Agriculture play a vital role in India’s economy. 54.6% of the population is engaged in agriculture and allied activities (census 2011) and it contributes 17.4% to the country’s Gross Value Added (current price 2014-15, 2011-12 series). Given the importance of agriculture sector, Government of India took several steps for its sustainable development. Steps have been taken to improve soil fertility on a sustainable basis through the soil health card scheme, to provide improved access to irrigation and enhanced water efficiency through Pradhanmantri Gram Sinchayee Yojana, to support organic farming through Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and to support for creation of a unified national agriculture market to boost the incomes of farmers.

Structure: The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA & FW) is under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. This Department is headed by Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister and is assisted by three Ministers of State. The Secretary (AC & FW) is the administrative head of the Department The Secretary is assisted by one Principal Adviser, five Additional Secretaries including One Financial Adviser, Agriculture Commissioner, 12 Joint Secretaries including Mission Director (National Horticulture Mission) & Mission Director (National Food Security Mission) Horticulture Commissioner Horticulture Advisor, Economic Advisor and two Deputy Director Generals. In addition, Chairman of Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) advises Department on pricing policies for selected agricultural crops.

The DA & FW is organized into 27 divisions (Annexure-1) and has five attached Offices and twenty-one subordinate offices (Annexure-2) which are spread across the country for coordination with state level agencies and implementation of Central Sector Schemes in their respective fields. Further, one Public Sector Undertakings, nine autonomous bodies, ten national-level cooperative organizations and two authorities (Annexure-3) are functioning under administrative control of Department.

As per the land use statistics 2012-13, the total geographical area of the country is 328.7 million hectares, of which 139.9 million hectares is the reported net sown area and 194.4 million hectares is the gross cropped area with a cropping intensity of 138.9%. The net irrigated area is 66.1 million hectares.

Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has released the New Series of National Accounts on 30.01.2015, revising the base year from 2004-05 to 2011-12. As per the first revised estimates released by CSO on 29.01.2016, the Agriculture and Allied Sector contributed approximately 17.0% of India’s Gross Value Added (GVA) at current prices during 2014-15. Gross Value Added (GVA) of Agriculture and Allied Sector and its share in total GVA of the country during the last 3 years including the current year, at 2011-12 current prices is given in succeeding paragraphs.

In view of the structural change in the economy, there has been a continuous decline in the share of agriculture and allied sector in the GVA from 18.5 per cent in 2011-12 to 17.4 percent in 2014-15 at current prices. A fall in the share of the agriculture and allied sector in GVA is an expected outcome in a fast growing and structurally changing economy. Growth, over the previous year, in the Total GVA and that in the GVA of Agriculture and Allied Sector at 2011-12 basic prices is given below: