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Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat
Assam Agricultural University is the first institution of its kind in the whole of North-Eastern Region of India. The main goal of this institution is to produce globally competitive human resources in farm sectorand to carry out research in both conventional and frontier areas for production optimization as well as to disseminate the generated technologies as public good for benefitting the food growers/produces and traders involved in the sector while emphasizing on sustainability, equity and overall food security at household level.
Genesis of AAU -
The embryo of the agricultural research in the state of Assam was formed as early as 1897 with the establishment of the Upper Shillong Experimental Farm (now in Meghalaya) just after about a decade of creation of the agricultural department in 1882. However, the seeds of agricultural research in today’s Assam were sown in the dawn of the twentieth century with the establishment of two Rice Experimental Stations, one at Karimganj in Barak valley in 1913 and the other at Titabor in Brahmaputra valley in 1923. Subsequent to these research stations, a number of research stations were established to conduct research on important crops, more specifically, jute, pulses, oilseeds etc. The Assam Agricultural University was established on April 1, 1969 under The Assam Agricultural University Act, 1968’ with the mandate of imparting farm education, conduct research in agriculture and allied sciences and to effectively disseminate technologies so generated. Before establishment of the University, there were altogether 17 research schemes/projects in the state under the Department of Agriculture. By July 1973, all the research projects and 10 experimental farms were transferred by the Government of Assam to the AAU which already inherited the College of Agriculture and its farm at Barbheta, Jorhat and College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara, Guwahati.
Subsequently, College of Community Science at Jorhat (1969), College of Fisheries at Raha (1988), Biswanath College of Agriculture at Biswanath Chariali (1988) and Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science at Joyhing, North Lakhimpur (1988) were established. Presently, the University has three more colleges under its jurisdiction, viz., Sarat Chandra Singha College of Agriculture, Chapar, College of Horticulture, Nalbari & College of Sericulture, Titabar. Similarly, few more regional research stations at Shillongani, Diphu, Gossaigaon, Lakhimpur; and commodity research stations at Kahikuchi, Buralikson, Tinsukia, Kharua, Burnihat and Mandira were added to generate location and crop specific agricultural production packages.
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ThesisItem Open Access AN ASSESSMENT OF FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY STATUS OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN ASSAM(AAU, Jorhat, 2019-07) Hazarika, Upama; Borthakur, N.India is an agricultural country and agriculture plays an important role in the economic life of India. Food and nutritional security continues to be the strong foundation of India’s food policy despite its tremendous achievement on food production. Household food security is an important measure of wellbeing. Despite the increasing global concern of improving food security, the nature and extent of food security at the household level in rural areas is not well documented. The present study has been undertaken to examine the present level of food and nutritional security status of rural households in Assam State. An attempt has been made to examine the status of temporal agricultural food production and variability across the state of Assam. An analysis to the various factors that affect existing food security of the sample farmers and their coping strategies during food shortages were done. Finally, an alternative plan for attaining food security of sample households was given. For evaluating the specific objectives of the study, both primary and secondary data were collected.Appropriate analytical and statistical procedure was followed for each objectives such as compound growth analysis and coefficient of variation of area, production, yields of major food crops in Assam, regression analysis, linear programming, percentage and ranking method etc. for the period of 1998-99 to 2014-15.A multi stage random sampling design was used for the present study. Altogether, 240 sample households were taken from Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone and Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone of Assam zones. The results of the study revealed that positive and highly significant growth in production (2.37 %) in food grains which was mainly due to highly significant growth rate of yield (2.72 %). But negative growth rate was also observed in case of area of food grains (0.34 %) during the study period of 1998-99 to 2014-15. Semi-log quadratic equation estimated for food grains production, area and yield revealed significant acceleration during the period in the state of Assam.An analysis of instability measured by coefficient of variation of production of total food grains revealed that in the entire period it was 17.35 per cent with major contribution of yield variability which was 16.57 per cent. Again, the analysis of per capita availability of different food grains revealed that the per capita availability of cereals remained more than normative requirement during all the periods. Per capita availability of pulses, though remained more than normative requirement, it was in a declining trend up to 