Agriculture in India
India over the years has become food surplus nation and aspires to accelerate the production & productivity for agriculture and horticulture sector for ensuring food and nutrition security in the rural areas. This also includes one of the key challenge that the current government has taken up and working cohesively towards it and that is Doubling of Farmers’ income.
India saw a gross cropped area increase from 182.28 million hectare to 196.50 million hectares (1988-89 to 2018-19), with a net sown area of 140 million hectare.
For the year 2020-21, the targeted food grain production has been fixed at 298.0 million tons. For the year 2019-20, production of 292 million tons is anticipated to be achieved against a target of 291.10 million tons due to enhancement in area coverage and increased productivity of various crops.
In the year 2018-19, the country did a record production of food grains of about 284.96 million tons from previous (FY17-18) 169.92 million tons. This has been possible because of various technological and policy interventions.
Horticulture production for the year 2019-20 is estimated to be at 313.85 million metric tons as against 310.74 million MT in 2018-19 from an area of about 25.49 million hectare which accounts of about 13% of the total world production. India is now the second largest producer of vegetables, after China.
Indian Agriculture Budget
Rs. 2.83 Lakh Crore has been allocated in the budget of FY 2020-21 for all agriculture related activities of which 1.6 Lakh Crore is for agriculture, allied and irrigation.
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is a branch of Government of India and is the administrative body for rules, regulations & laws related to agriculture in India.
The Ministry is headed by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar. The Ministry also comprises of the Minister of the State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare for assisting the Union Minister. Currently the position of Minister of the State for Agriculture & Farmer Welfare is lead by Shri Parshottam Rupala & Shri Kailash Choudhary.
Under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, there are three departments that play a major role in the planning, management and execution of various schemes and objectives of the Ministry.
- The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW)
- Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DAHD&F)
- Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE)
(Data Source: Data released by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare)