ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the performance of Indian agriculture in the post-Green Revolution period. The chapter covers six major aspects of the sector: (i) growth of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and changes in the share of agriculture in India’s GDP and employment generation over time; (ii) changes in composition of the agriculture sector; (iii) changes in cropping pattern and crop diversification; (iv) capital formation or investment in agriculture; (v) costs and profitability in crops cultivation; and (vi) terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. A discussion of these issues suggests that Indian agriculture has undergone many changes over time. The sector has faced several challenges as well. In fact, Indian agriculture has been in a crisis since early 1990s, the extreme manifestation of which is the series of farmer suicides in many states. A comprehensive set of policy interventions are required to overcome the agrarian crisis.
