Between 1980 and 2008, Indias agricultural growth has expanded beyond

Between 1980 and 2008, India’s agricultural growth has expanded beyond the Northern grain belt, led primarily by rapid production growth in horticulture and livestock products. That growth was due more to an increase in productivity than to an increase in resources as efficiency and technical changes accounted for 66 percent of that growth, while more conventional inputs such as land, labor, capital, and materials accounted for 34 percent. Over the same period, Indian agriculture’s productivity growth rate averaged 2.1 percent per year. However, productivity growth rates varied considerably by region.

Researchers identified several policies propelling productivity growth in Indian agriculture. Of these, public investments in both India’s agricultural research and higher education system and its irrigation infrastructure had the greatest effects on productivity. From 1980 to 2008, public investment in agricultural research had the greatest effect on productivity in the northern, western, and central States. India’s average return on public investment in its agricultural research and higher education system was 85 percent: for each $1 invested in India’s research-and-education program, $18.34 in research benefits were generated. The second-greatest effect on productivity was from an expansion of irrigated area.

India’s expansion of groundwater-well-irrigated area had a larger effect on productivity growth than did the expansion of canal-irrigated area. Groundwater wells have released the geographic constraint presented by accessing canal water, which in turn has boosted production by allowing more land to be double cropped. Investments in public rural education had mixed productivity effects. Investments in education accelerated productivity when the per capita average level of rural schooling was already greater than 4.3 years. However, when the average level of education was less than 4.3 years, the investments dampened productivity growth. Reaching 4.3 years of education is thus important for farm labor to successfully adapt and adopt new farm technologies and practices, thereby improving productive efficiency. International public agricultural research investments also contributed to India’s rising productivity growth, although the effects were difficult to disentangle from those of private research investments.

The 16 Indian States included in the figure accounted for 98 percent of India’s national agricultural production value as averaged over the 1980-2008 period, and India’s real value of farm production increased at an average of 3% each year, rising from 2.6 trillion rupees in 1980 to 7.3 trillion rupees in 2008. The South region is comprised of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The Northeast region is comprised of Assam. The East region is comprised of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Orissa. The Central region is comprised of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The West region is comprised of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The North region is comprised of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

For the purposes of data consistency, Bihar is grouped with Jharkhand to form Old Bihar, Madhya Pradesh with Chhattisgarh to form Old Madhya Pradesh (Old MP), and Uttar Pradesh with Uttarakhand to form Old Uttar Pradesh (Old UP). These pairings into “Old” States reflect the former configurations, before the States were split in the year 2000.