|
Agriculture
Agriculture contributes over 45% to the net state domestic product. It is the
main source of income and employment in Himachal. Over 93% of the population in
Himachal depend directly upon agriculture which provides direct employment to
71% of its people.
However agriculture in the state suffers from certain limitations, specially
in the production of food grains. One of the reason is that the area under
cultivation cannot be extended to any appreciable extent. Reclamation of land on
slopes of hills for cultivation of food grains is neither economical nor
beneficial. The farmers can profit more by raising cash crops suited to the
agro-climatic conditions. Another reason is that reclamation of land from the
hills increases the menace of soil erosion.
The main cereals grown are wheat, maize, rice and barley.
Kangra, Mandi
district and to some extent Paonta valley of Sirmur district are the major
producers of the 1st three cereals, while barley is mostly grown in Shimla district.
Although the state is deficit in food grains, it has gained tremendously in
other spheres of agricultural production such as seed-potato, ginger,
vegetables, vegetable seeds, mushrooms, chicory seeds, hops, olives and fig
especially vegetables and seed potato which is disease free and good quality are
providing a good source of income to the farmers. Seed-potato is mostly
grown in Shimla, Kulu and Lahaul areas.
Fruit cultivation is another field which has proved to be an economic boon to
the farmers. There are vast tracts of land in Himachal suitable only for growing
fruits. Fruit cultivation does not add to the problem of soil erosion and its
employment potential is much more than that of conventional farming. The yield
pre acre in terms of money is also much higher.  Apples yield the maximum income.
Fruit growing in Himachal is presently fetching over Rs.300
crore annually. Special efforts are being made to promote cultivation of new
crops like olives, figs, hops, mushrooms, flowers, pistachio nuts, sarda melon
and saffron. Himachal has earned the name of the 'Apple State of India'.
The agrarian reforms undertaken in the state by the government has also
helped a great deal in the advancement in agriculture. In 1954, a revolutionary
land reforms legislation, the Himachal Pradesh (H.P) Abolition of Big Landed Estates and Land
Reforms Act was enacted. This Act took away land beyond a certain limit from big
landlords and erstwhile rulers and transferred these to tenants on payment of
compensation amounting to 24 times of the land revenue paid on the land. In
1972, the H.P ceiling on hand Holding Act was passed which had the land ceiling
fixed on various kinds of lands and tenants could not be evicted. It also
directed that every agricultural family must be given at least five bighas of land.
As a result of these measures, 2500 big landed estates were abolished and as
area of about one lakh acres was declared surplus and distributed to the
landless. In 1974, H.P Village Common Land Vestment and Utilization Act was
passed to enable the government, to give sham let lands to the landless. Under
these aggression reforms, out of about 5 lakh agricultural families, about 4.5
lakh families have become land owners.
The main sources of irrigation are Kuhls (small water channels) fed from
perennial or seasonal springs. Well irrigation is possible in some areas near the
plains. Lift irrigation is another source of irrigation. Efforts have been made
to improve irrigation facilities since the beginning of the five year plans and
about 1.60 lakh hectares have been provided with it so far.
Availability of cheap credit, organization of marketing facilities and
provision of agricultural inputs are very important for the development of
agriculture. Besides governmental agencies, co-operative societies are the only
agencies which performs some of these functions. Co-operative societies
numbering around 3841, cover about 93% of rural population. Some agricultural
societies provide short and medium term credit facilities to their members.
Other functions of the co-operatives, is the mobilization of deposits and the
marketing of agricultural and horticultural produce. They also play a vital role
in the public distribution system and are running a lot of fair piece shops in
the state.
|
