Measures To Increase Productivity
- Implementation of land reforms.
- Integrated management of land and water resources.
- More widespread use of improved varieties of seed. Proper supply of fertilisers to farmers in all parts of the country.
- Development of irrigation facilities.
- Proper and scientific pest control management. Equipment for mechanisation of farming.
- Provision for better credit & marketing facilities.
- Incentive measures for increasing productivity.
- Grass root oriented agricultural research.
Land Reforms
At the time of Independence, there were three types of land tenurę systems prevailing in the country — the zamindari system, the malware system, and the ryotwari system. The basic difference in these systems was regarding the mode of payment of land revenue. In the zamindari system, the land revenue was collected from the farmers by the zamindars; in the mahalwari system, it is collected by the village headman on behalf of the whole village; while in the ryotwari system the land revenue was paid to the State directly by the farmers. In all three systems, the usual practice adopted was to get the land cultivated by tenants.
Zamindari System
This system was created by the East India Company in 1793, Lord Cornwallis entered into ‘permanent settlement’ with landlords to increase the revenue of the company. Under the settlement, the landlords (known as zamindars) were u declared full proprietors of large areas of land. In return, the task of collecting rent from the farmers > was entrusted to them. Thus the zamindars were to function as intermediaries between the cultivators and the State. The share of the government in total rent collected by the zamindars was kept at 10/11th, the balance going to the zamindars as remuneration. At the time of Independence, this system was prevalent in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Mahalwari System
This system was introduced by William Bentinck in Agra and Oudh. It was later extended to Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. In this system, the whole village was treated as a unit as far as payment of land revenue is concerned. The responsibility for collecting the land revenue and depositing it in the treasury was of the village headman. According to the Congress
Land Reforms Committee the ownership of land under this system was collective. Period of settlement’, fixation of land revenue, etc. were different in different mahalwari.
Ryotwari System
This system was initially introduced in Tamil Nadu and was later extended to Maharashtra, Barar, East Punjab, Assam and Coorg. Under this system, the responsibility of paying land revenue to the government was of the cultivator (or individual ryot) himself and there was no intermediary between him and the State. The ryot had full rights regarding sale, transfer and leasing of land and could not be evicted from the land as long as he paid the land revenue. These rights were not available to cultivators under the zamindari system.
Objectives of Land Reforms
As stated above, the zamindari system was based on exploitation. It created a parasitic class of zamindars that did not do any work on the land but snatched away whatever surplus above the minimum subsistence the cultivator produced. The farmer was forced to lead a wretched life of slavery and deprivation. Under the ryotwari and mahalwari systems also, the practice of cultivation by tenants became widely prevalent. These tenants were also exploited in a number of ways. Particularly miserable was the condition of tenants-at-will and sub-tenants. It was basically to stop the exploitation of the actual tillers of the soil and pass on the ownership of land to them that land reforms were introduced in the post-Independence period in India.
The government has defined the objectives of land reforms as follows
To remove such impediments to increase in agricultural production as arise from the agrarian structure inherited from the past; and videos To eliminate all forms of exploitation and social injustice within the agrarian system, to provide security for the tiller of the soil and assure equality of status and opportunity to all sections of the rural population.
Production and Productivity
As a result of the new agricultural strategy, foodgrains output increased substantially from 81.0 million tonnes in the Third Plan (annual average) to 234.7 million tonnes in the Eleventh Plan (annual average) and further to 252.2 million tonnes in 2015-16. And is expected to touch a record level of 272million tonnes in 2016-17. HYVP was restricted to only five crops which are wheat, rice, jawar, bajra and maize. Therefore, non-foodgrains were excluded from the ambit of the new strategy.
As far as foodgrains are concerned, the wheat seems to have made rapid strides with its production increasing from 11.1 million tonnes in the Third Plan (annual average) to 84.4 million tonnes in the Eleventh Plan (annual average). The production of wheat stood at 93.5 million tonnes in 2015-16. The overall contribution of wheat to total foodgrains has increased from 13 per cent in 1950-51 to 37.1 per cent in 2015-16. Also, while the yield per hectare of all foodgrains which was 710 kgs in 1960-61 increased to 2056 kgs in 2015-16, that of wheat rose from 851 kgs to 3093 kgs over the same period. It is on account of these reasons that wheat has remained the mainstay of the Green Revolution over the years.
The production of rice had increased slowly in the early. period of the Green Revolution has started picking up of late. The average annual production of rice rose from 35.1 million tonnes in the Third Plan (annual average) to 97.3. million tonnes in the Eleventh Plan (annual average). It stood at 104.2 million tonnes in 2015-16. Expected to touch a record 108.9 million tonnes, in 2016-17 The production of coarse cereals — jawar, bajra and maize — continues to remain static or has moved very slowly upwards.
The per capita net availability of pulses declined from 69 grams per day in 1961 to 41.9 grams per day in 2013. This fall in per capita net availability of pulses is a cause for concern as pulses provide the most valuable ingredient of protein in the diet and are 2-3 times richer in protein than most cereals. The bulk of the vegetable oil production in India is derived from nine cultivated oilseeds, namely, groundnut, rapeseed, mustard, sesamum, safflower, nigerseed, soybean, sunflower — forming the edible group — and linseed and castor seed forming the inedible group.
The total production of oilseeds averages 8.3 million tonnes in the Fourth Plan (annual average) and 11.4 million tonnes in the Sixth Plan (annual average). To achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils, the government launched a series of measures towards the end of the Sixth Plan and the Seventh Plan. These included the National Oilseeds Development Project (NODP) started in 1985-86, Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) started in May 1986 and Oilseeds Production Thrust Project (OPTP) launched in 1987-88 to accelerate the production of four major oilseeds, namely groundnut, rapeseed, mustard, soybeans and sunflower. In 1989-90, the government announced its `price band’ policy for fixing the wholesale price band for oil.
This policy sought to fix the procurement prices of groundnut and rapeseed at least 40 per cent above the levels recommended by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The credit problems of the rural sector’ NABARD is now the apex bank for rural credit (before it is setting up this function was performed by the Reserve Bank of India).
Check out these notes on Functions Of The National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development.