How Indian agriculture has been transformed from food scarcity to food surplus level ? Explain the various government policies implemented for diversification of Indian agriculture.
15 marks · answer in 250 words · directive: Explain
The core of a good answer
India moved from drought-driven food shortages in the mid-1960s to a record 357.73 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2024-25 through high-yielding varieties, irrigation, fertiliser, price support, procurement and research; because that success over-concentrated on rice and wheat, policy now pushes diversification into pulses, oilseeds, horticulture, dairy, fisheries and allied activities.
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What the question asks
The first part needs a short narrative of how scarcity became surplus, with the main drivers. The second part asks you to explain policies for diversification, so the answer should name schemes and say what each does and why diversification is needed (nutrition, water, incomes, imports).
Answer outline
Introduction
The droughts of 1964-65 and 1965-66 caused severe food shortages. Six decades later India produced a record 357.73 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2024-25 and holds large central pool stocks.
From scarcity to surplus: drivers
- Green Revolution from the mid-1960s: high-yielding wheat and rice varieties with fertiliser and assured irrigation, first in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh; scientists such as M.S. Swaminathan led adaptation.
- Institutions: Food Corporation of India set up on 14 January 1965 for procurement and storage; minimum support prices gave farmers assured returns.
- Public investment in canals, tube wells, rural electrification, credit and extension through ICAR and agricultural universities.
- White Revolution: Operation Flood (launched 13 January 1970) made India the world’s largest milk producer by 1998.
- Rights-based food security: National Food Security Act 2013 covers up to 75% rural and 50% urban population with 5 kg cereals per person per month.
Why diversification is needed
- Rice-wheat bias depleted groundwater and soil health in the north-west.
- Dependence on edible oil imports (about 56% in 2023-24) and periodic pulse imports.
- Higher value crops, livestock and fisheries raise incomes and nutrition.
Policies for diversification
- National Mission on Edible Oils: Oil Palm (approved 2021, Rs 11,040 crore) and Oilseeds (2024, Rs 10,103 crore for 2024-25 to 2030-31, production target 69.7 million tonnes).
- Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses (Rs 11,440 crore), aiming to add 35 lakh hectares under pulses.
- PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (launched 11 October 2025, Rs 24,000 crore, 100 low-productivity districts), which explicitly promotes crop diversification by converging 36 schemes.
- Horticulture, dairy and fisheries missions, MSP announcements for pulses, oilseeds and millets, and procurement to make them attractive.
- Enablers: Soil Health Cards (since 2014-15), PMKSY micro-irrigation (2015-16), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (Rs 1 lakh crore) for storage and processing, and FPOs for market access.
Conclusion
India has solved the problem of quantity; the task now is a diversified, water-efficient and nutrition-sensitive farm sector, where price signals and procurement do not keep farmers locked into rice and wheat.
Examples and data to cite
- PIB, 20 November 2025: final estimates put 2024-25 foodgrains at 357.73 MT, rice 150.18 MT, wheat 117.95 MT, oilseeds 42.99 MT, up from 251.54 MT in 2015-16.
- Food Corporation of India established 14 January 1965 under the Food Corporations Act, 1964.
- Operation Flood launched 13 January 1970 by NDDB under Verghese Kurien.
- PIB (October 2025): PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana and the Pulses Mission launched with a combined outlay of Rs 35,440 crore.
- NMEO-Oilseeds: target to raise oilseed production from 39 MT (2022-23) to 69.7 MT by 2030-31.
Facts to remember
- Edible oil import dependence fell from 63.2% (2015-16) to 56.25% (2023-24).
- NFSA 2013: 5 kg per person per month; Antyodaya Anna Yojana households get 35 kg.
- FCI and state agencies had covered and CAP storage of 917.83 LMT as on 1 July 2025.
- Foodgrain output rose by about 25.43 MT between 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Concepts explained
- Crop diversification 2 stories
Where it sits in the syllabus
- GS3: Crops, irrigation, farm marketing
Major crops, cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems, storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
- GS3: Farm subsidies, MSP, PDS, food security
Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System: objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.