Indian Farmers Are Moving Away From Food Crops to Cash Crops
10 August 2024, New Delhi: As per the 3rd Advance Estimates 2023-24 released in June 2024 by Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, the area under commercial/cash crops has been increased from 18,214.19 thousand hectares in agriculture year 2021-22 to 18,935.22 thousand hectares in agriculture year 2023-24. The state wise details for the last three years are given in the table. Evidently, the production of commercial/cash crops (Sugarcane, Cotton, Jute & Mesta) has also increased from 4,80,692 thousand tonnes in agriculture year 2021-22 to 4,84,757 thousand tonnes in agriculture year 2023-24.
According the NITI Aayog Working Group Report, 2018, the Demand & Supply of food grains is estimated/ projected to the tune of 337.01 Million tonnes and 386.25 Million tonnes, respectively, for the future year 2032-2033, which indicates that the overall food grains will have quite comfortable position as far as food security is concerned.
The Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (DA&FW) is implementing National Food Security Mission (NFSM) with the objective of increasing food grains production through area expansion and productivity enhancement in all the 28 States and 2 Union Territories (Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh) of the country. Under NFSM, assistance is given through State governments to farmers including small and marginal farmers for interventions like cluster demonstrations on Improved package of practices, demonstrations on cropping system, distribution of seeds of High Yielding Varieties (HYVs)/ hybrids, improved farm machineries/resource conservation machineries/ tools, efficient water application tools, plant protection measures, nutrient management/soil ameliorants, processing & post-harvest equipments, cropping system based trainings to the farmers etc. The Mission also provides support to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) & State Agricultural Universities (SAUs)/ KrishiVigyan Kendras (KVKs) for technology back stopping and transfer of technology to the farmer under supervision of Subject Matter Specialists/ Scientists.
Further, the Government through its Price Policy ensure the remunerative prices to the growers for their produce with a view to encouraging higher investment and production and to safeguard the interest of consumers by making available supplies at reasonable prices. In this direction, Government announces Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for twenty-two (22) mandated crops including commercial/cash crops by offering a higher MSP for these crops.
State-wise Area under Food grains and Commercial/Cash Crops from 2021-22 to 2023-24 (in Thousand Hectares)
State
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Food grains
Commercial/Cash Crops
Food grains
Commercial/Cash Crops
Food grains
Commercial/Cash Crops
Andhra Pradesh
4010.00
602.00
3680.00
745.00
3328.00
450.00
Arunachal Pradesh
235.40
2.15
237.07
2.16
#
0.00
Assam
2554.52
94.95
2529.00
91.00
2579.00
89.00
Bihar
6443.77
274.84
6258.71
270.42
6518.18
268.64
Chhattisgarh
4760.92
39.31
4698.14
47.36
4727.87
47.42
Goa
36.15
0.53
35.12
0.49
#
0.00
Gujarat
4595.04
2506.66
4276.52
2664.80
4327.75
2884.94
Haryana
4225.77
743.30
4522.34
682.36
4589.91
665.90
Himachal Pradesh
710.94
1.49
691.67
1.44
691.76
1.43
Jharkhand
2833.24
0.00
2044.77
0.00
2238.77
0.00
Karnataka
7980.30
1311.00
7739.00
1608.40
7375.00
1282.00
Kerala
197.65
0.92
193.52
0.94
256.34
0.72
Madhya Pradesh
15925.10
653.00
18262.80
687.00
17712.93
745.00
Maharashtra
11584.61
5671.67
11310.70
5541.74
10727.83
5671.49
Manipur
258.08
4.94
246.39
5.03
#
0.00
Meghalaya
138.45
18.54
139.09
10.01
#
0.00
Mizoram
45.59
1.29
49.31
1.47
#
0.00
Nagaland
197.82
3.74
302.33
6.93
#
0.00
Odisha
5022.17
207.31
5106.27
229.83
5117.97
230.88
Punjab
6668.00
338.10
6764.09
339.20
6819.20
303.70
Rajasthan
14748.14
760.10
15026.27
818.14
14440.65
1007.95
Sikkim
54.32
0.00
51.56
0.00
#
0.00
Tamil Nadu
3974.07
295.90
3866.46
332.24
3819.87
283.16
Telangana
4742.00
1917.00
5696.08
2000.90
5581.73
1845.00
Tripura
300.82
2.14
278.41
1.57
#
0.00
Uttar Pradesh
19547.00
2181.00
20412.10
2797.55
20242.97
2530.00
Uttarakhand
788.00
44.00
748.33
47.00
707.19
91.27
West Bengal
6623.37
537.60
6070.36
534.85
6010.06
507.73
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
6.94
0.14
5.54
0.13
#
0.00
Chandigarh
0.64
0.00
0.67
0.00
NR
0.00
Dadra And Nagar Haveli
16.70
0.00
18.63
0.00
#
0.00
Daman And Diu
1.93
0.00
NR
0.00
#
0.00
Delhi
28.54
0.00
27.48
0.00
#
0.00
Jammu and Kashmir
877.02
0.13
878.47
0.23
#
0.00
Ladakh
15.59
0.00
15.82
0.00
#
0.00
Lakshadweep
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
0.00
Puducherry
20.29
0.47
21.26
1.74
#
0.00
Others
NA
2401.17
28.98
All India
130168.89
18214.22
132204.28
19469.93
130214.15
18935.21
# Included in others, NR: Not Reported, NA: Not Applicable, Note: Commercial/ Cash Crops Includes Sugarcane, Cotton, Jute & Mesta. (Source: Third Advance Estimate 2023-24, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, New Delhi)
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