Change in the cropping pattern in Punjab,Maharashtra and Tamil nadu?

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Answer 1

Punjab – India’s bread-basket:

Punjab is a little big state of India: little because the state occupies only 1.5 per cent of the geographical area of the country and big because around two-third of the food grains procured annually in the country come from this state. Further over 95 per cent of the food grains that are moved interstate to feed deficit areas through the public distribution system are the stocks procured from this state.

At the dawn of Independence:

At the time of partition of the country in 1947, Indian Punjab (which then included present areas of States of Punjab, Haryana  parts of Himachal and Chandigarh Union Territory) was a food grain deficit area. In 1951, production of food-grains was about 1.99 million tonne only, of which wheat was 1.10 million tonne and rice 0.11 million tonne, Total Real Gross Domestic Product of the state at 1970-71 prices was Rs. 655 crores only, 54.4 per cent of which originated from the agriculture sector. Although at that time also the cropping pattern was dominated by foodgrain crops, occupying 68 percent of the cropped area, yet 38 percent of the area was cropped with pulses and coarse grains, mainly on un-irrigated lands. With net area of 3544 thousands hectare and gross cropped area of 4170 thousand hectare, intensity of cropping was 118 per cent only. Fertilizers and pesticides were not used by the farmers, Tubewells situation continued with only marginal improvements up to the mid-60s. were conspicuous by their absence and tractors were not much in known in the state. Only 52.3 per cent of the area was irrigated and land holdings were quite fragmented.

After independence: i.e "The 50s":

The state started moving on a growth path with mandatory consolidation of land holdings, which was considered a prerequisite for utilisation of canal irrigation water that became available through the Bhakra Nangal Canal System. Simultaneously, availability of electric supply through Bhakra Hydel Project encouraged the installation of tubewells on consolidated holdings that provided assured irrigation supplementing the canal water supply. Yet even in 1960-61, the agricultural GDP of the state (54.01 per cent of the total state GDP) at constant prices was Rs. 473.7 crore only. Production of foodgrain improved to 3.16 million tonnes of which wheat was 1.74 million tonnes and rice 0.25 million tonnes. Balance 1.84 million tonnes were coarse grain and pulses. Irrigated area increased to 54 per cent of the net sown area and intensity of cropping improved to 121 per cent.

The cropping pattern was still dominated by wheat with 29.6 per cent of the cropped area, pulses 19.08 per cent, coarse grains 10.52 per cent and cotton with 9.4 per cent of the cropped area of the state. Gross Cropped Area and Net Sown Area increased marginally from 4170 thousand hectare and 3544 thousand hectare to 4732 thousand and 3757 thousands hectare respectively. Productivity of crops started improving but only marginally. Yield of wheat in 1960-61 was still 1. 244 tonne per ha. Rice productivity was 1.0 tonne, American cotton 0.269 tonne and sugarcane 36.54 tonne only.

PUNJAB

Area Under  Crops:

Item 1990-91 2000-01(R) 2001-02(P) 2002-03(P) 2003-04(P) 2004-0...

Rice 2015 2612 2489 2530 2614 2400

Bajra 12 6 7 7 8 10

Maize 188 165 165 153 154 220

Wheat 3273 3408 3422 3375 3444 3250

Barley 37 32 23 26 23 30

Jowar (a) - (a) - - -

Other Cereals (a) - - - - -

Total Cereals 5525 6223 6106 6091 6243 5910

Gram 60 8 7 7 6 20

Other Pulses 83 46 42 34 38 65

Total Pulses 143 54 49 41 44 85

Total Food grains 5668 6277 6155 6132 6287 5995

Groundnut 11 4 4 5 4 6

Other Oilseeds 93 82 79 94 82 164

Total Oilseeds 104 86 83 99 86 170

Sugarcane 101 121 143 154 123 150

Cotton

American

Desi 701

637

64 474

358

116

607

507

100 450

374

76 452

386

66 550

..

..

All Other Crops 927 983 954 991 957 ..

Gross Area Shown 7501 7941 7941 7826 7905 ..

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab