An Economic Inquiry into Growth and Instability of India's Foodgrains Production

摘要

In the agricultural economy of India, the share of rice and wheat is larger among the foodgrains. These two 1 foodgrains cover about 80 percent of the food requirement and about 60 percent of the nutritional requirement of the country's population. Rice is cultivated in more than 40 agro-economic sub-regions covering an area of M million hectares. In terms of production of rice, India ranks second to China among rice producing countries of the world. Wheat is the second most important staple food crop of the country after rice. Since rice and wheat are the two major foodgrains in India, instability in the production of these two crops affects price stability. In light of the above, the present study examines the growth and instability in area, production and yield of the two major foodgrains, viz., rice and wheat. In order to fulfill these objectives,, secondary data was collected from the websites of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India and from the publications of Reserve Bank of India for a period of 65 years from 1950-51 to 2014-15. The results of the study show that production and yield of the rice and wheat mostly remained volatile. The fluctuation and volatility in the rice and the wheat production is not a good sign for a country like India, which is already facing the problems arising out of inflation and population growth. Stability and sustained growth in the production of rice and wheat will ensure price stability which will not only help producers but consumers also. In India, the possibility to increase the area under cultivation is limited. This warrants more attention towards the technological know-how, if already available in wider dissemination.