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General Scenario and Current Trend : Total geographic area of the state is 78.44 lakh ha and Net
Cropped Area is 27.53 lakh ha (35%). Only 44% of the Net Cropped Area is under double cropping. 5.40 lakh
ha is under horticulture cultivation. About 65% of Net Cropped Area is rice fallow and cultivable waste.
22% of the net cropped area is irrigated and average annual rainfall is 2370.5 mm. There are 37.31 lakh
cultivators and 12.64 lakh agricultural labors. 22.60 lakh small and marginal farmers constitute 83.24% of the
total holdings.
During Kharif, chemical fertilizer consumption is 38.76 kg/ha and during Rabi it is 97.29 kg/ha. The soil is
mostly acidic in nature.
Though SRR has been achieved in paddy, urad, moong (Kharif) and wheat and lentil (Rabi), SRR in maize, til
and niger (Kharif) and rapeseed/mustard (Rabi) is below average. VRR is yet to be achieved in paddy, urd,
moong, arhar, rapeseeds/mustard and wheat. Seed production within the state should further increase but
productivity of major crops and horticulture plants is much below the national average.
Productivity of autumn rice is 896 kg/ha, winter rice 1482 kg/ha, summer rice 1965 kg/ha, wheat 1117 kg/ha,
maize 737 kg/ha, pulses 553 kg/ha, oilseeds 512 kg/ha, jute 1409 kg/ha, sugarcane 30320 kg/ha and spices
2478 kg/ha.
An area of 1.94 lakh ha is under fruit cultivation and productivity of fruits is 11.5 MT/ha. An area of 3.28 lakh
ha is under vegetable cultivation having productivity of 13.6 MT/ha. 1.5% of total plantation crops in the
country come from the state. 2.6% of banana, 2.2% of citrus fruit, 6.2% of oranges, 8.1% of litchi, 4% of
papaya, 16.1% of pineapple production in the country is from Assam.
Agriculture and allied sector contributed about 25% to the GSDP.
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Strength: Variety of flora and fauna, abundant water resource. Large ravine tracks (chhar) with
high productivity, large work force, captive regional market, suitable climate for majority of horticulture
crops, organic cultivation by default.
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Limitation: Low per capita holding, poor soil health, inadequate availability of quality inputs, low
level of farm mechanization, lack of irrigation facility, lack of post harvest, processing and marketing
facilities, dependence on seeds from outside, inadequate farm credit availability, high cost of infrastructure
maintenance due to regular occurrence of floods.
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