9 major challenges to Indian agriculture

 India is primarily an agricultural country, as the sector provides livelihood to more than 50% of the population and contributes 17-18% to the country’s GDP. 

The two big drivers of food demand—population and income—are on the increase. 

The current population of India is 1,376,789,039 as of Monday, April 6, 2020, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. 

India 2020 population is estimated at 1,380,004,385 people at mid year in line with UN data.

 India population is comparable to 17.7% of the entire world population.


 Since we all need food to survive no matter what is your profession, cast, creed, religion because after all we are living beings and require energy to grow. 

Thus, agriculture becomes one among the foremost important sector of our economy demands insightful attention from every citizen of nation to reach a powerful level of food production to assist in feeding the growing world population. 

So, that not even a single person will be devoid of daily meal and we can make our nation healthy and prosperous.

There are various factors which are now posing a threat to Indian agriculture. Some of which can be summarized below

• Climate change

Climate change could be a major challenge for developing nations like India, threatening to reinforce risks already elevated by high levels of social vulnerability and climate variability.

       In its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), India sets out plans for a significant transformation of its economy in Indian agriculture, committing to scale back the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33% from 2005 levels by 2030. 

Furthermore, the state aims to reinforce investments in development programmes in sectors susceptible to global climate change , particularly agriculture, water resources, coastal economies, and health.


The combination of advancing global climate change and an already-vulnerable industrial system could be a “perfect storm” that threatens farmers’ livelihoods and food supply in Indian agriculture.


By 2050, global climate change could cause global average yields of rice, wheat and maize to be between 6-10% lesser than they otherwise would be.

• Change in average annual precipitation

Rainfall patterns have already begun shifting across the country, and such changes are expected to intensify over the coming years. 

This is likely to mean more intense periods of heavy rain and longer dry periods, even within the same regions.

• Change in average annual temperature

Rising average temperatures, more extreme heat throughout the year, fewer sufficiently cool days during the winter, and more frequent cold-season thaws will likely affect farmers throughout the regions.

Floods :   We’ve already seen an increase in flooding in many Indian agricultural regions of the country, including Kerala, Uttarakhand and some other hilly regions.

 Sea level rise is also ratcheting up the frequency and intensity of flooding on farms in coastal regions and threatening the native crops out there.

Droughts:  Dry (hot) and desert regions are becoming more drier due to irregular rainfall pattern in recent years.

• Changing insect pest scenario

 Insects, being poikilothermic, are among the organisms that are presumably to reply to changes in climate, particularly increased temperatures.

 It is now becoming increasingly clear that climate change is affecting virtually all aspects of life, and one alarming dimension is the growth in the number of insect pests that are a threat to food security, particularly in developing economies such as India.

Many of our management practices for cropping have changed dramatically over the last 20 years.

          In particular, as part of Indian agriculture, reduced tillage and increased stubble retention have changed the cropping landscape with respect to soil moisture retention, ground cover and soil biology and this has also affected the abundance and types of invertebrate species being seen in crops. 

Due to change in climate the insect pest scenario is changing. A minor pest is changing to a major pest status and vice –versa. 

E.g. Cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci earlier was not a serious pest but recently it caused epidemic in year 2015 in cotton crop in Punjab state and caused an economic loss of Rs. 4200 crore.

• Alien Species invasion 

 Although the country has only 2% of the world’s land area, it has around 8% of the world’s species, including insects.


There is an increased risk of invasion by migrant pests due to global warming. 

The most recent case in Indian agriculture is that of the dreaded  crop pest (Spodoptera frugiperda), which mainly devours maize in its caterpillar phase, but can prey on over 80 plant species, including other key crops like rice, sorghum, cotton and vegetables.

First spotted in Africa in 2016, it has spread rapidly through the sub-Saharan belt and was spotted in Karnataka. 

Recently there was an invasion of neotropical whitefly Aleurotrachelous atratus Hampel (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in India on coconut plantation crops.

• Shrinking average agricultural land area

Unregulated increase in population is one of the leading causes in shrinking of average agricultural land area.

The average size of Indian agricultural landholdings in 2001 was less than two hectares. One-fourth of the entire rural households own about 0.4 hectare each, while another one-fourth are landless. 

      This creates difficulties in application new inputs, adoption of scientific land improvement, conservation and plant protection measures. Because a small land holder can not afford all such mechanized operations and hence limits the agricultural crop production.

• Monocropping  

Year after year we are growing the same crop mainly rice and wheat, which is responsible for decrease in soil fertility and thus productivity.

Rice crop

 In many parts of the globe, biodiverse agricultural landscapes are , or are being, replaced by large areas of monoculture, farmed using large quantities of external inputs like pesticides, mineral fertilizers and fossil fuels.

Wheat crop

People are emphasizing more on meat-based diets and restricting to a narrow range of major cereals (maize, wheat and rice). This demand for standardized foods can reduce the diversity of crops.

Only 9 plant species account for 66 per cent of total crop production, says Food and Agriculture Organisation 2019 report.

Of over 6,000 plant species cultivated for food production, fewer than 200 contribute significantly to food production globally, regionally or nationally, according to FAO’s latest report. Monocropping have led to a decline of crop genetic diversity.

• Pesticides blast (chemical threat to nature)

Non-judicious use of pesticides is killing humans and animals in large numbers every year, as agriculture in India is mainly dependent on highly toxic chemicals that are often used in excessive amounts. 

For example: 76 percent of the constituents of the pesticides utilized in India are insecticides, as against 44 percent globally. 

Pesticide Boom sprayer

Similarly, 57 percent of India’s total pesticide consumption is because of just two crops – paddy and cotton. 
This is posing a great threat to biodiversity and environment as the random use of pesticides contaminates the soil, water and air.

• Declining ground water level (water scarcity in future)

Ground water is one of most important factor for crop production. With respect to Indian agriculture the ground water level is decreasing day by day due to excessive irrigation in water demanding crops like paddy.

Sprinkler irrigation

Water stresses in key regions in Northwest India, Northeast China and Southwestern United States could cause an increase in the international price of the same crops by 5 to 7% by 2050. 

• The ground water level data 

 Data for Premonsoon 2018 indicates that out of the total 14591 wells analysed, 872 (6 %) wells are showing water level less than 2 m bgl (metres below ground level),
3746 (26%) wells are showing water level in the depth range of 2-5 m bgl, 5886 (41 %) wells are showing water level in the depth range of 5-10 m bgl,
 3115 (21%) wells are showing water level in the depth range of 10-20 m bgl, 
712 (5%) wells are showing water level in the depth range of 20-40 m bgl and the remaining 260 (2%) wells are showing water level more than 40 m bgl. 

The maximum depth to water level of 114.00 m bgl is observed in Bikaner district of Rajasthan whereas the minimum is less than 1 m bgl.

CONCLUSION 

To sum up, I can conclude that current Indian agricultural scenario is changing, 

various factors driving these changes including the anthropogenic actions should to be hot point of discussion and major concern as well. 

Following green agricultural pest management practices and least 

disturbing the natural agricultural flora and fauna would be an effective 

measure to tackle the ongoing agricultural malpractices and various other problems.

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