Abstract:
Agriculture contributes substantially to the output and employment of a predominantly agricultural and over-populated country like India. Although, Indian agriculture provides food for a large section of World population and occupies first or second ranks in the production of different crops, productivity levels are much lower as compared to many countries. Use of modern inputs in Indian agriculture is comparatively lower than the developed countries and it is highly skewed among the regions in India. Compound annual growth rate of production of major crops decreased during the period 1990-91 to 2010-11 compared to its earlier two decades. Steadily declining size of agricultural holdings is a key fact about the evolution of Indian agriculture. Indian agriculture is dominated by the marginal and small farmers in terms of both numbers and operated area. The debates on inverse farm size-productivity relationship have been alive as well. Agriculture forms the backbone of Assam’s economy. Over 70 percent population of Assam gets their means of livelihood from the agriculture. Agriculture and allied sector contributed more than 20 percent to the State Domestic Product during 2014-15. But the productivity of agricultural crops is comparatively lower than the national average (except for a few crops). Growth of agricultural production and the indices of agriculture in the state are lower than the all India level.
