• General Scenario and Current Trend : Total geographical area is 206.22 lakh ha out of which 10.69 lakh ha has saline soil and sodic soil problem and 1.79 lakh ha is under soil alkalinity. 125 lakh ha area is mono cropped, 4.95 lakh ha area is occupied by gully and ravines and 0.23 lakh ha is water logged.

    Soil fertility is declining at present and deficiency of zinc, iron and sulphur has been noticed in vast areas.

    33% of the cropped area is irrigated out of which 27% is irrigated through canals and 65% through ground water. 67% of the area is rain fed due to the fact that the state has only 1% of country?s water resources. Average annual rainfall is 557 mm.

    SRR has been achieved in moong, urad, soyabean, castor, til and cotton in Kharif, wheat and barley in Rabi but it has not been achieved in maize, jowar, bajra, arhar and groundnut, gram, mustard. SMR has not been achieved for any crop in Kharif but has been achieved in mustard and linseed for Rabi. Varietal replacement is required in paddy, urad, moong, arhar, soyabean, castor and cotton. In oilseed, despite increase in area, production and yield has come down.

    Productivity of rice has been estimated at 1812 kg/ha, wheat 3048 kg/ha, jowar 577 kg/ha, bajra 828 kg/ha, maize 1736 kg/ha, tur 789 kg/ha, gram 696 kg/ha, pulses 613 kg/ha and oilseeds 1220 kg/ha as per 3rd Advance Estimates of 2008-09.

    27600 ha area is under fruit cultivation and 1.35 lakh ha area is under vegetable cultivation. Productivity of fruits is 14.6 MT/ha and that of vegetable is 6 MT/ha in the state. 12.7% of the spices, 3.3% of citrus fruit and 7.1% of oranges of the total production of the country come from the state.

    Agriculture and allied sector contributed about 27% to the GSDP.


  • Strength: Largest state covering 10.5% of geographical area. State has 10% of livestock of the country, 83% of available water used for irrigation, foodgrain production is increasing, five agroclimatic regions.

  • Limitation: Rainfall is highly inadequate, 61% of area is in arid and semi-arid tracts where soil has poor fertility, low water holding capacity, high infiltration, shallow, 12 lakh ha area is either saline or alkali, crops suffer from high temperature and wind effect, limited availability of ground water, limited spread of retail outlets for agriculture input, limited power-supply, lack of PHM and processing facility, low farm mechanization.

  • Public Investment : The state government has made a few interventions in agriculture and allied sector to increase production and productivity in the recent years through Centrally Sponsored Schemes as well as through satisfactory allocation from the State Plan. During 2005-06 out Rs.7699.83 cr State Plan agricultural sector received Rs.354.29 cr (4.60%). In 2006-07 it received Rs.317.40 cr (3.54%), in 2007-08 Rs.449.96 cr (3.26%) and during 2008-09 Rs.543.29 cr (3.56%) was allocated to the sector, out of the State Plan.

    During 2007-08 Government of India provided Rs.6.79 cr under Extension Reforms, Rs.56.73 cr under NHM, Rs. 78.35 cr under MMA, Rs.36.0 cr under ISOPOM, Rs.55.76 cr under RKVY and Rs.24.59 cr under NFSM.

    During 2008-09 Rs.5.75 cr under Extension Reforms, Rs.1.03 cr under Cotton Mission, Rs.40.97 cr under NHM, Rs.37.75 cr under MMA, Rs.31.40 cr under ISOPOM, Rs.233.76 cr under RKVY and Rs.18.83 cr under NFSM.

    Thus, in last two years of the 11th Plan period, GOI provided approx Rs.650 cr for agriculture and allied sector and the state intervention was nearly Rs.1000 cr which is on the lower side as compared to the agriculture and allied sector?s share in its GSDP.










STATE HAS AGREED TO PREPARE TIME BOUND ACTION PLAN FOR THE STRATEGY AND RECOMMENDATION..