The agriculture sector provides livelihood to about
64 per cent of Gross Domestic Product and accounts for about about 18
per cent share of the total value of the country's exports. It supplies
bulk of wage goods required by the non-agricultural sector and raw
material for a large section of industry. Per capita net availability of
foodgrains went up to a level of 467 grams per day in 1999-2000 as
compared to that of 395 grams in the early fifties. In terms of gross
fertilizers consumption, India ranks fourth in the world after USA, the
erstwhile USSR and China. The country has the largest area in the world
under pulse crops while in the field of cotton, India is the first to
evolve a cotton hybrid.
Harvesting Season
There are three main crop seasons, namely, kharif, rabi and summer.
Major kharif crops are rice, jowar, bajra, maize, cotton, sugarcane,
sesame and groundnut. Major rabi crops are wheat, jowar, barley, gram,
linseed, rapeseed and mustard. Rice, maize and groundnut are grown in
summer season also.
Land Utilisation
Land utilisation statistics are available for 92.7 per cent of total
geographical area of 3,287.3 lakh hectares. According to land use
statistics available from States, area under forests had increased from
404.8 lakh hectares in 1950- 51 to 688.3 lakh hectares in 1995-96. Net
sown area increased from 1,187.5 lakh to 1,422.2 lakh hectares during
the same period. Broad cropping pattern indicates that though foodgrains
have a preponderance in gross cropped area as compared to
non-foodgrains, their relative share came down from 76.7 per cent during
1950-51 to 65.8 per cent during 1995-96.
