India’s Agriculture Industry

Agriculture industry contributes 18.5% to India’s GDP and accounts for about 13% of the country’s total export. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 percent of India’s population, which is the major chunk of share.

The Indian food industry is growing at an increasing rate at the global arena due to its tremendous potential for value addition. The Indian food market is the sixth largest in the world with retail contributing 70 percent of the sales. The food industry of our country is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth and accounts for 32 percent of the country’s total food market.

For the accounting year 2017-18, food grain production is estimated at 279.51 million tons, while rice and wheat production in the country is estimated at 111.52 million tons and 98.61 million tons. Milk production during the year 2017 was at 165.4 million tons, while meat production was 7.4 million tons.

You love fruits? Yes, we all do; well India is the world's second largest fruits and vegetable producer and is the largest producer of mango and banana. India is an incredible country especially in terms of food- it the largest producer of spices, pulses, milk, tea, cashew and jute and is also the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugarcane, cotton, and oilseeds. Tea exports from India reached an all-time high of 240.68 million kilograms in 2017 while coffee exports reached 395,000 tons in 2017-18.  

According to the budget in 2018, India is expected to achieve the ambitious goal of doubling farm income by 2022. Increased investments such as irrigation facilities, warehousing, and cold storage will help grow the agriculture sector further. The growing use of genetically modified crops will likely improve the yield for Indian farmers.

In addition to this, the adoption of food safety and quality assurance mechanisms by the food processing industry will again offer several benefits which will lead to a healthy lifestyle.

The government of our country has introduced several projects to assist the agriculture sector. All these schemes aim to improve irrigation facility by using water efficiently and also aim at motivating groups of farmers to take up organic farming.   

With all these things it is quite evident that the agriculture sector is the big thing of our country which not only feeds the millions but also facilitates growth and prosperity. Agriculture industry provides us with livelihood, contributes to national revenue, supply food as well as fodder, brings a great contribution to international trade, builds foreign exchange returns, provides employment opportunities, economic development and most importantly gives food security.