Trends of Agricultural Productivity in India

Agricultural Productivity

Agricultural productivity is the ratio of agricultural inputs and output. It indicates the efficiency with which the inputs have been utilized. It indicates how much production has been obtained from a given amount of inputs. It can be measured as:

Agricultural Productivity = Total Production  / Amount of Inputs Employed

Productivity of Land   = Total Production / Area of Land

Productivity of Labour = Total Production / No of Workers Employed

Productivity of Capital = Total Production / Total Capital Employed

Trends of Agricultural Productivity in India

1. Productivity of Land

Productivity of land in India is very low in comparison to that of average productivity of land in other countries. It has been made clear in following two tables:

Table 6.2 reveals that though productivity of land is improving and is more than double than that at the beginning of planning era, still it cannot be regarded as satisfactory. When we look at the productivity of land of other countries of world (see Table 6.3), we find that India lags far behind. Average production per hectare in India is much below the world average in all the crops. We are far behind the productivity of agricultural lands in both the developed and developing countries of the world.

2. Productivity per Worker

Agricultural productivity per worker is very low when compared with the productivity per worker in industrial and other sectors. According to an estimate, productivity per worker in the field of agriculture is only one-third when compared with that of large industries and one-half when compared with that of small industries. In this regard, in agriculture the part played by Nature is more important than the part played by man. Secondly, investment of capital per worker in agriculture is much less than that of in industry.

Yield per Hectare of Major Crops (k.g./hectare)

Crops   1950-51   1970-71   1990-91   2003-04

Food grains   522   872   380   1731

Cereals   542   949   1571   1987

Pulses   441   524   578   637

Rice   668   4423   740   2077

Wheat   663   1307   2281   2713

Oil seeds   481   579   771   1067