DYNAMICS OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN HIMACHAL PRADESH.

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Date
2019-07-15
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CSKHPKV, Palampur
Abstract
Agriculture is the core sector of economy in Himachal Pradesh for obvious reasons of livelihood dependence and its key role in overall socio-economic development. However, there is ample evidence to show that pattern of agricultural development has not been uniform across different districts of the state. The share of agriculture in GSDP continuously declined from 35 to 10 per cent over the period but the work force dependent on agriculture has not decreased to that extent as during 2010-11 about still 63 per cent of the total working population was engaged in this sector. Being a hilly state, arable land is the most limiting factor in Himachal Pradesh as most of the geographical area is under forests, pastures and barren lands and only 12 per cent of the reported geographical area is available for cultivation. Average size of holding in the state also decreased from 1.16 ha in 1995-96 to 0.99 ha in 2010-11.The cropping pattern in the state is dominated by cereal crops, however, the pace of diversification through vegetable crops has picked up momentum in the recent years. This was also revealed by the significant negative or slow growth of area under foodgrain crops and significant positive growth of area under vegetable crops in different districts. The increase in production of maize, paddy and pulses was mainly on account of the yield effect except in wheat where yield effect was found negative. In vegetable crops the increase in production was mainly on account of area (expansion) effect and partly due to yield effect though the interaction effect was negative for most of the vegetable crops. The instability in area under foodgrain, vegetable and fruit crops was found low, however, high instability was found in the production and yield in these crops in the state as well as across the districts. It has been found that major proportion of area under cereal and vegetable crops was retained while, the major proportion of area from pulses and other crops got shifted to cereals and vegetable crops. As a result of this dynamic shift in the crop area among different crops in 2020-21, the area share would be 80.00, 0.96, 11.52 and 7.52 per cent from the existing share (2010-11) of 81.23, 3.37, 8.56, and 6.84 per cent under cereals, pulses, vegetables and other crops, respectively. Livestock population in the state as well as in most of the districts was decreased but the proportion of cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep increased while, the proportion of other animals which mainly include mules, yak, ponies, etc., drastically decreased over the period. Production of milk, egg increased significantly while, the meat and wool production was having slow or negative growth in the state as well as in most of the districts. The structural growth during the two periods (1990-91 to 2000-01 and 2001-02 to 2016-17) revealed acceleration in the growth of cow milk production while there was deceleration in the buffalo milk production. Among technological components and growth drivers, irrigation has remained a major limitation as only 20 per cent of the total cultivated area was under irrigation in the state in 2010-11 and there has been slow pace of irrigation development. The area under HYV maize has increased, but surprisingly proportion of HYV area under wheat and paddy decreased in the state as well as in most of the districts. Per hectare consumption of fertilizers has continuously increased over the years in the state as well as in most of the districts. The extent of mechanization has also improved over the years and is expected to increase due to decrease in the draft animal population and incentives provided by the state government on purchase of small implements and machinery. There has been appreciable progress in the development of infrastructure and institutions but the density and distribution of various institutions were not uniform across different districts. Based on the study it is suggested that, there is a need to formulate district specific strategies, improve seed supply mechanism, development of supporting institutions and efficient markets to provide impetus to the growth of agricultural sector in the state.
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