www.ijcrt.org © 2018 IJCRT | Volume 6, Issue 2 April 2018 | ISSN: 2320-2882
IJCRT1892307 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt.org 2005
Agricultural Growth of Southern States in India:
A Ringside View
Dr. P. Arunachalam
1
and Dr. M. Elangovan
2
Abstract
Indian economy generally faces several resources constraints in various levels particularly in
agriculture. The Indian topography supports the agriculture by plenty of the perennial rivers. In spite of it
we find two-third of cultivated land in India is still depending on vagaries monsoons. India’s annual
average rainfall is 650mm. The total rainfall received by India was about 1093.2mm in the year 2015 and
particularly in southern peninsula received 201.7mm.
Irrigation on the other hand helps the agriculture by reducing dependence on monsoon and also
improves the agricultural productivity and food security in India. It is a network of major and minor canals
from rivers, groundwater system, tanks, and other water harvesting projects. According to Agricultural
Census 2010-11, India’s total level area under irrigation is 67 million hectares. Of this maximum 45 per
cent is shared by tube wells followed by canal and well irrigations.
The current debate on linking of rivers is expected to pave way to solve irrigation problems in
Indian Agriculture. Nevertheless, the agriculture still more is questionable in Indian scenario. Therefore
this study seeks to analyze the performance of agriculture in terms of growth in major crop production in
the southern states of India particularly Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu during the
last decade. This study relies on the secondary sources of data from the handbooks of statistics of RBI.
This research finds that the highly volatile in nature of crop production during the study period and
the major reason behind that is the gambling of monsoon. Therefore the researcher has suggested the
future directions of Indian agriculture will largely depend on the domestic agricultural policy. The
agricultural policy seeks to actualize the vast untapped growth and potential of Indian
agriculture strength in rural infrastructure to support faster agricultural development.
1
Dr. P. Arunachalam, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Jaya college of Arts and Science, Thiruninravur- 602
024. kparunachalam06@gmail.com 9025993877
2
Dr. M. Elangovan, Assistant Professor, P.G. & Research Dept. of Economics, Erode Arts and Science College,
Rangampalayam, Erode.