India Food-Grain Production

The average rate of output growth since the 1950s has been more than 2.5 percent per year and was greater than 3 percent during the 1980s, compared with less than 1 percent per annum during the period from 1900 to 1950. Most of the growth in aggregate crop output was the result of an increase in yields, rather than an increase in the area under crops. The yield performance of crops has varied widely (see table 30, Appendix). The national growth rates mask variability in the performance of different states, but in the regions with the greatest increases three categories are discernible. The first category includes states or areas that have an exceptionally high agricultural growth rate--Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh. The second is states or areas that have high growth rates, but not as high as the first category--Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Jammu and Kashmir. A third category has a lesser growth rate and includes Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. These eight states, however, comprise 55 percent of the total food-grains area (see fig. 13). Some observers believe that the increase in productivity has been an important factor explaining the satisfactory growth of food-grain production since the mid1960s. However, the gains in productivity remain confined to select areas. Between FY 1960 and FY 1980, yields increased by 125.6 percent in North India (Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh). The increase in the other regions was much less: central India, 36 percent; eastern, 22.7 percent; southern, 58.3 percent; and western India, 31.6 percent. The national average was nearly 40.9 percent. Part of this disparity can be explained by the fact that during this period Punjab and Haryana were way ahead of other states in terms of irrigated area,

intensity of irrigation, and intensity of cropping. Availability of irrigation is one of the crucial factors governing regional variations. As a result of a good monsoon during FY 1990, food grain production reached 176 million tons, 3 percent more than in FY 1989. The production of rice and wheat was 74.6 million and 54.5 million tons, respectively. Among the commercial crops, sugarcane and oilseeds reached production levels of 240.3 million tons and 21.8 million tons, respectively. The increased production in FY 1990 was mainly the result of continuing increases in yields for all the main crops--rice, wheat, pulses, and oilseeds. In the case of oilseeds and sugarcane, higher production was also the result of the increased number of hectares planted (see table 31, Appendix). The growth in food-grain production did not occur in a linear trend, but as a series of spurts depending mostly on the weather, input availability, and price policy. Aggregate growth was composed of an even split between area expansion and yield growth before FY 1964. Since FY 1967, the contribution of growth in yields has become dominant and attests to the vigor with which agriculture has responded to the opportunities opened up by new seed, water, and fertilizer technology. Food-Grain Production Food grains include rice, wheat, corn (maize), coarse grains (sorghum and millet), and pulses (beans, dried peas, and lentils). In FY 1990, approximately 127.5 million hectares were sown with food grains, about 75 percent of the total planted area. The total number of hectares increased by 31 percent over the forty-year period from FY 1950 to FY 1990. Most of this increase occurred in the 1950s; there was almost no change in the sown number of hectares through the

1980s. Around 33 percent of cropland was given over to rice, about 29 percent to coarse grains, and the rest evenly divided between wheat and pulses. Rice, India's preeminent crop, is the staple food of the people of the eastern and southern parts of the country. Production increased from 53.6 million tons in FY 1980 to 74.6 million tons in FY 1990, a 39 percent increase over the decade. By FY 1992, rice production had reached 111 million tons, second in the world only to China with its 182 million tons. Since 1950 the increase has been more than 350 percent. Most of this increase was the result of an increase in yields; the number of hectares increased only 40 percent during this period. Yields increased from 1,336 kilograms per hectare in FY 1980 to 1,751 kilograms per hectare in FY 1990. The per-hectare yield increased more than 262 percent between 1950 and 1992. Wheat production showed an 843 percent increase, from nearly 6.5 million tons in FY 1950 to 54.5 million tons in FY 1990 to 56.7 million tons in FY 1992. Most of this greater production was the result of an increase in yields that went from 663 kilograms per hectare in FY 1950 to 2,274 kilograms in FY 1990. Along with the excellent performance in yields, improved wheat production resulted from an increase in the area planted from nearly 9.8 million hectares in FY 1950 to 24.0 million hectares in FY 1990. Sorghum and millet, the principal coarse grains, are dryland crops most frequently grown as staples in central and western India. Corn and barley are staple foods grown mainly near and in the Himalayan region. As the result of increased yields, the production of coarse grains has doubled since 1950; there was hardly any change in the area sown for these grains. The production of pulses did not fare well, increasing by only 68 percent over the four decades. Land devoted to pulses increased by 28 percent, and yields were up by 30 percent. Pulses are an important source of protein in the vegetarian diet; the