2008-13 and increased during 2013-15 but per capita availability of total food grains was more than normative requirement during all the periods. It was found that the per capita availability of oilseeds produced in the state was far below the normative requirement, although its area, production as well as productivity increased over the years. It was found that in Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone, 30 per cent of sample households were food secure while 70 per cent households were food in secure.Moreover, the food secure percentages of marginal, small, semi medium and medium farmers of Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone were 22.22 per cent, 17.07 per cent, 33.33 per cent and 76.92 per cent, respectively. In Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone, 36.67 per cent of sample households were food secure while 63.33 per cent of households were food insecure. The food secure percentages of marginal, small, semi medium and medium farmers of Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone were 7.50 per cent, 28.57 per cent, 66.67 per cent and 72.22 per cent, respectively.It indicated that the farm size could be a significant factor to the food security status of farming households. Different socioeconomic, personnel and natural factors were analyzed in order to study the factors affecting food security of sample households. The regression analysis revealed there were important factors such as total land (ha), farm size, rice area (ha), monthly income, age of household head, education of household head, household member, age of wife, education of wife and access to finance that affected food security status of sample households. The findings revealed that the most important way of obtaining food when stocks run out was to purchase food on credit from the market followed by selling productive assets like land or livestock during the food shortages. Other options like reduce quantity, consume seed stock held for next season, take money from money lenders etc. were also adopted by rural households during shortage period. A linear programming was used to assist managers in decision making and resource allocation among the food insecure households of Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone and Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone. The optimal farm plan for food insecure households indicated the scope for reorganizing the resources in order to increase the net farm returns to the extent of 24.70 per cent of marginal farms, 40.57 per cent of small farms 62.01 per cent of semi-medium farms and 73.16 per cent of medium farms of Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone which were shown through optimum plan. In the same way, in Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone, there was scope for reorganizing the resources which would result in increasing the net farm returns to the extent of 24.02 per cent of marginal farms, 37.20 per cent of small farms 73.41 per cent of semi-medium farms and 85.90 per cent of medium farms under the limited capital situations. The results showed that majority of the food insecure farming households would improve the food security status from the production of crop enterprises based on an efficient allocation of resources as recommended by the optimal farm plan. Therefore, it could be concluded that appropriate policy measures should be taken up to facilitate equitable growth of all major food crops in the state. Again, policy effective community participation in the design of concepts and messages aimed at imparting knowledge about family measures directed towards the provision of better family planning, increased awareness and access to family planning facilities should be given adequate attention and priority by the government.ThesisItem Open Access MECHANIZATION IN ASSAM AGRICULTURE – STATUS AND ITS EFFECTS(AAU, Jorhat, 2018-01) Barman, Sinki; Deka, NAgricultural mechanization refers to interjection of improved tools, implements and machine between workers and materials handled by them. Agriculture has changed significantly with advances in science and technology. Traditional agriculture was mostly dependent on human labor and draught animals with less fertilizer application, plant protection measures etc. where modern agricultural practices are mainly based on machines especially high-speed, powerful tractors and its implements with higher rate of input application. In the context of growing demand of selective forms of farm machinery in Assam, the pertinent question to ask is whether the farm mechanization contributes to income and employment of the farm families either by increasing productivity, cropping intensity or by changing the cropping pattern. So, keeping this point of view the present study was conducted with specific objectives viz., 1) Study the status of farm mechanization in the study area, 2) Examine the effect of mechanization on productivity, income, employment, cropping pattern and cropping intensity and 3) Study the factors affecting farm mechanization of the sample farms. Primary data were collected with the help of specially design pretested schedule by interview method. Tabular, percent, log linear regression and Logit regression analysis were done and results obtained from these analysis were summarized to examine the impact of farm mechanization and various factors affecting farm mechanization. During 2014-15 the availability of farm power in Assam was 1.78 HP per hectare which was less as compared to 2.05 HP per hectare at national level .Use of animal drawn implements like indigenous plough and the traditional practices were adopted by the farmers and its percentage was high for tillage, sowing, intercultural operation, harvesting and threshing etc. Some farmers had neither animal and nor tractor or power tiller but they hired these for performing various farm operations. The implements used by the cultivators for performing various agricultural operations were desi plough, rotavator, harrow, puddler, khurpi, hoe, kudali, spade, axe, knapsack sprayer, shallow tube well/deep tube well, plain sickle plain sickle, serrated sickle, combine harvester, reaper, tractor, power tiller. 