Sunil Jain: On the mend

PERSPECTIVES

That Indian agriculture is in a crisis is well known "� on a per capita basis, for instance, foodgrains production in the country is now at the levels of the 1970s. And, as the agricultural strategy paper for the 11th Plan points out, there has been a sharp deceleration in the growth of fruits and vegetables production "� while the National Horticultural Board data says this fell from 5.5 per cent per annum in the 1990s to 2.5 per cent between 2000-01 and 2005-06, National Accounts data suggests a growth of just 1.2 per cent between 2000-06. Yet, annual agricultural growth based on 5-year moving averages shows an upswing, as does public investment, credit flow to agriculture and usage of certain fertilizers. Whether this is good enough to achieve the planned target, of course, is a different matter.