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The impact of recent agricultural development on calorie and protein production

S. Rajagopalan Tamilnadu

Nutrition Project, Department of Food, Government of India

Abstract
Overview of agricultural development
Trends in agricultural production
Impact on calorie and protein production
Nutrition implications
Conclusions
References

Abstract

Agricultural development over the years 1949/50 to 1978/79 helped in augmenting per capita calorie and protein production by 34 and 24 per cent respectively. Wheat and rice output was the major contributor for this increase in calorie and protein production. Per capita calorie and protein production from wheat and rice touched the highest level of 1,320 kcal and 32.62 g of protein per day in 1978/79. The contribution of coarse grains in augmenting calorie and protein production was very marginal in spite of the introduction of improved strains. Per capita calorie and protein production through pulses declined by 26 per cent over the years, with the result that the ratio of cereal proteins to pulse proteins changed from 58:42 in 1950/51 to 88:22 in 1978/79. Because of the heavy tilt in cereal production, the relative prices of pulses have gone up tremendously. The impact of price rise on the consumption of pulses by the poor, which is already low. is obvious. The impact of new technology introduced for finer grains had a negative impact on coarse-grain production. This unhealthy trend is likely to affect the poor in semi-arid areas where these crops are largely grown. Seventy-five per cent of the cultivated area is rain-fed and 42 per cent of the crop output comes from these areas.

All the increases noticed in the output of calories and proteins through wheat and rice cannot be considered as the impact of agricultural development. To measure the impact of agricultural development. the linear trend noted between 1949/50 to 1966/67 was used to estimate the likely output M 1978/79 (if there is no high yielding variety programme) and compared this output with the actual output in 1978/79. But for reduction of 6.07 per cent in per capita lysine production, the impact of recent agricultural technology on nutrient production has been significant. The most important impact was correcting the marginal negative trend in the per capita protein production noted prior to the introduction of the high yielding variety programme. One other important impact of the improved technology was the stability of production relating to rice and wheat.

Overview of agricultural development

Agricultural development over the years has helped us feed the growing millions. In the first phase of development from independence to 1966/67, there was a close race between population growth and agricultural production. Progress in production was slow and took place largely through an increase in the cropped and irrigated area rather than through any appreciable increase in productivity. In this phase, the country was forced to import food grains during drought years. Earlier efforts to increase use of chemical fertilizers, the Grow-More-Food campaigns, and demonstrations on the cultivator's fields created an awareness, but did not motivate farmers to actually adopt the technology in a large way. From 1961 came the era of intensive agricultural development, during which a package of services, including credit and market support, were made available to farmers, and helped them adopt the technology and augment production. Though the programme was successful wherever introduced, the larger farming community was not motivated to adopt the improved technology, presumably, because the success was not perceptible or obvious. Later, agricultural technology from 1968 on, associated with the Green Revolution, embraces the cultivation of genetically improved strains of wheat, rice, sorghum, and maize under agronomic conditions that reveal their high yield. These high-yielding varieties and associated technology were accepted by the farming community because the yield was conspicuously higher and more economically produced than their own local varieties. Wheat production doubled in less than five years. The infrastructure and awareness created in the earlier decades served as a launching pad for this subsequent take-off.

Over the years, extension of irrigation facilities, greater use of fertilizers, adoption of high-yielding varieties, increase in the area under improved strains, and adoption of improved management practices, have strengthened the technological base of agriculture. Sustained progress in food-grain production is still needed to improve the nutritional standards of a growing population, and the improved varieties of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, etc. have the potential to do so. Demonstrations in the farmers' fields under the All-India Coordinated Project, the All-India Coordinated Agronomic Experiments and the National Demonstrations, have shown that yield rates could be increased, more than twofold, under irrigated conditions, the gap varying from crop to crop and state to state. Table 1 shows the yield gap under irrigated conditions, and table 2 under dryland agriculture. Tuber crops have also developed over the years. Critical analysis of the results of demonstrations indicate that the agricultural technology is neutral to the size of holdings (Swaminathan 1979). Production levels of these crops reflect the extent to which farmers have adopted the new technology.

