DYNAMICS OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN HIMACHAL PRADESH.
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Date
2019-07-15
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Publisher
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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