While the overall GDP has grown by 8.62% during 2004-05 to 2010-11, farm GDP has increased by only 3.46%.
The Economic Survey has called for an efficient supply chain management, which responds quickly to price increases, and sustained investments in agriculture and allied sectors to maintain the Eleventh Five-year Plan target of an annual four per cent growth in farming.
To explain poor performance of the sector in the last few years, the survey says while the overall gross domestic product (GDP) has grown by an average 8.62 per cent during 2004-05 to 2010-11, GDP of the agricultural sector has increased by only 3.46 per cent during the same period. Gross capital formation (GCF) in agriculture and allied sectors, relative to the overall GDP, has remained stagnant at 2.5 to 3 per cent since 2004-05.
| FARMING GROWTH POOR INVESTMENT HAS KEPT GROWTH POOR % growth per annum | ||
| Rice | 2000-01 | 2009-10 |
| Area | 0.40 | 0.10 |
| Production | 4.00 | 1.60 |
| Yield | 3.15 | 1.80 |
| Wheat | ||
| Area | 0.40 | 1.30 |
| Production | 3.50 | 1.60 |
| Yield | 3.00 | 0.60 |
“Agriculture needs to grow at a rate of 8.5 per cent in 2011-2012 to achieve the Eleventh Plan target of 4 per cent farm growth,” it added.
Given the constraints in expanding cultivable areas, there is no other alternative than to encourage private sector investments in research and development, the survey said.
From 2000-2001 to 2009-10, the growth in rice acreage turned negative, while that in its yield and production stagnated at around 1.59 per cent and 1.61 per cent, respectively.
In the case of wheat, during the same period, the growth in area was around 1.21 per cent and that in production and yield was 1.89 per cent and 0.68 per cent. respectively.
The survey also called for investments in food processing, cold chain, handling and packaging of processed food.
It favoured public-private partnerships in areas of storage, communication, roads and markets to ensure that essential commodities were available at reasonable prices, while producers got adequately compensated.
Calling for a long-term strategy to increase the production of meat, milk and poultry, the survey said India’s milk demand has risen by around 6 million tonnes (mt) per year in the last 10 years, while the annual incremental production had increased by just about 3.5 mt.
