CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION

2. HISTORY

3. INDIAN AGRICULTURE AFTER INDEPENDENCE

4. IRRIGATION

5. OUTPUT

6. MAJOR PRODUCTS & YIELDS

7. ORGANIC AGRICULTURE
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We hereby express our sincere gratitude to Er.

RUPASHREE MUDULI, Lecture Department of CIVIL for their
constant encouragement and suggesting for prepare in this
seminar on communication, we would like to thanks of the
faculties of GANDHI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. Who
helped us for successful completion of this seminar.

We also thankful to our teachers, who have expended

their hand for completion of the seminar.

SIGNATURE OF GUIDED SUBMITTED BY

NAME:- TAPASWINI SETHI

ROLL NO.:-72

REGD NO:-

BRANCH :- CIVIL

SECTION :- A
 CERTIFICATE
[Link] MUDULI
LECTURE IN CIVIL
GSE, BERHAMPUR

This is to certify that the topic embodied in the

seminar paper “AGRICULTURE OF INDIA” being
submitted by TAPASWINI SETHI has been carried out
under my super vision. The seminar is the outcome of
her sincere effort and is found to be true and correct to
the best of my knowledge and believe.

PLACE :- BHABANDHA

DATE:-

SIGNATURE OF CANDIATE
 AGRICULTURE OF INDIA

Introduction
The history of Agriculture in India dates back to Indus Valley
Civilization and even before that in some places of Southern
India.[1] India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per 2018,
agriculture employed 50% of the Indian work force and contributed 17-
18% to country's GDP. In 2016, agriculture and allied sectors like animal
husbandry, forestry and fisheries accounted for 15.4% of the GDP (gross
domestic product) with about 31% of the workforce in 2014. India ranks
first in the world with highest net cropped area followed by US and
China. 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.

India exported $38 billion worth of agricultural products in 2013, making

it the seventh largest agricultural exporter worldwide and the sixth
largest net exporter. Most of its agriculture exports serve developing and
least developed nations. Indian agricultural/horticultural and processed
foods are exported to more than 120 countries, primarily to the
Japan, Southeast Asia, SAARC countries, the European Union and
the United States.

History

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, an Indian
Sanskrit text, suggested to be 2500 years old, classifies agricultural land
into 12 categories: urvara (fertile), ushara (barren), maru (desert),
aprahata (fallow), shadvala (grassy), pankikala (muddy), jalaprayah
(watery), kachchaha (contiguous to water), sharkara (full of pebbles and
pieces of limestone), sharkaravati (sandy), nadimatruka (watered from a
river), and devamatruka (rainfed). Some archaeologists believe that rice
was a domesticated crop along the banks of the 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 crops cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years
ago, include sesame, linseed, safflower, mustard, castor, mung bean,
black gram, horse gram, pigeon pea, field pea, grass pea (khesari),
fenugreek, cotton, jujube, grapes, dates, jack fruit, mango, mulberry, and
black plum Indians might have domesticated buffalo (the river type) 5000
years ago.

According to some scientists agriculture was widespread in the Indian

peninsula, 10000–3000 years ago, well beyond the fertile plains of the
north. For example, one study reports 12 sites in the southern Indian
states of [Tamil Nadu], [Andhra Pradesh]and [Karnataka] providing clear
evidence of agriculture of pulses [Vigna radiata] and [Macrotyloma
uniflorum], millet-grasses (Brachiaria ramosa and Setaria verticillata),
wheats (Triticum dicoccum, 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.
Indian agriculture after independence
In the years since its independence, India has made immense
progress towards food security. Indian population has tripled, and food-
grain production more than quadrupled. There has been a substantial
increase in available food-grain per capita. The state of Punjab led
India's Green Revolution and earned the distinction of being the
country's bread basket. Before 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 they could not rely on foreign aid and imports for food security.
India adopted significant policy reforms focused on the goal of food grain
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 state of Punjab led India's green revolution and earned the
distinction of being the country's bread basket.

The initial increase in production was centred on the irrigated

areas of the states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. With
the farmers and the government officials focusing on farm productivity
and knowledge transfer, India's total food grain production soared. A
hectare of Indian wheat farm that produced an average of 0.8 tonnes in
1948, produced 4.7 tonnes of wheat in 1975 from the same land. Such
rapid growth 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 tonnes of
wheat per hectare.
Irrigation
Indian irrigation infrastructure includes a network of major and
minor canals from rivers, groundwater well-based systems, tanks, and
other rainwater harvesting projects for agricultural activities. Of these,
the groundwater system is the largest. Of the 160 million hectares of
cultivated land in India, about 39 million hectare can be irrigated by
groundwater wells and an additional 22 million hectares by irrigation
canals. In 2010, only about 35% of agricultural land in India was reliably
irrigated. About 2/3rd cultivated land in India is dependent
on monsoons. The improvements in irrigation infrastructure in the last 50
years have helped India improve food security, reduce dependence on
monsoons, improve agricultural productivity and create rural job
opportunities. Dams used for irrigation projects have helped provide
drinking water to a growing rural population, control flood and prevent
drought-related damage to agriculture. However, free electricity and
attractive minimum support price for water intensive crops such as
sugarcane and rice have encouraged ground water mining leading
to groundwater depletion and poor water quality. A news report in 2019
states that more than 60% of the water available for farming in India is
consumed by rice and sugar, two crops that occupy 24% of the
cultivable area.

Output
As of 2011, India had a large and diverse agricultural sector,
accounting, on average, for about 16% of GDP and 10% of export
earnings. India's arable land area of 159.7 million hectares (394.6 million
acres) is the second largest in the world, after the United States. Its
gross irrigated crop area of 82.6 million hectares (215.6 million acres) is
the largest in the world. India is among the top three global producers of
many crops, including wheat, rice, pulses, cotton, peanuts, fruits and
vegetables. Worldwide, as of 2011, India had the largest herds of buffalo
and cattle, is the largest producer of milk and has one of the largest and
fastest growing poultry industries.

Major products and yields

The following table presents the 20 most important agricultural products

in India, by economic value, in 2009. Included in the table is the average
productivity of India's farms for each produce. For context and
comparison, included is the average of the most productive farms in the
world and name of country where the most productive farms existed in
2010. The table suggests India has large potential for further
accomplishments from (productivity increases)in increased By
agricultural output and agricultural income.

Organic Agriculture
Organic agriculture has fed India for centuries and it is again a
growing sector in India. Organic production offers clean and green
production methods without the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides
and it achieves a premium price in the market place. India has 6,50,000
organic producers, which is more that any other country. India also has 4
million hectares of land certified as organic wildculture, which is third in
the world (after Finland and Zambia). As non-availability of edible
biomass is impeding the growth of animal husbandry in India, organic
production of protein rich cattle, fish and poultry feed
using biogas /methane/natural gas by cultivating Methylococcus
capsulatus bacteria with tiny land and water foot print is a solution for
ensuring adequate protein rich food to the population.