94.32 per cent of the household ploughing was done by mechanically while 4.58 per cent used draught animal for ploughing purpose. From the study it had been observed that mechanical ploughing was done by 94.32 per cent of the population. Cropping pattern in medium and large sized mechanized farms were shifted in favour of high valued crops and cropping intensity was higher in case of mechanized farms and it was seen that cropping intensity showed a negative significant relationship with farm size i.e. -1.98. Tractor Hired Farm had the highest cropping intensity (162.21 per cent) followed by Power Tiller Hired Farm (161.49 per cent) and Tractor Ownership Farm (152.00) per cent) and Power Tiller Ownership Farm (154.62 per cent), respectively. From the study revealed that mechanized farms received higher yield and return compared to non mechanized farm and the major effect of mechanical power adoption was the significant reduction in the labour requirements of mechanized farm for ploughing and threshing. Human labour employment was lower in case of mechanized farm than Bullock Operated Farm. Average labour employment per cropped hectare were estimated at 53.36, 70.04, 68.87, 87.45 and 147.9 man days for Tractor Ownership Farm, Tractor Hired Farm, Power Tiller Ownership Farm, Power Tiller Hired Farm and Bullock Operated Farm, respectively. Labour employment and farm size had inverse relationship within different categories of mechanized and Bullock Operated Farm and out of total labour employment family labour employment was found to be 3.70, 58.91, 20.30, 63.02 and 91.22 per cent in case of Tractor Ownership Farm, Tractor Hired Farm, Power Tiller Ownership Farm, Power Tiller Hired Farm and Bullock Operated Farm, respectively. Per hectare crop yield along with gross return was higher in case of mechanized and it had been observed that in case of Bullock Operated Farm net return was negative i.e. -12075.51. Using Logit regression analysis revealed that education, farm size, level of con tact with extension functionaries and area under high yielding variety crops had found to bearing significant positive effect on adoption of mechanization in the in the study area on the other hand age old custom was the hindrance of mechanization adoption. The coefficient of EDU i.e. education level of the household (4.32) was positive and highly significant at 10 per cent probability level confirming that the adoption of farm mechanization was more prevalent among the farms having relatively literate in the study area. Considering the above findings suitable form of farm machinery can be recommended in the study area, supplemented through greater use of irrigation and fertilizer which are expected to increase the cropping intensity, sufficient enough to neutralize the labour displacement effect of farm mechanization in the study area. By advancing smooth credit system to procure machineries, establishment of bank for custom hiring, development of adequate infrastructure to supply spare parts, repairing services, cooperative management farm machinery, development of training facilities for farmers to use machineries and strengthening the linkage of extension functionaries with the grassroots level by creating awareness about the use of farm machineries amongst the farmers were the appropriate policy measures for increasing the benefit farm mechanization in the study area.ThesisItem Open Access FARM LEVEL PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES, POST HARVEST LOSSES AND MARKETING EFFICIENCY OF MAJOR VEGETABLES: A STUDY IN THE DARRANG DISTRICT OF ASSAM(AAU, Jorhat, 2015-07) Dutta, Sumi; Barman, R. N.Vegetables are important supplements to the human diet. India ranks 2nd after China in the world with total production of 162.19 million tones. In Assam area under vegetable is about 2.73 lakh hectares with annual production of 49.79 lakh MT.Vegetables are highly perishable food products in nature and in the process of supply from the farm level to the market level. The seasonal gluts and lack of infrastructure and marketing facilities in the developing countries have significant effect on the extent of post harvest losses of vegetables. In Assam not much information is available regarding the farm level adoption of production technologies and quantum of post harvest loss of vegetables at various stages of marketing and its impact on marketing efficiency. The present study was conducted in the Darrang district of Assam and was designed to collect information regarding the level of production technologies, assessment of productivity, technology gaps of some major vegetables, physical and value loss at farm level and at various stages of marketing and to examine the impact of post harvest loss on farmer’s net price, marketing costs, margins and efficiency of major vegetables. