Page 137 - DECO502_INDIAN_ECONOMIC_POLICY_ENGLISH

Unit 11: Sectoral Performance I: Agriculture: Growth Productivity Trends and Crop Patterns

non-food crops. By 1950-51, area under food crops had coeme down to 74 per cent and area under Notes
non-food crops had increased to 26 per cent. This shift in crops from foodgrains to non-foodgrains
was mainly due to the higher price of non-foodgrains, commonly known as cash crops. It reflected a
change from subsistence cropping to commercial cropping.
Table 10 shows the share of different categories of crops in the total area sown. The acreage figures
from 1960-61 show a reversal of the above trend, and a definite shift from non-foodgrains to foodgrains.
By 1970-71, the ratio of foodgrains to non-foodgrains was 74 : 26 and by 2006-07, the share of foodgrains
has her further declined and stand at 64 : 36. Two important reasons may be given to explain this
shift in favour of foodgrains.
(a) Prices of foodgrains have been rising quite fast and the farmers have started growing foodgrains
for the market, in the same way they grow oilseeds, cotton and other commercial crops. In
other words, the traditional classification between food crops and commercial crops is losing
its significance.
(b) The cultivation of foodgrains has become highly remunerative and productive under the impact
of the new technology.

Table 10 : Nature of Crop Distribution of Area Since 1951

Crops 1950-51 1970-71 2006-07
(a) All Crops 100 100 100
(b) Foodgrains 75 74 64
(c) Non-foodgrains 26 26 36

Source : Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2008.
Among foodgrains, the largest increase in area has been recorded by wheat, with an increase of 150
per cent. While the increase in the case of rice has been quite modest (36%), coarse cereals have
recorded only marginal increase, indicating a positive shift from minor to major crops. Increase in
acreage under pulses has been modest.
The traditional commercial crops, viz., oilseeds, cotton, jute, sugarcane, etc., have made impressive
increases in acreage, much more than food crops (with the exception of wheat). Of these, the most
spectacular was the increase in acreage under potato, viz., by over 300 per cent between 1951 and
2005. By 2004-05, the ratio of foodgrains to non-foodgrains was 64 : 36.
Factors Affecting Cropping Pattern in India
At one time many believed that cropping pattern in India could not be changed. S.N. Sinha, for
instance, gave expression to such an opinion when he wrote : “In a tradition-ridden country with a
very low-level of knowledge, the peasants are unwilling to make experiments. They accept everything
with a spirit of resignation and a sense of fatalism. For them, agriculture is a way of life rather than a
commercial proposition. ...In an agricultural community where the members are illiterate and tradition-
ridden, there is hardly any possibility of crop shifts.” This opinion is not correct any more as is clear
from the change in cropping pattern in Punjab. It is widely agreed that the crop pattern of a country
like India can be changed and should be changed.
1. Physical and Technical Factors and Cropping Pattern
Cropping pattern of any region depends upon physical characteristics as soil, climate, weather,
rainfall, etc. For instance, in a dry area where the rainfall is scanty and where there is high
uncertainty of monsoons, there will be a greater dependence on jowar and bajra, as these crops
can be managed with a small quantity of rainfall. Water-logging in parts of Ludhiana and
Sangrur districts in Punjab has led to an increase in area under rice; for rice can stand the extra
water better than other crops. In the newly reclaimed lands of Madhya Pradesh, millets are
grown for a few years after which rice is cultivated.

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