Agriculture Revolution

      AGRICULTURE

• Agriculture is the largest sector of the Indian economy and has a crucial role to play in the country’s economic development by providing food, raw materials and employment to a very large proportion of population, capital for its own development and surpluses for national economic development.

• This is the biggest unorganized sector of the economy accounting for more than 90% share in total unorganized labor force (93% of the total labor force of the economy i.e. 39.7 crore, is employed in unorganized sector).

Importance of Agriculture in Indian Economy

Agriculture is an important sector of the Indian Economy.  It is the spinal cord of the Indian Economy.  Around 48.9% of the labor force is working in this sector. Importance of agriculture in Indian economy can be analyzed by the following points

Contribution of Agriculture is National Income

   Agricultural sector contributes a significantly large share to the national income of India.  However, it has come down from as high as 56% during the 1950s to  13.7% in 2012-2013 and is projected to go further down in the immediate future.

Contribution of Agriculture in Employment

     The share of agriculture has been falling in the country’s gross income while industrial and service sectors’ shares have been on a rise constantly.  But from the livelihood point of view, about 48.9% people of India depend on the agricultural sector.  The sector, thus, presents challenging opportunities for the plant farmers in India, as these workers represent an enormous pool of labor that can fuel labor intensive industrialization over the coming decades. 

Green Revolution

• The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds after 1965 and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation are known collectively as the Green Revolution, 

• which provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains.

• The term ‘Green Revolution’ is a general one that is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many third world countries. It is not specific to India, but it was most successful in India.

• Three were three basic elements in the method of the Green Revolution

i)Continued expansion of farming     areas.

ii) Double-cropping existing farmland.

iii) Using seeds with improved yields.

Second Green Revolution

• The Second Green Revolution consists of a number of different programs working towards the same goals.  Some of the initiatives, which will help in this directions are as follows

Increasing crop yields in Eastern farming.

Organic farming and contract farming.

Amending the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (AMPC) Acts.

Investing in research to drought proof crops as well as to tackle climate change.

Use of plant breeding and biotechnology.

Rainwater harvesting and watershed development.

Improving credit availability.

Refocusing on land reforms.

Improving soil quality and reclaiming degraded land.

    

MAJOR AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIONS

Green Revolution     : Cereals, wheat & 

                                     Leguminous plants

 White Revolution    : Milk & Dairy 

                                     Products

Silver Revolution     :     Egg & poultry

Yellow Revolution    : Edible Oil

Blue Revolution       : Fishery

Pink Revolution       : Prawns/Meat 

                                      Processing

Golden Revolution  : Honey

Golden Fiber Revolution    : Jute

Silver Fiber Revolution    : Cotton