Achieving Sustainable Agriculture in Madhya Pradesh

Commerce

Madhya Pradesh is primarily an agriculture State. About 73% population of the state is rural, which is directly or indirectly depends on agriculture. Thus Agriculture Sector is the main Stay of the State economy. The Agriculture and allied services contributes about 44% share in state economy and 78% of its working force is directly engaged in Agriculture. Thus Agriculture sector forms the backbone of MP economy. Less than half of the land area is cultivable and its distribution is quite uneven because of variations in topography, rainfall, and soils. The Department of Farmers welfare and Agriculture Development runs various state and national sponsored schemes, like, Agricultural extension programe, Fertilizer quality control programme, augmentation of ground water, Integrated pest management and various farmers welfare oriented schemes etc. MP successfully broke ranks to set a scorching pace of growth, which has been unparalleled in the past quarter-century. Understanding the factors that helped to drive this growth and drawing lessons for other states at similar levels of development is the main objective of this chapter. Madhya Pradesh’s agricultural GDP increased at 8.2% per annum during 2006–07 to 2017–18, surpassing even record holder Gujarat’s 6% agricultural growth in the same period. The last three years have been even more spectacular: agricultural GDP increased at 11.8% per annum. Keeping this background in mind, this chapter has used secondary data published by the government to study the composition, sources and drivers of agriculture growth in Madhya Pradesh and the lessons that can be drawn for developing states. Although MP has recorded a significant decline in poverty rates from 53.6% in 2004–05 to 35.7% in 2011–12, there is still much to be done to improve the livelihood of the rural population. Moreover, MP’s per capita income is low, standing at Rs. 51,798 per annum (FY14 at current prices) as compared to the national annual average income of Rs. 74,380. Although it is much better than that of Bihar (Rs. 31,199) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 36,250), it remains way below top-performing states like Sikkim (Rs. 176,491), Maharashtra (Rs. 114,392), Haryana (Rs. 133,427) and Gujarat (Rs. 106,831). Therefore, the study also makes policy suggestions to bolster agricultural growth in MP.

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