COMPARISON OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY OF INDIA AND CHINA

COMPARISON OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY OF INDIA AND CHINA:

INTRODUCTION:

China and India are the world’s two most populous countries comprising 1/3^rd of the total world population. Most of the people of these two countries had been living in rural areas since 1000 years. Though India and China are similar in population terms, poverty, economic goals and most of the population depend on agriculture, China is a bit higher in agricultural productivity compared to that of India. The agricultural sector provides basic foundation for industrial exports with the supplies of food raw materials, labour and with foreign exchange earned through exports of primary production.

CHINA IN AGRICULTURE:

During 1950’s, the Chinese government planned to seize the land from the landlord class and then redistribute it to the peasants having insufficient or no land. Middle farmers were not under the eye of the government then.  They also transferred the collective ownership to ownership of all the people. Under the commune system of China, labour was paid on the basis of hours of work rather than on their contribution to work. But the increase in the population of China especially from 1965 made agricultural sector to produce more food. Increase in the consumption of food and increase in the land –labour ratio led the Chinese to cultivate their land with greater intensity. 

The experience of the Chinese since years made them produce more from a very small land area. The mobilization of labour and diversion of industrial materials are also added to the increase in the agricultural productivity. The development in the usage of fertilizers and machinery in China led to the agricultural growth. China has now become the world’s 3^rd largest food donor by increasing its supply in vegetables and fruits. China has a big link of agricultural sector with the animal husbandry. It has come with more yield instead of having less area and use less fertilizers. The paddy grown in China is 100% of modern variety and 2/3^rd s of the cotton grown is BT cotton. The interesting fact to be noted is that earlier, Chinese used intensive techniques like careful tillage of soil, use of natural possible fertilizers (farm manure, compost), and the systematic use of latrines everywhere to collect excreta and use that on fields. China has done a great research on agricultural programs and grew this large as the biggest agricultural market in the economy. The important point to be noted is that most of the cultivation in China is done through step farming as it is located in the hilly areas.

INDIA IN AGRICULTURE:

The Indian land reform started in 1951. The main objective was to increase the agricultural production and to pave a way for industrialization. The main features of this reform were elimination of land intermediaries, tenancy reforms, limits on land holdings and consolidation of very small land holdings. It was not a forceful policy like that of China but was carried out under the framework of parliamentary government (people’s government). India then came up with Community Development Program to mobilize the local people and resources with the assistance of the government for the technical services to transform rural India. The government offered training, extension services and research to change the attitudes of rural people towards the use of technology. India stood second in the amount of arable land after US in the world. There was an increase in the total production of food grains in India but has barely met with the increasing population. Most of the Indian crops depend on rainfall. 

Water had been d biggest problems which was focused a lot. We know that the yield from a rainfall dependent land is lower when compared to that of irrigated land. So Indian farmers use underground water for their crops to compensate the non-irrigated areas. But water depletion and wastage have become the significant problems. Then India adopted water management techniques which conserved water and results in better yield. But those techniques came out to be expensive and remained out of reach of farmers. The main plus point of India is having a big man power increasing its yield higher to that of China. The period of 1980s led to the downfall I agricultural productivity as this sector was neglected with the falling public sector investments.  India had been a good market for vegetables and fruits earlier but the lack of cold storage led to the fall in its supply.

COMPARISION:

 The two countries of India and China followed more or less the same parameters in agriculture. India experiences a private land ownership method while China experiences a communal land ownership. Though both the countries emphasize on industrial development both remain predominantly agrarian societies. Thus the agricultural production provides basic foundation for industrial expansion with supply of food, raw materials and labour. The land productivity and the labour productivity was lower in China than in India. In few years China caught up with the labour productivity and then remained higher ever after. India’s arable land is bigger when compared to that of China’s. India is the 2^nd largest producer of rice and wheat after China with it producing 40% more than India. This is because China focusses much land under wheat and rice than in India. India also stands 2^nd in the exports of vegetables and fruits after China where China produces 3 times more than that of India. But India stands first in mangoes, bananas and spices production, consumption and exports.

 Earlier China had more acreage than in India but over the last 10 years, the situation is reversed. This is because of the decrease in the demand for grains in china as people have become wealthier and also shift to higher value added crops such as corn. The growth of cotton is more in china by 40% than in India.  China also uses less amount of fertilizers when compared to that of India. The main drawback of the two countries was having small land holdings. But the Chinese land holdings were even smaller when compared to that of India. China invests more in agricultural research than India to produce high yield and quicker growing crop varieties. Lack of funds also stands as an obstacle in these two countries. Indian farmers have more cattle and milk than that of China. Green revolution is not suitable in peninsular India and hilly areas of China. The geographical stand of India and China support a low and erratic rainfall and so the irrigational potential is also low. There were many efforts made by both the countries bring up development in the irrigational facilities like canals, reservoirs and tube wells. These countries were equally dependent on electricity for agriculture. The main form of government assistance given to the farmers in the form of subsidies in India rather than investments unlike China. India should learn from the Chinese research and their pragmatic policies.

China overtook India for three reasons: 

1)Technology development in research and development.

2) Investment in rural infrastructure.

3)Liberalized agricultural policy.

DRAWBACKS:

·         Though the reforms introduced, brought land under the ownership of millions of peasants, the individual holdings would have been too small for efficient farming.

·         The less immediate improvement because of the shortage of farm implements, loans, livestock, fertilizers and seeds.

·         The Indian government acted slowly and reluctantly which led to the fall of agricultural growth. The technology was out of reach. It has also failed in eliminating tenancy system.

·         The reason for India’s low productivity is the small size land holdings and this is because of the increase in the rural population but not the land acreage. China experienced even smaller units of land when compared to India.

·          The small land holdings in both the countries inhibit the growth of technology.

·         Though irrigation was started, it experienced weaker administration, leakages, poor maintenance and the new irrigation projects will be started without achieving the targets of the present ones.

·         Though India have many scientists on agriculture than that of China, their research was just to limits which led to the slow progress of agriculture.

MY PERSPECTIVE:

India and China are basically agrarian societies trying to focus much on industrialization with the outcome of farm raw materials and output.

There must have been a systematic way undertaken by the government to increase the agricultural development. The reforms introduced by the government were not up to the level. They were introduced just to be introduced but not at all were put into practice. Our country did not focus much on this important and prime sector and went on with polices and planning for the development of industrial sector. Not that I am against industrialization, but I cannot understand how the government missed the simple logic that the progress in agricultural sector indirectly leads to rapid industrialization. There were many policies and plans implemented on agriculture but just for name sake and none were deeply given consideration, I feel. “No proper research but have great scientists carrying out their research on agriculture” shows how much our government is concerned about the agricultural sector on which 50% of the population derive their livelihood. Not only this, there are many back drops in the planning which must be overcome soon so as to develop agricultural sector which leads to the progress of industries which leads to the economic growth and development of our country.

As of my research, I found China, a country with great potential and determination. It picked out the strengths of the country and focused on them. Though it did not have all the facilities or resources that India possess, it made its quality effort since 1950’s following the experiences of the ancestors and employing the best policies to enforce and implement them properly. The stubborn efforts of China made it the most productive country in agricultural terms in the world.

I think that the Indian government should seriously learn something from the quality development and implementation of the Chinese government.