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Indian Economic Policy

Notes Data given in Table 6 indicates that food yield has continued to increase from 719 Kgs. in to 1,490
Kgs. during 1990’s and to 1,798 in 2009-10 increase in yield has been more pronounced in the of
wheat from 950 Kgs. in 1960s to about 2,450 Kgs. 1990s and 2,830 in 2009-10, although in rice too has
gone up from 1,000 Kgs. in 1960s to 2130 Kgs. 2009-10. While bringing more areas under High Yield
Varieties, highest yield rates may have shown signs of stagnation.
It would, therefore, be necessary to understand theoretically obtainable maximum yield and the and
realisable maximum. It may be noted that the first Green Revolution variety Sharbati Sonora had
demonstrate yield potential of about 3.4 tonnes per hectare. The jump in yield variety came from
Kalyansona in 1970 4.2 tonnes. For a major breakthrough, the country hati wait till 1994 when new
rust-resistant varieties UP2338 jacked up yields to 5.1 tonnes and PBW 343 1995 to boost it further to
5.4 tonnes per hectare.
However, in rice, the picture has not been very encouraging. Consequently, the skeptics believe the
traditional Green Revolution breeding techniques have come to a dead end. Whatever success has
been achieved in rice is the consequence of extending the pioneering varieties to more and more
areas so that the country can realise the potential.
But this does not signify that we have exhausted all the latent potential of the existing HYV varieties.
Field trials in Punjab confirm the demonstrated potential of 5.5 tonnes per hectare, but actual mean
yields are around 4.25 tonnes per hectare. Obviously, one tonnne of unharvested yield potential
exists in Punjab. Similarly, the situation in other wheat growing states indicates the gap between
attainable and actual yields to rise to over two tonnes per hectare. Mr. Harish Damodaran, therefore,
concludes : “Even with the current high yielding varieties, it is possible for farmers in the Indo-
Gangetic plain, which accounts for 18 million hectares out of 26 million hectares under wheat to
produce an additional 25 million tonnes of wheat by adopting improved crop management practices
and ensuring timely supply of inputs, attractive prices and so on. A half-a-tonne increase in average
per hectare rice yield can similarly generate an additional 20 million tonnes from the country’s 42
million-odd hectares area planted under paddy.”
A Point often made by critics that as against average yield of 4 to 4.5 tonnes of wheat in Punjab, the
farmers in cold countries like Netherlands raise about 8 tonnes per hectare, but this comparison
ignores one important difference in the cropping systems of the two countries.
The eminent agricultural scientist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan emphasises that it is unscientific to make
comparisons purely on the basis of individual crops, but it would be more scientific to compare the
cropping system as a whole. For instance, a farmer in Punjab may obtain only 4 to 4.5 tonnes per
hectare yield on spring wheat of 140 days duration, but his counterpart in Netherlands obtains 8
tonnes per hectare on a 10-month winter wheat crop. The difference is made up by the Punjab farmer
by raising a rice crop during the same year providing ayield of 3 to 3.5 tonnes per hectare. He may
also be raising a crop of potato or legume or some short-duration vegetable. Obviously, for the Indian
farmer, the more important consideration is the total yield during the year, rather than simply yield per
crop. Thus, the transformation from amonocropping to multi-cropping system has enabled the
development of rice or wheat varieties of different maturities, which have been integrated in the
phenomenon described as the Green Revolution. Obviously, the success of the Green Revolution
should be judged in terms of the over-all yield (income) generated by the farmers per hectare in a
year rather than in terms of productivity per hectare of a single crop.
12.4 The National Commission on Farmers and Second Green Revolution

The UPA Government, after coming to power in 2004, appointed the National Commission on Farmers
under the chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, eminent agricultural scientist. The Commission
has made recommendations which promise to rejuvenate agriculture and thereby improve the lot of
millions of farmers.
For the purpose of suggesting policy measures, the term “ Farmer” includes landless agricultural labourers,
sharecroppers, tenants, small, marginal and sub-marginal cultivators, farmers with larger holdings, fishermen
and women, dairy, sheep, poultry and other farmers involved in animal husbandly, pastoralists, as well as those
rural and tribal families engaged in a wide variety of farming related occupations such as sericulture, vermiculture,
production of bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides, and agro-processing.”

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