10+ Interesting facts about agriculture in India you must know

by | Nov 28, 2019 | Article

Myth 1:

Accidental exposures to pesticide spray drift kill farmers.

Fact:

  • Pesticides are sprayed diluted with water. The water content would be as high as 99% in the pesticide spray when applied to the crops.
  • Accidental short exposures to such pesticide spray drift would not deliver lethal dose to the body of the sprayman.
  • Of course, it is always recommended that such exposures are avoided.

Myth 2:

Organic and bio-pesticides are safer than chemical pesticides.

Fact:

  • All substances used as pesticides, whether organic, bio or synthetic undergo the same toxicity, safety and efficacy assessments before allowed for commercial introduction.
  • Crop protection industry in fact offers a variety of pesticide products – organic, bio and synthetic – to farmers enabling a diverse and inclusive approach to pest control.

Myth 3:

Indian Agriculture is on a Permanent Decline

Fact:

  • India rank 2nd in the world in agriculture production.
  • India’s world rank in services and industry sector is 9th and 5th respectively.
  • Indian agricultural production has increased from 101 USD bn to 481 USD bn in the past 20 years (8% annual growth from 2000 to 2020).
  • Globally India ranks 9th for the agricultural exports.

Myth 4:

Indian Agriculture is Food- Grains Centric

Fact:

  • Indian agriculture is multifaceted, with horticulture and animal husbandry contributing to over 60% of India’s agricultural GDP.
  • India is the largest milk producer, ranks 2nd in vegetables and fruits, 3rd in fish, egg and poultry production in the world.
  • Livestock & horticulture production engage a large share of small and marginal farmers, and thus plays a critical role in the rural economy.
farmer-plowing

Myth 5:

Declining Size of Indian Farm Land Leads to Low Production

Fact:

  • China and India with the majority of their small and marginal land holdings are 1st and 2nd in the world agriculture production respectively.
  • The aggregate output/ha/year in small farms is higher on account of multiple cropping intensity, diverse output (crop + livestock) and round the year availability of family labour.
  • Yield per acre per crop is not an effective measure of Indian farm productivity (since agriculture in India does not follow monoculture like the other western nations).

Myth 6:

Indian Agriculture is Heavily Dependent on Rainfall

Fact:

  • India agriculture is monsoon resilient thanks to major share of horticulture and livestock production that are round the year activity.
  • Irrigated area in India (96mn ha) is the largest in the world
green-house-farm

Myth 7:

Organic Farming Can Drive Sustainability of Indian Agriculture

Fact:

  • Globally, only 1.5% of the agricultural land is under organic agriculture.
  • 100% organic farms are not a sustainable model since there is a high requirement of organic manure; whereas productivity is found to be much low.
  • Sikkim which is claimed to be an entirely organic farming state, is heavily dependent on other states to feed its population.

Myth 8:

Organic Food is Chemical free

Fact:

  • Crop protection chemical residues have been found in vegetables samples of organic produce.
  • The notion of nutritional superiority provided by organic produce is also debatable.
pesticide-spraying

Myth 9:

Crop Protection Chemicals are Used Excessively in India

Fact:

  • India’s spending on crop protection chemicals is less than 1% of total agriculture production in value term; which is a fraction of global counterparts.
  • As per food samples analyzed by certified labs, 98% of them were found to be compliant within the crop protection chemicals maximum residue limit (MRL).
  • Our food compliance (with respect to pesticide residue limit) is in line with global standards.

Myth 10:

Crop Protection Chemicals Lead to Severe Imbalance of Aquatic Ecosystem

Fact:

  • Fish are highly sensitive to water pollutants.
  • India is the 3rd largest fish producer in the world which shows our soil-water ecosystem is not contaminated.
  • Andhra Pradesh and Punjab lead in the fish production and productivity respectively, regardless of their pesticide usage.
slideland-farm

Myth 11:

Farmer Suicides are Rampant in Indian Agriculture

Fact:

  • Suicides, whether by farmers or non–farmers deserve attention and understanding.
  • More than 8 lakh people die from suicide in a year in the world (WHO).
  • Suicide rate in Japan is among the highest, 108% higher than the global average.
  • In India, farmers suicide account for less than 7.4 % of the total suicide.

Myth 12:

Fruits and Vegetables are Injected with Colouring Chemicals and Animal Hormones

Fact:

  • Nothing can be injected into the fruits and vegetables post-harvest.
  • This could be verified by attempting to inject coloured water into ripe unpeeled banana or uncut water melons. The coloured water would immediately drip out from the point of injection.
  • As per the study by CENTEGRO, animal hormones cannot and will not improve the vegetable and fruit size overnight as alleged
farming-strawberries