The intensive agricultural districts

programme in India: A new evaluation

Authors: Rakesh Mohana; Robert E. Evenson - bc

Abstract
The Intensive Agriculture Districts Programme (IA DP) was a major component of the Indian
Government's desire to launch a 'new strategy' for agricultural development in the nineteen-
sixties. Prior evaluations have been incomplete and flawed by an inappropriate interpretation of
the evidence. This paper utilizes more recent data and uses the total factor productivity approach
to evaluate gains from the programme. A feature of the analysis is the concept of 'economic
slack1 existing in these districts at the beginning of the programme. It concludes that the
programme induced a very significant increase in the use of 'modem' inputs and hence of
agricultural production but did not result in a major gain in 'real' total factor productivity.

The average rate of output growth since the 1950s has been more than
2.5 percent per year and was greater than 3 percent during the 1980s,
compared with less than 1 percent per annum during the period from 1900
to 1950. Most of the growth in aggregate crop output was the result of an
increase in yields, rather than an increase in the area under crops. The
yield performance of crops has varied widely (see table 30, Appendix).
The national growth rates mask variability in the performance of different
states, but in the regions with the greatest increases three categories are
discernible. The first category includes states or areas that have an
exceptionally high agricultural growth rate--Punjab, Haryana, and western
Uttar Pradesh. The second is states or areas that have high growth rates,
but not as high as the first category--Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and
Jammu and Kashmir. A third category has a lesser growth rate and
includes Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,
eastern Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. These eight states, however,
comprise 55 percent of the total food-grains area (see fig. 13).
Some observers believe that the increase in productivity has been an
important factor explaining the satisfactory growth of food-grain production
since the mid-1960s. However, the gains in productivity remain confined to
select areas. Between FY 1960 and FY 1980, yields increased by 125.6
percent in North India (Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh). The
increase in the other regions was much less: central India, 36 percent;
eastern, 22.7 percent; southern, 58.3 percent; and western India, 31.6
percent. The national average was nearly 40.9 percent. Part of this
disparity can be explained by the fact that during this period Punjab and
Haryana were way ahead of other states in terms of irrigated area,
 intensity of irrigation, and intensity of cropping. Availability of irrigation is
one of the crucial factors governing regional variations.
As a result of a good monsoon during FY 1990, food grain production
reached 176 million tons, 3 percent more than in FY 1989. The production
of rice and wheat was 74.6 million and 54.5 million tons, respectively.
Among the commercial crops, sugarcane and oilseeds reached production
levels of 240.3 million tons and 21.8 million tons, respectively. The
increased production in FY 1990 was mainly the result of continuing
increases in yields for all the main crops--rice, wheat, pulses, and
oilseeds. In the case of oilseeds and sugarcane, higher production was
also the result of the increased number of hectares planted (see table 31,
Appendix).
The growth in food-grain production did not occur in a linear trend, but as
a series of spurts depending mostly on the weather, input availability, and
price policy. Aggregate growth was composed of an even split between
area expansion and yield growth before FY 1964. Since FY 1967, the
contribution of growth in yields has become dominant and attests to the
vigor with which agriculture has responded to the opportunities opened up
by new seed, water, and fertilizer technology.
Food Grain Production for 2009-10 may decline by 7.51% - Government estimates
Submitted by Shilpa Mahapatre on Sun, 02/14/2010 - 07:07.

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The food grain production of India for the 2009-10 seasons is estimated to
decline by 7.51%. The fall in summer output, owing to the worst drought in 30
years, is seen as the main reason for this decline. According the second
advance food grains estimate released by the government on Friday, the
country's food grains output is estimated at 216.85 million tons in the 2009-10
season while in 2008-09 season it was reported 234.47 million tons.

In the 2009-10 season the production of rice is estimated to be lower at 87.56 million tons, as against 99.18
million tons in the 2008-09 season. Production of wheat is projected at 80.28 million tons, as compared with
80.68 million tons in 2008-09. The total coarse cereals output is estimated to decline to 34.27 million tons from
40.03 million tons in the same period last year. The pulses output is estimated to be slightly better at 14.74
million tons in the current year as against 14.57 million tons in 2008-09 season. Oilseeds production is
estimated at 26.32 million tons as against 27.71 million tons in 2008-09.

The sugarcane production is estimated to be 251.26 million tons as against 285.02 million tons in2008-09.
"Due to deficient and erratic distribution of rainfall during the last monsoon season, production of kharif crops,
particularly of rice, coarse cereals and sugarcane had been affected adversely," Government said in a
statement.

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Economic and Political Weekly

Vol. 14, No. 21 (May 26, 1979), pp. 913-918

Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4367635

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Small Farmer Development

Raj Krishna

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