small improvement in production along with the increase in population meant a reduced availability of pulses per capita. Before the Green Revolution, coarse grains showed satisfactory rates of growth but afterward lost cultivated areas to wheat and rice, and their growth declined. The area sown with coarse grains increased from FY 1950 to FY 1970 by roughly 20 percent but declined subsequently up to the early 1990s. In FY 1990 the area sown was 3 percent less than in FY 1950 and 20 percent less than in FY 1970. The area sown with two coarse grains, jowar (barley) and bajra (millet), increased from FY 1950 to FY 1970 and then declined during the 1970s and the 1980s. The area sown with jowar increased from 15.6 million hectares in FY 1950 to 17.4 million hectares in FY 1970 and then decreased to 14.5 million hectares in FY 1990. The area sown with bajra increased from 9.0 million hectares in FY 1950 to 12.9 million hectares in FY 1970 and stood at 10.4 million hectares in FY 1990. A similar pattern existed for other coarse grains. Overall, India's coarse-grain production increased from 15.4 million tons in 1950 to 29 million tons in 1980 to 33.1 million tons in 1990 and 33.7 million tons in 1993.

Organic Food Production in India Status, Strategy and Scops

ABOUT THE BOOK: The indiscriminate use of fertilizers and plant-protection chemicals to increase the yield potential and to save the crops from insect pests and diseases respectively, no doubt, has doubled or trippled or more our total food production, but has also created a number of health hazards and deteriorated the agro-ecosystem badly. This situation has compelled us to switch over organic farming to cultivate valuable crops for healthy and safer foods. Today, the organic food production is drawing attention globally. The demand of organic foods is growing by leaps and bounds especially in the developed countries. In the last decade, organic farming in India has also attracted a number of farmers. Most of the farmers are cultivating organic produce successfully, but still it has to get a momentum. It requires full-fledged support

of Government institutions, I CAR research institutes, SAUs, NGOs etc. Then only the movement of organic food production for the people can be made a successful step. Considering the vast scope and huge export potential of organic foods from India, such types of information on status, strategy and scope in the form of a book was a long-felt need. Since, this is the beginning of popularizing such technologies, the outcome of this book will serve the purpose of the target audience. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. P. Bhattacharyya, a soil microbiologist, is Director of the National Biofertilizer Development Centre (NBDC), Ghaziabad, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Soil Microbiology from Calcutta University. He has been associated with the National Project on Biofertilizers since 1989 and has worked in different capacities. Prior to directing the NBDC, Ghaziabad, he was Regional Director of the Regional Biofertilizer Development Centre at Nagpur from 1993 to 2001. Dr Bhattacharyya is also the Chief Editor of Biofertilizer Newsletter published by NBDC, Ghaziabad. He has co-authored 4 books on biofertilizers and published over 80 papers in Indian and international journals on biofertilisers, organic manures and Organic Farming. He also serves as an M.Sc./Ph.D. examiner at different agricultural institutes. Dr Bhattacharyya is also member of the Task Force on Biofertilizers of DBT; FAI Advisory Committee; Board of Studies, Nagpur University and life-member, j Agricultural Society of India. He is also the member of BIS Specification Committee on I Compost and Biofertilizers and also the member of technical committee and ' evaluation committee of APEDA on Organic Farming.

Food production
800 million people - one sixth of the developing world's population - suffer from hunger and the fear of starvation.

In a world where the richest fifth eat 45 per cent of all meat and fish, while the poorest fifth consume just five per cent, and where four out of five malnourished children live in countries with food surpluses, there are clear problems in distribution. This means that any effort to improve agricultural productivity must go hand-in-hand with measures that address inequality. The challenge of delivering and sustaining food security for all is all about how we go about managing this fragile balance. When we speak of eliminating hunger, of increasing agricultural productivity, and of balancing the equity of how people access food, we cannot forget that it is farmers who feed the world. The success or failure of small scale farmers in developing countries in managing the natural and biological resources available to us will determine the diversity of foods we eat, support our nutritional needs, produce many of the goods we live by, and, crucially, determine whether ecosystems are maintained and whether biodiversity is protected and conserved. In the light of increasing evidence of the impacts of environmental change, the role of farmers can help shift the balance back toward a revitalisation of the ecosystem: rebuilding eroded soils, reducing runoff and the threat of floods, protecting habitats and reducing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Recent research by international institutes funded by the World Bank points to the dangers becoming apparent from the unsustainable use of natural resources through industrialised models of farming - see http://www.ifpri.cgiar.org/

Sustainable approaches to agriculture

Practical Action's experience in Food Production is that traditional crop and animal combinations can be adapted to increase productivity - when the biological, land and labour resources are efficiently used. This has enhanced not only yields and the food security of farmers, but also the agricultural diversity and environmental integrity of the production system. These low-input, sustainable agriculture approaches are a win-win strategy - more stable levels of total production per unit area than high-input systems, economically favourable rates of return, a livelihood acceptable to small farmers and their families, and sustainable use of the natural resource base. Practical Action's work with small scale farmers and pastoralists aims to help them increase their food production capacity, to achieve sustainable livelihoods in the context of a rapidly changing global food system. With farmers in East Africa, Latin America, Southern Africa and elsewhere, Practical Action assists communities to develop and improve low-input sustainable agriculture.

