Share of farming in GDP slips 3.5% since 2001-02

ECONOMIC SURVEY 2004-05/ AGRICULTURE

The share of agriculture in the country's gross domestic production (GDP) has declined by 3.5 per cent since 2001-02.

Within the agriculture sector, too, the share of foodgrains has fallen while that of the non-food crop sectors like horticulture, livestock and fisheries has gone up.

That is why despite a drop of 2.8 per cent in the grain output in 2004-05, the overall farm sector is projected to register a positive growth of 1.1 per cent, the Economic Survey points out.

However, the average annual growth rate of the agriculture and allied sectors has fallen perceptibly from 4.7 per cent in the 8th Plan to 2.1 per cent in the 9th Plan.

In the 10th Plan, against the projected growth target of 4 per cent a year, this sector has clocked a growth of minus 7 per cent in 2002-03 (due to drought), positive 9.6 per cent in 2003-04 and an estimated 1.1 per cent in 2004-05.

The survey draws attention to good performance of the livestock sector. It is reflected in per capita availability of milk rising to peak 232 gm a day in 2004-05.

The output of marine fisheries was around 3 million tonnes and that of inland fisheries about 3.4 million tonnes during the year.

The flow of institutional credit to agriculture has also increased. Up to December 2004, the banks disbursed about Rs 85,686 crore as farm credit which is almost the same as in the previous full year. Over 4.35 kisan credit cards had been issued so far and an amount of Rs 1,11,459 crore has been sanctioned against them.

The survey argues for moving away from the subsidy-based regime to an internationally competitive agriculture to enable this sector meet the challenges of liberalisation.