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. Bechimari and Kharupetia two major vegetable growing areas were identified.Both tabular and functional analysis was done in analyzing data. Cost concepts used in farm management studies were applied to calculate costs in the present study and results indicated that cost of production increased with increase in size of the farm and regardingknowledge on different parameters of vegetable production it was observed that almost all farmers (99.33%) had the knowledge about the ploughing and application of organic manures (99.00%).The extent of adoption gaps for selected vegetables is estimated and 7 technology components were found. More than 30 percent of technology adoption gaps were observed in terms of technology components T4, T5 and T6 i.e. Manuring and fertilization, Number of irrigations applied & Intercultural and weed control.As vegetables are perishable in nature so during the process of distribution and marketing substantial losses are incurred. The post harvest loss was estimated first at farm level and then at market level and in case of market level it can be clearly observed that the physical loss was highest in itinerant level followed by wholesaler and retailer level. 4 major marketing channels of vegetables were identified namely Channel I:Producer–Consumer,Channel II:Producer–Retailer–Consumer,ChannelIII:Producer–Wholesaler–Retailer-Consumer,ChannelIV:Producer–Itineranttraders–Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer. Marketing efficiency was estimated in different marketing channels and it was found that Channel II was the most efficient channel and Channel IV was the least efficient channel.ButChannel IV was considered as the most effective one because farmers sold majority of their marketed surplus through Channel IV.ThesisItem Open Access AN ASSESSMENT OF PRIORITY SECTOR LENDING IN JORHAT DISTRICT OF ASSAM(AAU, Jorhat, 2018-01) Deka, Pallavi; Deka, NiveditaIn a developing economy some sectors of society need special and priority attention as they are starved for capital. The Reserve Bank of India has clearly specified the sectors that are termed the priority sectors. The lending that is done to them is referred to as Priority Sector Lending (PSL). The philosophy behind the adoption of priority sector lending is mainly intended to bridge the lacuna of credit influx which was hitherto not timely and adequately dispensed. The sectors may be agriculture and allied activities, micro and small enterprises, non conventional, other low income groups and weaker sections. This is essentially meant for an all round development of the economy as opposed to focusing only on the financial sector. As regards credit, in most of the cases, it was not in adequate quantity as also not received in time when it was needed. Under these circumstances there is strong justification to study the status of Priority Sector Lending with the specific objectives viz., 1) Study the financial management practices of farmers and financial institutions under Priority Sector Lending, 2) Derive optimal solution of short term loan use to maximize net farm return in the existing financial environment and 3) Suggest alternative rural credit sources to different category of farmers for promoting financial inclusion under Priority Sector Lending. The study was designed to carry out in the selected areas of Jorhat District. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. Primary source were the farmer borrowers and the bankers. The secondary sources were the District lead bank, Reserve Bank of India and NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) publications and other relevant publications. The primary data were collected with the help of pre-tested schedule and questionnaire through personal interview. The study found that the farmers adopted few strategies to manage their financial positions whereas financial institutions like banks focuses on credit risk management as a financial management practices and adopted numbers of strategies to mitigate those risks of return. The study also developed an optimal plan for short term loan use for the study area. Based on the problems cited by the farmers in accessing in rural credit and sources of credit, an alternative rural credit source was proposed in logical way.ThesisItem Open Access TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY IN ASSAM AGRICULTURE(AAU, Jorhat, 2016-07) Buragohain, Rinumoni; Deka, N.Technical change in agriculture increases production at the same level of input-use and enables it to avoid trapping into Ricardo’s law of diminishing returns to which the sector is more prone. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is often seen as the real driver of growth within an economy. Many studies showed that, different factors of TFP like Policy support, production strategies, public investment in infrastructure, research and extension for crop, livestock and fisheries etc., have significantly helped in increasing the agricultural productivity, food production and its availability. Assam’s economy is predominantly agrarian. Agriculture and its allied activities play an important role in the socio- economic development of the State of Assam as this sector is the major contributor to the State economy as well as providing livelihood to a significant proportion of the population of the State. Assam accounts for a fairly significant share of the country’s acreage and output of many crops. In spite of having high inherent potentiality, Assam’s agriculture is yet to experience modernization in real sense. Agriculture in Assam exhibits most of the characteristics of underdeveloped/backward agriculture. During last few decades, Assam Government has made lots of investments in agricultural sector for the development of the sector. But, whether these investments have been contributing significantly towards the agricultural growth in the real scenes or not, it is very much important to know. Considering this, the present study was conducted with the three objectives to estimate the TFP