Abstract
India is an agricultural country with about 80% of its people dependent on agricultural activites for their livelihood. Indian agriculture accounts for 40% of Gross National Product and about 35% of total exports. The green revolution in agriculture began in the 1960s, and spectacular achievements in foodgrain production (cereals, pulses and oilseeds) resulted from the cultivation of introduced high yielding crop cultivars supplemented with fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation. The green revolution helped the country to feed the people, to stop importing foodgrains and to increase the employment potential. But increasing human population and slow industrial growth resulted in economic imbalance. The green revolution was confined to certain crops (rice, wheat) at the expense of others. The high input technology created problems of continuous monoculture cropping, depletion of the water table, deterioration of soils, introduction and multiplication of insect pests, plant diseases and weeds, intensive use of energy, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, increase in soil salinity and alkalinity, environmental pollution and ecological imbalance. The socio-economic inequalities have been enlarged in rural areas and the land/labour ratio has declined. Local crop cultivation practices have been abandoned even by small farmers. Management in agriculture escaped the attention of policy makers and scientists, and the role of rural women was ignored. Inter- and intra-regional disparities in agricultural development have created serious social and political repercussions. The farm policy has not yet been finalized. Possible solutions to overcome present difficulties and benefit marginal and small farmers and economically backward areas are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.