Agriculture in India

The history of agriculture in India dates back to the Neolithic period. India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per the Indian economic survey 2018, agriculture employed more than 50% of the Indian workforce and contributed 17–18% to the country's GDP. In 2016, agriculture and allied sectors like animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries accounted for 17.5% of the GDP (gross domestic product) with about 41.49% of the workforce in 2020. India ranks first in the world with highest net cropped area followed by US and China. The economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is steadily declining with the country's broad-based economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India. The total agriculture commodities export was US$3.50 billion in March - June 2020. India exported$38 billion worth of agricultural products in 2013, making it the seventh-largest agricultural exporter worldwide and the sixth largest net exporter. Most of its agriculture exports serve developing and least developed nations. Indian agricultural/horticultural and processed foods are exported to more than 120 countries, primarily to the Japan, Southeast Asia, SAARC countries, the European Union and the United States. Indian farmers are people who grow crops as a profession. Various government estimates (Census, Agricultural Census, National Sample Survey assessments, and Periodic Labour Force Surveys) give a different number of farmers in the country ranging from 37 million to 118 million as per the different definitions. Some definitions take in to account the number of holdings as compared to the number of farmers. Other definitions take into account possession of land, while others try to delink land ownership from the definition of a farmer. Other terms also used include 'cultivator'.