growth and its contribution to Assam agriculture, to examine the determinants of TFP in Assam agriculture and to suggest policy measures for improving TFP in Assam agriculture. The study was conducted for three crops rice, jute and rapeseed and mustard both individually and collectively termed as total crops for the time period of two decades from 1991-92 to 2010-11. Further, for more convenience, the entire study period was divided into two sub periods viz., 1st period (191-92 to 2000-01) and 2nd period (2001-02 to 2010-11). The study was based on secondary data collected from different reputed published sources. Tornqvist Theil index was used for computing TFP indices of the three selected crops. The input, output and TFP indices were calculated both in current price and constant price (at price of 1991-92) of the inputs and outputs to find out whether there any nominal price effect was existed or not. Again, the indices were also computed for per hectare area and total area under the selected crops in Assam to know how efficiently inputs were used under both situations. In order to evaluate the determinants of TFP in Assam, the TFP index was regressed against the variables viz., rice area under flood, no. of villages electrified, rainfall, share of irrigated area to total cropped area, expenditure in Agricultural research and education, investment in Agriculture and allied activities, share of HYV area to total rice area, rural literacy and cropping intensity by using Cobb Douglas production function. The results of the study revealed that, all the three crops rice, jute and rapeseed and mustard of the state had experienced negative TFP growth at current price, but at constant price, it was estimated to be positive in both per hectare area and total area for the study period. It revealed the presence of the nominal effect of increased input costs resulted in a lower (negative) TFP at current price pointing out the occurrence of gap between the farm harvest prices of the farm outputs and costs of inputs incurred in production of those three major crops in the state. Again, except rice, for other two crops, jute and rapeseed and mustard, TFP index were estimated to be higher in per hectare area rather than their total area. It implied that, in jute and rapeseed and mustard both, inputs were more efficiently allocated and utilized per hectare area rather than total area in the state. Only rice was found to have highly significant TFP growth (at constant price). Other two crops were reported to have positive TFP with very lower growth rate, but not significantly in Assam. Expenditure in Agricultural research and education, rural literacy, irrigation and cropping intensity were found to have positive impact on TFP of all three crops both individually and collectively. However, none of the selected variables was found to have significant impact on TFP of jute as well as rapeseed and mustard. Investment in agriculture and allied activities also was an important source of TFP for all selected crops except jute. In rice, HYV area also contributed positively in TFP. Villages electrified and rainfall exhibited no any effect towards TFP growth of all selected crops individually as well as collectively also. The findings of the study have important policy implications for construction of proper price structure, improving input-use efficiency in total area under these crops, allocating scarce public resources to agricultural research, education, irrigation etc. and increasing HYV area and cropping intensity for enhancing the TFP in the state for better sustainable growth in agriculture.ThesisItem Open Access STATUS OF INDIAN TEA INDUSTRY AND ITS PERSPECTIVE CHANGES UNDER GLOBAL COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT- A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH(AAU, Jorhat, 2017-07) Talukdar, Udeshna; Hazarika, ChandanTea industry in India plays an important role in the national economy and it is one of the oldest and well organized labour intensive, agro-based industries of the country. Recognition of tea cultivation as an industry in the country was done towards the end of nineteenth century and it took a phenomenal increase in area after China. Tea industry contributes more than Rs 33000 croresper annum to the Gross National Product (GNP). The total turnover from the tea industry in India alone is more than Rs 33000 crores, a mere 3.22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during 2014-15. The study was based mostly on secondary published data with effect from 1971 to 2015 with an objective to examine the trends of production and export of tea and growth in India. It was observed that tea sector plays an important role contributing more than 200 crores to the GNP of the country. The major three producing regions are Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri. In the recent years, the sector has witnessed a stiff competition in the international export market affecting domestic production. It was observed that China produces 39.00 per cent of world tea followed by India sharing 24.55 per cent with an annual change of 2.87 per cent during 1971-81 to 3.06 per cent during 2001-11. Production of tea in the country was mainly due to increase of area and productivity. Application of gravity model shows that population of India could not affect the bilateral trade. It was observed that relatively higher productivity of tea was exhibited by South Indian states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with NPC value rangingbetween 0.66 to 0.74.Tea export quantity was forecast with the help of the export quantity model, exponential smoothing and ARMA model. The Giniconcentration ratio for different