In the 1980s, Indian agriculture policy shifted to "evolution of a production pattern in line with the demand pattern" leading to a shift in emphasis to other agricultural commodities like oilseed, fruit and vegetables. Farmers began adopting improved methods and technologies in dairying, fisheries and livestock, and meeting the diversified food needs of India's growing population. As with Rice, the lasting benefits of improved seeds and improved farming technologies now largely depends on whether India develops infrastructure such as irrigation network, flood control systems, reliable electricity production capacity, all season rural and urban highways, cold storage to prevent food spoilage, modern retail, and competitive buyers of produce from the Indian farmer. This is increasingly the focus of Indian agriculture policy. India's agricultural economy is undergoing structural changes. Between 1970 and 2011, the GDP share of agriculture has fallen from 43 to 16 percent. This isn't because of reduced importance of agriculture, or a consequence of agricultural policy. This is largely because of the rapid economic growth in services, industrial output, and non-agricultural sectors in India between 2000 to 2010.

Agricultural Products in India

India ranks first in producing the following agricultural outputs: Anise Fresh fruit Badian Fennel Tropical fresh fruit Coriander Pigeon peas Jute Spices Pulses Castor oil seed Millets Safflower seeds Sesame seeds Limes Lemons Dry chillies and peppers Cow's milk Cashew nuts Chickpeas Ginger Okra Guavas Turmeric Goat milk Mangoes

 Meat Buffalo milk In addition, the country also ranks as the top producer of millets such as Bajra, Jowar, and Ragi. In terms of rice production, India holds the second position after China. About 10% of the fruits produced in the world are produced in India. India holds the first position in the world in producing the following fruits: Papaya Mangoes Sapota Banana India holds the third rank in the world in the production of the following: Sorghum Tobacco Coconuts Rapeseed Tomatoes Hen's eggs

By coffee production, India holds the sixth rank in the world. India houses the biggest number of livestock in the world and the count is 281 million. In 2008, the country housed the second biggest number of cattle in the world and the count was 175 million livestock. India ranks as the second biggest producer of the following:

Cabbages Cashews Fresh vegetables Cotton seed and lint

 Brinjal Garlic Silk Goat meat Cardamom Nutmeg and Mace Wheat Onions Sugarcane Rice Dry beans Lentil Tea Groundnut Cauliflowers Green peas Pumpkins Potatoes Gourds Squashes Inland fish The population of India is increasing at a faster pace than its capacity to produce wheat and rice. India holds the second position in production of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, and groundnuts. It is also the second biggest harvester of vegetables and fruit, representing 8.6% and 10.9% of the overall vegetable and fruit production in the world correspondingly.

The country is the top producer of jute, milk, and pulses and holds the second rank in the production of silk and it is the biggest consumer of silk in the world. In 2005, the country produced 77,000 million tons of silk.

State support for agriculture The major initiatives undertaken by the Government of Tamil Nadu to achieve the targeted agricultural production during 2009-10 are listed below: Adoption of System of Rice Intensification technology .
Promotion of Precision Farming - adoption of drip fertigation with all

scientific practices. Restoration of Soil Health Need based Macro and Micro Nutrient application as per Soil Health Card recommendations.
Quality seed supply Promotion of newly released High Yielding /

Hybrids. Special steps to enhance the availability of quality pulses seeds and oilseeds. Encouraging production of Vermi Compost at Farm Hold Level and Municipal Compost production and Bio-input production by Self Help Groups for enriching soil health besides promoting green manuring and use of bio-fertilizers. Promotion of Micro Irrigation especially for high water intensive crops like sugarcane and coconut

 Special focus to enhance the productivity of pulses through DAP spraying / Micro Nutrient application and timely plant protection. Steps to promote soil and moisture conservation measures, compartmental bunding, establishsing farm ponds and adoption of dryland development technologies to enhance productivity of rainfed crops, besides distribution of machineries suitable for rainfed condition. Farm Mechanization - Distribution of machineries to overcome the problem of labour scarcity. Technology dissemination through private extension and input supply by establishing Agri Clinics with soil testing facilities in all the blocks. Empowerment of farm women groups technologically, socially, and economically by involving them to take up entrepreneurial activities.

Below is a list of countries by agricultural output in 2011.

Agricultural output in 2011 % of Global Output in Rank Country billions of US$ of GDP (%) Output 1 World China European Union 2 3 4 5 6 7 India 303.382 18.1% 1.2% 5.8% 14.9% 39.0% 1.4% 7.1% 4.3% 3.4% 3.0% 2.2% 1.9% 316.398 1.8% 7.4% 4,249.237 737.113 6.1% 10.1% 100.0% 17.3% Composition Agricultural

United States 181.128 Brazil Indonesia Nigeria Japan 144.589 126.006 93.179 82.173

8 9 10

Russia Turkey Australia

77.717 71.584 59.529

4.2% 9.2% 4.0%

1.9% 1.7% 1.4%

Agriculture in India, largest crops by economic value Average World's most Economic Unit price yield, India productive farms value (2010) (2010)[44] (2009 prices, US$) $35.74 billion $25.07 billion $14.09 billion $12.13 billion $8.61 (US$ / (tons per kilogram) hectare)[47] (tons per hectare)[48]

Rank Produce

Country

Rice Buffalo milk Cow milk

0.27

3.3

10.8

Australia

0.4

1.7[49]

1.9[49]

Pakistan

0.31

1.2[49]

10.3[49]

Israel

4 5

Wheat Sugar cane

0.15 0.03

2.8 66

8.9 125

Netherlands Peru

billion 6 Mangoes $8.12 billion $7.60 billion $5.81 billion $5.31 billion $5.28 billion $4.12 billion $3.84 billion $2.92 billion $2.90 billion $2.83 billion 0.6 6.3 40.6 Cape Verde

