Foodgrains Production in India: Trend and Decompositions Analysis

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to analyze the trends in area, production and productivity of major food grain crops for the period 1995-96 to 2015-16 obtaining data from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. Foodgrains are cultivated in India in an area of 123.22 million hectares with a production of 251.57 million tonnes. The results of the study revealed that the food grains production in the country has increased at a rate of 1.73 per cent per annum which was contributed by negligible increase in area and productivity during the study period. The production-wise scenario of foodgrains has indicated that, major cereals like rice, wheat and maize showed consistent improvement, but pulses production was not consistent. As a coarse cereal, maize stands in an important position next to rice and wheat, due to its multiple uses with yield increases from about 1595 Kg per ha during 1995-96 to 2563 Kg per ha during 20015-16. The computed growth trend for total food grains in India was positive (0.008) and significant (P<0.01) for production and growth for productivity was positive (0.006) and significant (P<0.01).