With pastoralists in East Africa, Practical Action assists in establishing sustainable, community based systems to care for animal health, as well as to manage natural resources and to reduce conflict over these scarce resources between competing groups. In both cases the key 'technology' which is being developed is founded in the existing knowledge, skills and practices of small scale food producers and herders. Farmers use the knowledge acquired over centuries of crop production and animal husbandry, adapting and developing the huge range of varieties and resources available in their specific local environments. Both farmers and pastoralists also draw upon indigenous community knowledge of animal care, often using herbal and other locally available remedies to treat illness. The 'experts', the 'scientists' in this case are the food producers themselves.

Using appropriate technology

The technology options appropriate to rural food producers and herders include, for example:

improved soil usage through drainage, terracing and intercropping of food crops so as not to exhaust the soil; conservation, management and development of 'agricultural biodiversity', to make use of the vast range of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture which farmers themselves have developed over centuries, such as the thousands of indigenous varieties of staple food crops which are adapted to particular local conditions; sustainable use of wild foods and medicinal plants; irrigation and water harvesting;

and many other techniques appropriate to their circumstances. ITDGPractical Action does not impose technologies upon farming or herding communities but seeks to build on local knowledge, secure community partnership, and help the producers themselves to build their own capacity to achieve sustainable livelihoods.

The need for change

While ITDGPractical Action's projects in Food Production are themselves an investigation and demonstration of the potential of appropriate technologies to provide practical answers to the world hunger crisis, the direct raising of production and incomes in some particular communities does not suffice. We also help small scale farmers and herders to build up their bargaining power, both in the market (where middlemen often take the largest share of value from crops and other products) and with the institutions and agencies which are supposed to meet their needs but are too often remote, top-down and insensitive to the real marginal livelihoods of the rural poor. And, in a globalizing economy, solutions to the great challenges surrounding agricultural and environmental resources - and the livelihoods of those who manage and depend on them - must also be found at the international level. This is why ITDGPractical Action advocates for policy change, with partners and with small scale food producers themselves, at global level, through for example:

influencing the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to move its emphasis from sheer food production to a rights-based approach to farmers' livelihoods;

lobbying through the legally-binding Convention on Biological Diversity for more priority to be given to the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity through farmercentred approaches; campaigning for the successful negotiation of an International Undertaking to protect and conserve free access for all who need them to the plant genetic resources sued in food agriculture.

Expertise
Practical Action's expertise in food production includes:

Training farmers in agricultural techniques, such as terracing and wadi cultivation Constructing dams and training farmers in rainwater conservation Working with farmers to improve irrigation, including community construction projects to build reservoirs, canals, and gravity-fed irrigation systems Developing alternative techniques to cope with land that is regularly flooded, such as floating gardens, sandbar cropping and rice-fish culture

Food Production Around the World

As the global availability of food tightens and prices increase greatly, I was curious where food is actually being produced in the world. The UN's FAO Stat website obliged my desire:

Quick thoughts on the numbers: 1) China is the #1 food producer of the world, leading in all 3 categories. China has only 6% of the world's surface area and yet they are able to produce over 20% of the total amount of food in the world, which is good considering they also have 20% of the world's population.

2) While the US and China produce almost the same about of cereals, the Chinese
produce almost twice as much meat as the US does. I didn't realize that the Chinese produced that much more meat than the US did.

3) China produces an astounding 1/3 of all fruits and vegetables in the world. They
actually produces more tonnes of fruits and vegetables than they do of grains. They either eat a lot of fruits and vegetables or else they are a big exporter.

4) India has 1/3 the land mass of either the US or China, but produces a little less
than 1/2 as much grain, meaning they get more output per acre of land than either the US or China. But with 17% of the world's population, they only produce 10% of the world's cereals.

5) The US produces 17.4% of the world's grains which is close to its 20% share of
world GDP and much larger than its 5% of world population. The US has a much lower percentage of world fruit and vegetable production. I believe this has to do with the fact that government subsidies are given to grain manufacturers but not to fruit and vegetable producers. I wonder what would happen if the US got rid of all agricultural subsidies?

6) For having the 4th largest population, Indonesia isn't really producing a lot of
food, but then again they only have 1/5 the amount of land that the US does.

7) Both Canada and Russia have lots of land, but neither produces a lot of food. I
wonder if this will change in the future.