Question.
What are the important strategies for agricultural development followed in the post-independence period in India?
(NCERT class 12 geography, India People and Economy, Chapter-5. Land Resources and Agriculture)
Answer.
The nature of Indian agriculture before independence was largely subsistence. During the partition, one-third of the irrigated land of undivided India went to Pakistan.
After independence, the following three important strategies were adopted immediately after independence for agricultural development:
- Switching from cash crops to food crops.
- Crop intensity on previously cultivated land.
- To increase cultivable land by bringing fallow and cultivable wasteland under cultivable land.
As we know that land is a scarce resource, especially in India, efficient use of land is essential not only for food security but also for tackling unemployment in the rural economy. Therefore, in post-independence India, the main focus was on increasing cropping intensity.
Crop intensity in percentage = (gross cropped area / net sown area) * 100;
Net sown area = land area on which the crop is sown.
Initially, the above three policies helped in increasing agricultural productivity but the growth of agricultural production stagnated in the late 1950s. To overcome this problem, the following two programs were introduced:
- Intensive Agriculture District Program (IADP)
- Intensive Agriculture Sector Program (IAAP)
The intensive Agriculture District Program (IADP) was started in 1960 on a pilot project basis. Its objective was to rapidly increase agricultural productivity through the concentration of financial, technical, and administrative resources.
The intensive Agriculture Sector Program (IAAP) was launched in 1964-65, the major objective of the project was scientific development and to make agriculture intensive and more productive.
Two successive droughts during 1965 and 1966 created a food crisis in the country and resulted in the import of food grains from other countries.
To overcome these problems, new high-yielding varieties (HYV) seeds of wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) were introduced in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat. This strategy worked and it increased the production of food grains at a very high rate making India self-sufficient in food production, it is known as Green Revolution in India.
Initially, till the 1970s, the Green Revolution was confined to irrigated areas only, leading to regional disparities. After the 1970s, modern agricultural techniques were implemented in other parts of the country as well.
During the 1980s, the Planning Commission of India looked into the problems of agriculture in rainfed areas.
In 1988, agro-climate planning was introduced to drive regionally balanced agricultural development. It also emphasized on diversification of agriculture and exploitation of resources for the development of dairy farming, poultry, horticulture, livestock rearing, and aquaculture.
The policy of liberalization and a free market economy began in the 1990s.
Later, the National Mission for Sustainable Development Agriculture (NMSA) was launched to make agriculture more productive, sustainable, and climate resilient by promoting location-specific integrated holistic farming systems.
The Kisan Portal of India has also been launched. Under the Kisan Portal, all the information such as Farmers' insurance, agricultural storage, and detailed information on crops, seeds, pesticides, agricultural machinery, etc was provided to the farmers in one place.
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