Abstract

Objective: India was a heavily agriculture-dominant economy during the period of independence and experienced a long path of developmental processes till now. A number of factors of production lend a hand to escalate the situation of the sector since then. Therefore, this study focuses on the growth trend of agricultural production since independence and elaborates the effects of some of the important determinants implicit to the growth of the sector.

Methods: The present study is based on secondary data to showcase the trend and pattern of some important determinants of Indian agriculture during the time span 1950-2013. The study takes into account six major tradable crops. To delineate the trend distinctively formula for percentage change is calculated from original data compiled from sources like Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture etc. and rendered by charts and line diagrams.

Findings: In our present study, data show that since independence, production and yield per hectare of selected crops have been increasing at a decreasing rate. The agricultural growth rate is not satisfactory as it was at the time of independence. Factors affecting agricultural growth are analysed over the decades and found that till mid-sixties area expansion was the major driver of growth but after then productivity began to be the major driver of growth accompanied by better irrigation systems, fertiliser usage, credit facilities etc.

Application: It is found that area expansion and irrigation are highly correlated with yield per hectare.

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