Bananas

0.28

37.8

59.3

Indonesia

Cotton

1.43

1.6

4.6

Israel

Potatoes Fresh Vegetables Tomatoes Buffalo meat Onions

0.15

19.9

44.3

USA

10

0.19

13.4

76.8

USA

11

0.37

19.3

524.9

Belgium

12

2.69

0.138[49]

0.424[49]

Thailand

13

0.21

16.6

67.3

Ireland

14

Okra

0.64

10.6

20.2

Cyprus

15

Chick peas

0.4

0.9

2.8

China

16

Fresh fruits

$2.79 billion $2.65 billion $2.61 billion $2.39 billion $2.33 billion

0.35

7.6

23.9

Israel

17

Eggs

0.83

13.8[50]

24.7[50]

Jordan

18

Soyabean

0.26

1.1

3.7

Turkey

19

Cattle meat

2.7

0.1[49]

0.42[49]

Japan

20

Groundnuts

0.42

1.1

5.5

Nicaragua

The Statistics Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization reported that, per final numbers for 2009, India had grown to become the world's largest producer of the following agricultural produce: Fresh Fruit Lemons and limes Buffalo milk, whole, fresh Castor oil seeds Sunflower seeds Sorghum Millet Pulses Indigenous Buffalo Meat Fruit, tropical Ginger Chick peas Areca nuts Other Bastfibres Pigeon peas

 Spices Okra Jute Beeswax Bananas Mangoes, mangosteens, guavas

Papayas Chillies and peppers, dry Anise, badian, fennel, coriander Goat milk, whole, fresh

Per final numbers for 2009, India is the world's second largest producer of the following agricultural produce: Wheat Rice Vegetables, fresh Sugar cane Groundnuts, with shell Lentils Garlic Cauliflowers and broccoli Peas, green Sesame seed Cow milk, whole, fresh Tea Potatoes Onions Cotton lint Cottonseed Eggplants (aubergines) Nutmeg, mace and cardamoms Indigenous Goat

 Cashew nuts, with shell Silk-worm

Meat Cabbages and other brassicas

cocoons, reelable Pumpkins, squash and gourds In 2009, India was the world's third largest producer of eggs, oranges, coconuts, tomatoes, peas and beans. In addition to growth in total output, agriculture in India has shown an increase in average agricultural output per hectare in last 60 years. The table below presents average farm productivity in India over three farming years for some crops. Improving road and power generation infrastructure, knowledge gains and reforms has allowed India to increase farm productivity between 40% to 500% over 40 years.[12] India's recent accomplishments in crop yields while being impressive, are still just 30% to 60% of the best crop yields achievable in the farms of developed as well as other developing countries. Additionally, despite these gains in farm productivity, losses after harvest due to poor infrastructure and unorganized retail cause India to experience some of the highest food losses in the world. Agriculture productivity in India, growth in average yields from 1970 to 2010 Crop[12] Average YIELD, 1970-1971 kilogram per hectare Average YIELD, 1990-1991 kilogram per hectare Average YIELD, 20102011 kilogram per hectare[53]

Rice Wheat Pulses Oilseeds

1123 1307 524 579

1740 2281 578 771 65395 1652 225

2240 2938 689 1325 68596 1669 510

Sugarcane 48322 Tea Cotton 1182 106

India and China are competing to establish the world record on rice yields. Yuan Longping of China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center, China, set a world record for rice yield in 2010 at 19 tonnes per hectare in a demonstration plot. In 2011, this record was surpassed by an Indian farmer, Sumant Kumar, with 22.4 tonnes per hectare in Bihar, also in a demonstration plot. Both these farmers claim to have employed newly developed rice breeds and System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a recent innovation in rice farming. The claimed Chinese and Indian yields have yet to be demonstrated on 7 hectare farm lots and that these are reproducible over two consecutive years on the same farm.

Mitigation of effects of petroleum shortages

Huberts prediction of world petroleum production rates. Modern agriculture is totally reliant on petroleum energy. In the event of a petroleum shortage (see peak oil for global concerns), organic agriculture can be more attractive than conventional practices that use petroleum-based pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Some farmers using modern organic-farming methods have reported yields as high as those available from conventional farming. Organic farming may however be more labor-intensive and would require a shift of the workforce from urban to rural areas. The reconditioning of soil to restore nutrients lost during the use of monoculture agriculture techniques also takes time. It has been suggested that rural communities might obtain fuel from the biochar and synfuel process, which uses agricultural waste to provide charcoal fertilizer, some fuel and food, instead of the normal food vs fuel debate. As the sinful would be used on-site, the process would be more

efficient and might just provide enough fuel for a new organic-agriculture fusion. It has been suggested that some transgenic plants may some day be developed which would allow for maintaining or increasing yields while requiring fewer fossil-fuel-derived inputs than conventional crops.The possibility of success of these programs is questioned by ecologists and economists concerned with unsustainable GMO practices such as terminator seeds.[154][155] While there has been some research on sustainability using GMO crops, at least one prominent multi-year attempt by Monsanto Company has been unsuccessful; though during the same period traditional breeding techniques yielded a more sustainable variety of the same crop. Electrical energy efficiency on farms Main article: Electrical energy efficiency on United States farms Policy Main article: Agricultural policy Agricultural policy focuses on the goals and methods of agricultural production. At the policy level, common goals of agriculture include:

Conservation

Economic stability Environmental sustainability Food quality: Ensuring that the food supply is of a consistent and known quality.

Food safety: Ensuring that the food supply is free of contamination. Food security: Ensuring that the food supply meets the population's needs.

Poverty reduction