Indian agriculture witnessed high growth since mid-1960s due to introduction of dwarf high-yielding varieties of wheat and paddy complimented by higher use of fertilisers and other inputs, favourable policy regime in agriculture prices and marketing and quick adoption of such technologies by the farmers. However, growth slowed down for about a decade after mid-1990s but picked up after that.
India registered the highest annual agricultural growth of 3.75 per cent during 2004 to 2012. The growth rate was 1.4 per cent in 2012-13 and 4.6 per cent in 2013-14. The average production of foodgrains increased from 198.4 million tonnes in 2004-05 to 264.4 million tonnes in 2013-14 at the rate of 2.91per cent per annum. Soybean, gram and maize production grew at the rate of 6.57 per cent, 6.14 per cent and 5.5per cent per annum during this period.
Agricultural growth was made possible by development and adoption of new technologies, higher public investments in agriculture and other policies. Agriculture NSDP of some states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh grew by more than 5per cent per annum. The rate of growth was 1.49 per cent in Punjab, 1.95 per cent in Uttarakhand, 2.33 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 0.1per cent in Himachal Pradesh
