The world’s largest country is also a giant in agriculture, but it’s far from “mission accomplished” in this breadbasket of Asia.
Only a few short years ago, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous nation. Its economy has already overtaken the UK and may soon surpass Germany as the world’s fourth-largest. India is huge, diverse, and increasingly technologically sophisticated. It also grows a lot of food. Despite its advantages and the huge gains made to India’s economy in recent years, far too many people there still suffer from deep poverty and food insecurity.
To better understand why this is, Grow Further put together this brief primer on India’s agricultural economy. As readers of this newsletter know, India ranks high on our list of priorities and was the subject of a three-week field investigation and tour at the end of 2024. As is the case with our work in other countries, we’re confident that India’s smallholder farmers can benefit from innovations that will improve their farms and livelihoods. The first step is to better understand India, its smallholder farmers, their needs, and how Grow Further and its members can help.
India’s agriculture at a glance
Last November, Agriinsights analyst Chandra Shekhar produced a general overview of the state of Indian agriculture. His assessment is a good place to start understanding the importance of agriculture in India and the needs of smallholder farmers there.
Venture anywhere outside of India’s cities and you are destined to encounter farming. Shekhar estimates that more than 42% of India’s territory is used to grow food. More than 139 million hectares are under cultivation there. Another 10 million hectares is pastoral land. India is a place where farming is taken seriously. “India’s net sown area reflects a vast expanse dedicated to food security and crop production,” Shekhar says.
Farming also represents an outsized share of India’s economy.
An economic survey finds that farming contributes 18.2% to India’s gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture employs more than 45% of India’s massive population. By comparison, agriculture only makes up about 5.4% of the United States’ GDP and barely 1.2% of the US population works on farms, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Depending on the rains
Shekhar estimates that about 60% of India’s cultivated land is dependent on rain, especially the seasonal monsoon rains. This leaves Indian farming dangerously susceptible to climate change and the droughts and erratic weather that global warming will deliver.
And, in contrast to the US, smallholder farming is king. “An average farm size of around 1.08 hectares limits efficient farming practices, including mechanization,” Shekhar says. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 78% of India’s farmers are smallholders.
Though India is heavily reliant on rain-fed small-scale farms, its smallholder farmers face immense challenges. There’s not only climate change but also soil loss and degradation to contend with. There are growing worries over depleting groundwater supplies as droughts intensify and irrigation is added to more farms. Shekhar also notes how India’s smallholder farmers still struggle to get their crops to market and earn fair prices from the fruits of their labor. The government has set up a system to address this problem “but implementation remains uneven” he says.
How we can help
Grow Further recently spent time in India to meet with officials and learn as much as we can about the context there. We appreciate that India isn’t like other developing countries.
The world’s largest country and democracy boasts a vast, organized government with systems already in place to address the needs of smallholder farmers. India’s agricultural research labs are among the world’s best and have developed technologies used worldwide. They welcome outside assistance, but there are rules that must be followed and operating protocols that must be adhered to. India also has a unique law whereby larger companies are mandated to contribute a portion of their profits to the nation’s development efforts. This means India is home to a huge network of charities and nonprofits working in an array of fields, and agriculture is of course one of them.
However, Grow Further has a role to play there, as well.
As indicated earlier, India is heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. This leaves them vulnerable to climate change. The government and nonprofits are helping to introduce more irrigation to India’s cultivated fields, but this development risks depleting groundwater resources. India’s climate means that farming can occur year-round in much of the country, but intensive farming can strip soils of nutrients and lead to soil degradation. Frequent tilling also makes erosion worse.
Innovation can address all these concerns.
Though most farms are small, mechanization is expanding on Indian farms. The government is exploring ways to harness technology to give India’s farmers better access to markets and better prices for their crops. Other agritech innovations are being explored, including artificial intelligence and online farmers markets.
Grow Further’s motto is “connecting people and ideas for a food-security future.” India has no shortage of people and ideas, and it’s poised to develop new smallholder farming innovations that will transform lives there and throughout the world. We’re very excited about this new forthcoming chapter in Grow Further’s story.
— Grow Further
Photo credit: Women farmers in Uttar Pradesh, India. Adam Cohn/Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
