Agriculture is the most important sector of Indian Economy. Indian agriculture sector accounts for 18 per cent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment to 50% of the countries workforce. Indiais the world’s largest producer of pulses, rice, wheat, spices and spice products.
Role of agriculture in Indian Economy:
It gives a major contribution to India’s economy.
In India over two-thirds of our working population are engaged directly on agriculture and also similarly depend for their livelihood.
Agriculture is the only major source of food supply as it is providing regular supply of food to such a huge size of population of our country. It has been estimated that about 60 per cent of household consumption is met by agricultural products.
Indian Agriculture is playing a very important role both in the internal and external trade of the country. Agricultural products like tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, spices, cashew-nuts etc. are the main items of our exports and constitute about 50 per cent of our total exports.
Pradhan mantri fasal beema yojna :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) also gave confidence to the agriculturists that the current regime cares for them and it will ensure that farmers should not suffer because of government policies. The central government agencies insured 19 million hectares of agriculture land from the total 64.5 million hectares in the country.
Achievement of India in agriculture sector :
India is the world’s largest producer of milk for the last two decades and contributes 19 per cent of the world’s total milk production.
The country is emerging as the export hub of instant coffee .
India has also topped the list of shrimp exporters in the world.
The country is also the second largest fruit producer in the world.
Agricultural export makes 10 per cent of the country’s net exports. Agriculture items are the fourth-largest exported principal commodities.