categories for producer-sellers and buyers was found to be 0.5171 and 0.7424 respectively and the prices of tea at GTAC were influenced more by number of buyers and the markets was monopolistic in nature.Marketing channels were studied to know the efficiency and effectiveness in the marketing system. The study also shows that output price has positive influence on factor prices and the output price with respect to labour and chemical was more dominating. Export of value added tea was more erratic and unstable. It can be concluded that area could influence the production and it needs to be increased under replanting and replacement planting. Steps should also be taken to increase the export of value added tea in the country. The small tea sector should be organised and regulated to make it more productive. The linkage between small and big growers be strengthened and the price of green leaves needs to be raised. The processing of green leaves of small growers through cooperatives was therefore need to be strengthened.ThesisItem Open Access SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF TRANSFORMING ASSAM AGRICULTURE(AAU, Jorhat, 2017-07) Gogoi, Manashi; Barooah, B. K.The study seeks to explore spatio-temporal analysis of agricultural sector in Assam with specific objectives to analyze agricultural scenario over the pre and post liberalization periods, contribution of different factors influencing agricultural growth and development of the state over the years, instability and regional disparity in terms of agricultural development across the agro-climatic zones and finally put forward strategic model for prospective agricultural transformation. The study has covered entire Assam with a reference period of four decades (1975-76 to 2014-15). Data used for the study were entirely secondary and collected from various published and unpublished sources of government departments, agencies and institutions. The results revealed slow pace of agricultural growth from 2.26 to 1.96 per cent accompanied by marginal increase in the yield of two of the major crops viz., total rice- from 1.71 to 2.22 per cent and pulses from -0.18 to 0.9 per cent over the pre and post liberalization periods. However, the yield growth has decreased in case of rapeseed & mustard, from 1.44 to 1.00 per cent, jute from 1.80 to 0.63 per cent, wheat from 0.43 to 0.28 per cent, potato from 2.02 to -0.72 per cent and sugarcane from 0.92 to -0.48 per cent over the pre and post liberalization periods. Even after several plans and schemes, Assam agriculture has been confronted with ever declining small and fragmented operational holdings with average size of holding from 1.47 ha as per 1970-71census to 1.1 ha as per 2010-11 census. Besides, the state dealt with small amount of fertilizer consumption per hectare and a marginal role of irrigation over the study period. Nevertheless, during the recent decade (2004-05 to 2014-15), the scenario was found to be improved with increased area under high yielding varieties, availability of farm power per hectare, increased agricultural credit flow and also increase in yield of the major crops like, rice, rapeseed and mustard, pulses, potato, wheat etc. The overall cropping pattern was found to be shifting marginally towards horticultural crops during the last two decades. Cropping intensity and share of HYV to total rice area had highly significant impact on Gross State Domestic Product of Agriculture (GSDPA) during pre liberalization period. During post liberalization period, effectiveness of share of horticulture to total cropped area had substantially increased; it was due to the shift towards high valued horticultural crops that has been gaining momentum over the years. Even though cropping intensity had been increasing over time, no statistically significant impact was found on agricultural growth during post liberalization period. It implies that emphasis must be put towards double or triple cropping to utilize the land resource at an optimum level. Fertilizer consumption did not show any significant impact on agricultural growth over the years. It is noteworthy that area under irrigation was negatively associated with GSDPA. This was due to the declining trend of irrigation utilization ratio over the four decades. Capital investment played vital role in agricultural development all the way through the study period. On account of rainfall variability and occasional occurrence of flood, the state has been confronted with considerable instability in area, production and yield of agricultural crops over the years. Majority of crops showed less instability during the post liberalization period as compared to pre liberalization period. Intra period instability for majority of crops was found below 25 per cent. Moreover, the state has also been confronted with regional disparity across the agro-climatic zones. As indicated by composite agricultural development index (2010-11 to 2014-15), Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone was ranked first, followed by Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone, Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone, North Bank Plain Zone, Barak Valley Zone and Hill Zone. Finally, based on the outcomes of the study, schematic strategic model has been suggested for balanced agricultural growth and development. It is imperative to give more emphasis on infrastructure development, timely availability of modern inputs, frequent monitoring and evaluation of existing schemes and programmes, region and crop specific policies, efficient extension mechanism which would lead to balanced agricultural growth and development in the state for prospective agricultural transformation.