Even smaller Saarc countries have seen higher agricultural productivity growth than India.
India may appear an agricultural giant in south Asia, but its track record in boosting productivity of food crops compares rather poorly with most of its smaller neighbours. Even countries like Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh have achieved higher growth rates in crop yields than India in the past two decades.
Surprisingly, Bhutan leads the eight Saarc countries in increasing crop output. It has clocked better growth rates than even Pakistan which is agriculturally the best endowed in this region, with farm holdings being large — they average around 3 hectares, and over 90 per cent of the area is under irrigation. Maldives, of course, has hardly any agriculture, with this sector contributing less than 3 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Green Revolution of the late 1960s had indeed given India a head start, pushing it ahead of most of the Asian countries in agricultural development. But it has failed to sustain the tempo, especially in the post-economic reforms era after 1991, allowing other countries to overtake it in raising crop yields. While crop productivity has plateaued in the country’s agriculturally progressive areas, the growth in other areas hasn’t been particularly high either.
This has been revealed in the background documents circulated at the meeting of Saarc agricultural ministers held in New Delhi in November 2008. The numbers derived from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) database and presented at the meeting show that average annual growth rates in the productivity of staple cereals, including rice, wheat, and pulses are the lowest in India in comparison with all Saarc nations.
| FEELING SMALL Average annual growth (%) of crop productivity in south Asian countries between 1991-93 and 2005-07 | ||||
| Country | Rice | Wheat | Total cereals | Pulses |
| India | 1.21 | 0.86 | 1.46 | 0.62 |
| Pakistan | 1.80 | 2.23 | 2.45 | 1.89 |
| Bangladesh | 2.60 | -0.05 | 2.63 | 1.07 |
| Nepal | 1.28 | 3.39 | 1.63 | 2.46 |
| Sri Lanka | 1.40 | — | ||
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In case of rice, the most widely-cultivated and consumed cereal in this region, the highest average annual yield growth of 3.37 per cent between 1991-93 and 2005-07 was recorded in Bhutan; and the lowest 1.21 per cent in India. Bangladesh also achieved a robust growth of 2.6 per cent.
In wheat, the next-most important staple cereal, Afghanistan has registered the highest annual productivity increase of 3.44 per cent, followed closely by Nepal (3.39 per cent). India again comes at the bottom with a growth rate of meagre 8.9 per cent. In Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the climate is far from conducive for high wheat yields.
The annual growth in productivity in all the cereals put together is the highest in Bhutan (5.12 per cent) and the lowest in India and Sri Lanka (1.46 per cent) each.
The growth story of pulses, which is the chief source of protein in the human diet in the entire Saarc region, is quite the same. While Bhutan tops the table with a growth rate of 6.62 per cent, India is placed second from the bottom with a paltry growth rate of 0.62 per cent.
These comparisons are indeed not insignificant, considering that Saarc countries have fairly similar socio-economic profiles. Farming on small holdings is the principal occupation of the majority of the population in all countries except Maldives. Over 60 per cent of farm holdings are below one hectare in all these countries, barring Pakistan. Agriculture still accounts for 16.5 per cent to around 40 per cent of the GDP in these nations.
Thus, there is little reason why laggard regions in India cannot emulate the example of these smaller countries. What is needed perhaps is a review of farm policies and ensuring a relatively more equitable spread of resources and developmental efforts.