Reforms in Indian Agriculture -                 

In this article - All terms about agricultural reforms



Preface - There are several problems like - lack of irrigation facility, small and scattered holdings , deficiency of institutional finance , conventional outlook of farmers , lack of organised marketing system , heavy load of population,use of traditional technique , lack of skill in farmer. To resolve these problems it needs a reform in Indian agriculture. After analysing the problems of Indian agriculture the next step is to cure them. Indian government has taken several steps for agricultural reform from freedom to now. 
In this article, will discuss about Reforms in Indian agriculture in detail. 


Agriculture reforms can be divided in three categories - 

1. Land Reform or Institutional Reform 
2. General Reform 
3. Green Revolution or Technical Reform 


1. Institutional Reform - It includes - 
  • Land Reform 
  • Abolition of intermediaries 
  • Co- operative farming 
  • Consolidation of land holding 
  • Ceiling of land holding 
  • Regulation of rent 

Land Reform - It is a institutional reform. Land reform is basically for the change in ownership of land holding. At the time of freedom about 80 percent of land holding is owned by 10 percent of jamidars. About one fourth population of farmers is landless. Farmer do cultivation on the land of jamidars and get a small income in return of labour. Farmers only doing cultivation on the land they are not the owners of land. The land distribution is uneven. The main objective of land reform has been focused for equity in agriculture. The government has taken several steps for this. In 1951 the first constitutional ammendment have been done that is for land reform. By this government has taken acess amount of holdings from a individual and distributed it to small and landless farmers . About 260 million hectare of lands have been distributed among 20 million farmers of the country. 



Abolition of Intermediaries - The first and important action taken by the governmet for agriculture reform is the abolition of intermediaries. During freedom the jamindars are as intermediaries between government and farmers. These intermediaries have not any awareness and skills of agricultures. They are only available to take higher amount of rent from farmers. By the first constitutional ammendment this practice has been abolished and the ownership right have been given to the farmers . This is a commendable reform in agriculture. 



Co-operative farming - In co-operative farming the farming is done by group of farmers. It is modern concept in Indian agriculture . Small farmers together can buy inputs at lower price and sell their produce at higher price. It has encouraged bargaining power of small land holders. It has decreased the per unit cost of cultivation and increased the per unit profit of farmers. 



Consolidation of land holding - It is the process of alloting lands to farmers at one place in replacement of his scattered holdings. It reduces the cost of cultivation. It makes the farmer capable to use modern machinaries for cultivation. 



Ceiling of land holding - It fixes the maximum amount of land holding that can be owned by a individual. 



Regulation of Rent - It is done to put an end to exploitation of intermediaries . Government has fixed a maximum limit of rent that could not exceed one third value of crops. 

2. General Reform - 
  • Reform of Irrigation facility 
  • Institutional Credit 
  • Minimum Support Price 
  • Regulated Markets and co-operative marketing society 


Reform of Irrigation facility - It is a general reform in agriculture. During the time of freedom there is basic facility of irrigation is available to about 17 percent area of total land. The government has taken several steps for providing the basic irrigation facility all over the India. Now about 35 percent land has good irrigation facility that can grow crop without a drop of rain.
Institutional Credit - Many Institutions have been established for giving finance to farmers from freedom to now. NABARD is providing finance in agricultural field. These times NABARD is working as the top financial institution in agricultural field .


Minimum Support Price - It is the least price fixed for the produce of farmers. The government has decided the minimum support price for production of farmers. Its objective is to provide fair prices to farmers for their produce. 



Regulated Markets and co-operative marketing society - For sell support and to provide Minimum Support Price government has established regulated market facility. E - NAM is a online agriculture market established for agriculture products marketing. 



3. Green Revolution and Technical Reforms -  
Green Revolution at the world level is started by Norman Borlag. He is the father of Green Revolution in the world.
In India the green revolution is started at 1966 by MS Swaminathan. He is the father of Green Revolution in India .
The most affected crops in India are Wheat and Rice . The production Of Wheat increased by the 500 times . And the production of rice is increased by 200 times.
The most affected areas due to Green Revolution are Panjab , Haryana , and Western Uttar Pradesh.
The Green Revolution is mainly focused on the use of Genetically Modified Seeds . This made India self dependent in field of agriculture . The India is facing food crisis at that time . But this made India's agriculture self dependent.
It includes - 
  • Use of high yielding variety of seeds
  • Use of Chemical Fertilisers 
  • Use of pesticides for crop protection 
  • Scientific Crop Rotation 
  • Use of modern Machinaries 
  • Use of herbicides 



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