Website agriculture.gov.in Jurisdiction India | Formed 1947 Cabinet minister Radha Mohan Singh | |
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Annual budget ₹41,855 crore (US$6.2 billion) (2017-18 est.) Ministers responsible Radha Mohan Singh, Minister of Agriculture
S S Ahluwalia, Minister of State
Parshottam Rupala , Minister of State
Sudarshan Bhagat, Minister of State Headquarters Krishi Bhavan, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi Minister of state Sudarshan Bhagat, S. S. Ahluwalia, Parsottambhai Rupala Programs Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Scheme on Welfare of Fishermen, Gramin Bhandaran Yojna Profiles | ||
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (formerly Ministry of Agriculture), a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture in India. The 3 broad areas of scope for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation. The agriculture ministry is headed by Minister of Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh. S S Ahluwalia, Sudarshan Bhagat & Parshottam Rupalai are the Ministers of State.
Contents
Background
Agriculture is the principal source of livelihood for more than half population of India. Agriculture provides the bulk of wage goods required by non-agriculture sectors and most of the raw materials for the industries sector. India is a largely agrarian economy - with 52.1% of the population estimated to directly or indirectly employed in agriculture and allied sectors in 2009-10. The combined efforts of Central Government, State Governments and the farming community have succeeded in achieving record production of 244.78 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2010-11. This record production has been achieved through effective transfer of newly developed crop production technologies to farmers under various crop development schemes, such as the Agriculture MMP, which is run under the direction of the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation. Other causes behind record production include remunerative prices for various crops through enhanced minimum support prices. Agriculture in India is of significance because of this as well as a history of food shortages and a growing population.
Origins
Department of Revenue and Agriculture and Commerce was set up in June 1871 to deal with all the agricultural matters in India. Until this ministry was established, matters related to agriculture were within the portfolio of the Home Department.
In 1881, Department of Revenue & Agriculture was set up to deal with combined portfolios of education, health, agriculture, revenue. However, In 1947, Department of Agriculture was redesignated as Ministry of Agriculture.
Structure & Departments
The Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare consists of the following three Departments.
The administrative head of the Ministry are the Secretaries of the three departments.
Programs
A leading program of the Ministry is the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, which was launched in 2007 on the recommendations of the National Development Council of India. This program sought to improve the overall state of agriculture in India by providing stronger planning, better co-ordination and greater funding to improve productivity and overall output. The total budget for this program in 2009-10 was just over INR 38,000 crore.
Reports & Statistics
The Ministry publishes an annual report titled "Agricultural Statistics At a Glance". This gives a detailed picture of the state of the India's agriculture including demographics of the agrarian sector, crop production (including state-wise and crop-wise break-ups), rural economic indicators such as credit, etc. The latest report has been published for 2014.