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Urban

Rural

Figure 9 Per Capita Consumption of Cereals and Its Composition in India
Source. National Sample Survey Organization, 2006.
4. After the 1990s
Indian economy was plunged into a new developmental stage after the 1990s. First, the critical
period for the preparation of full-scale non-agricultural sector development was over until the end of
the 1980s, when broad-based agricultural development based on the second Green Revolution was
happened. Second, however, since India turned to the stage when per capita human consumption of
foodgrains (especially for staple food such as rice and wheat) started to decline, agricultural growth
rate will not be very high because foodgrains sector is large within the agricultural sector, even if
high-valued agricultural commodities (such as livestock, vegetable, fruits) will increase relatively
rapidly. Third, it means that widening disparity between agricultural and non-agricultural (or
between rural and urban) sectors will be a serious problem for the economy.
Because of the limited space, let us point out only some key facts and issues which Indian
agriculture faced after the 1990s in the following.
1) The agricultural sector growth rate declined to 2.5 percent per annum on average after the
1990s. The „fatigue‟ of agricultural sector and rural economy is becoming a serious social
problem, especially compared to the rapid growth of non-agricultural sectors mainly in
urban areas. Although the government is setting the growth rate target of agricultural
sector at 4 percent, it may be quite difficult to realize it.
2) Because of the declined per capita consumption for cereals (especially for rice) and also
because of the failure of food management policies of the government, India became a
major exporter of rice (very recently wheat also) since the mid-1990s to the world market
(Figure 2), particularly to Bangladesh and Sub-Saharan Africa. The export of rice (and