TABLE 1 Yield Gaps in Different Crops under Irrigated Conditions

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statictics 1973

TABLE 2. Yield Gaps in Dryland Agriculture

Source: ICRISAT 1980

Trends in agricultural production

Food-grain production increased from 55 million tonnes during 1950/51 to 132 million tonnes in 1978/79 (figs. 1 and 2). The peak output in each five-year plan (table 3) shows the great impact of the new technology during the last decade. The average annual growth rate of production during the period was 2.66 per cent. Area expansion accounts for 0.84 per cent and yield for 1.52 per cent in the growth rate. In the last decade, from 1967/68 to 1978/79, the annual growth rate was 2.77 per cent. Not all this growth is the result of new technology, area expansion accounting for 0.44 per cent and yield for 1.84 per cent.

TABLE 3 Trends in Peak Year Production in Food Grains in India

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics 1980.

FIG. 1. Trends in Production of Food Grains (in million tonnes)

FIG. 2. Trends in Per Capita Production of Food Grains (in 100 grams)

Rice and wheat largely make up the increase. Out of 132 million tonnes of food grains in 1978/79. rice and wheat alone account for 89 million tonnes. The growth rates for wheat and rice were 6.02 and 2.64 per cent respectively for the period 1967/68 to 1978/79. Peak production of wheat and rice together was 52 million tonnes in 1964/65; after the spread of high-yielding varieties, this increased to 89 million tonnes, or by nearly 50 per cent. Besides growth, high-yielding varieties have lent stability to production. Even during severe drought in 1972/73, the output of 64 million tonnes was higher than the peak production of 52 million tonnes in 1964165, the highest ever obtained since independence. The same drought in 1965/66 resulted in a reduction of 10 million tonnes from the 1964/65 level (Swaminathan 1979).

Coarse grains like jowar, bajra, maize, and ragi have had differential growth rates during the last decade. During 1967/68 and 1978/79, jowar and ragi showed an annual growth rate of 2.07 and 3.98 per cent, while the growth rate for bajra was negligible, and that for maize and barley was negative. The ratio of fine grain to coarse grain was 63:37 in 1949/50, changing to 67:33 in 1964/65 and to 75:25 in 1978/79.

In regard to pulses, an important source of proteins, the introduction of improved seeds had little impact, and the output has oscillated between 9 and 12 million tonnes. During 1967/68 to 1978/79, the growth rate of production was 0.54 per cent, with an area expansion of 0.74 per cent and a negative figure for yield expansion.

Oilseed production increased from 5 million tonnes in 1950/51 to 9.9 million tonnes in 1975/76, thus registering an annual growth rate of 2.19 per cent, but in the decade ending 1978/79 the growth rate was just 1.6 per cent. Again the impact of improved seeds was not conspicuous.

TABLE 4. Per Capita Production of Important Agricultural Commodities in India (in grams)

a. Oilseeds include groundnut, rape, mustard, sesame seed, and linseed
b. Starchy foods include potato, tapioca, and sweet potatoes.
Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics 1980.

Agricultural production must be viewed in the context of a growing population. Population increased from 359 million in 1950/51 to 641 million in 1978/79. An overview of the per capita production of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, etc. at the end of each plan period is given in table 4. Only the per capita production of wheat and rice has registered a 50 per cent increase, while all other commodities have either declined or, at best, kept pace. Per capita production of pulses declined conspicuously, from 70 9 per day in 1950/51 to 52 9 in 1978/79. For cassava and potatoes, per capita production increased from 30 to 76 9 during the period. The Indian diet consists largely of cereals and pulses, which account for 70 to 80 per cent of both calorie and protein intake. The proportion of pulses in total food-grain production was nearly 17 per cent in 1950/51, but declined to 9.2 per cent in 1978/79.

Uneven growth rates of individual crops has led to regional imbalances in rural prosperity, depending upon the crops grown (Singh 1980). Growth rates for various food grains and for population during 1960/61 to 1978/79 are given in table 5.

TABLE 5. Growth Rates of Food-grain Production and Population

1. Alagh and Sharma 1980
2. Registrar General of India 1971.

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