1. Indian Agricultural Growth - Issues of
productivity, institutions and domestic
policies
Surabhi Mittal
ICRIER
Presented at Multi-country Research Dialogue of emerging economies organised by ICRIER and IDRC on April
12-13, 2010 at New Delhi.

2. Key Features
High concentration of population in agriculture
Declining contribution of agriculture to GDP
Agricultural output growth is highly volatile
Overall, marginalization of agriculture sector

3. Framework
Institutions
Agricultural
Productivity
Growth
Domestic
Policies

4. Productivity trends and sources of growth
Trends
• TFP growth show that the technological gains of early years of
GR have exhausted
• Diminishing returns to input use
• Crops show stagnant and negative growth in TFP
Sources of growth
• Research and Extension
• HYV’s
• Literacy
• Markets
• Electrification
• Irrigation

5. Agricultural Institutions
• Land ceiling and • Inspite of • Improved
tenancy government extension with
structure is a initiatives, the involvement of
constraint to reach ability of private sector
adoption of credit and has helped in
technology and insurance is not increasing yields
increasing satisfactory. and income.
productivity
Land Credit and Agriculture
Reforms Insurance Extension

6. Agricultural Policies
Food management Short term subsidization
The inefficient price policies are catering to is dearer to policy makers
support system act as only PDS and not able to than benefits from long
disincentive to producers efficiently manage market term investments in the
prices sector
Infrastructure Policies- Government Food
• Road security policies are
New seed technology is in
• Electrification suffering from issues of
dilemma
• Irrigation poor targeting and high
administrative costs
• ITC
Agriculture Market Policies- suffer from delayed
implementation and legislative issues
• Agricultural Produce Marketing Act
• Future trading
• Contract Framing

7. Answers are sought for?
Besides
Do we have the Do we have the
government
technologies political
what role can
and policies to willingness and
other stake
motivate economic
holders play to
increased environment to
make the sector
productivity? do so?
grow?

8. Thank You
surabhi@icrier.res.in