Agriculture plays an important role in Indian economy. India, an agricultural country, is gifted with ample natural resources. The agriculture development is an essential aspect of the Indian economy, and the success and growth of India is largely dependent on the positive performance of agriculture. Agriculture supplies bulk of wage goods required by non-agricultural sector and raw materials for the industrial sector. The growth of the agriculture determines the direction of the development of Indian economy. Himachal Pradesh is one of the hilly states in India and agriculture is the main occupation of the people which plays an important role in the economy of the State. Agriculture exhibits a blend of both progressive and the traditional nature of farming. The state has made spectacular headway in the production of apples and other temperate fruits in the higher hills, vegetable crops and vegetable seeds along with sub-tropical fruits in lower hills.
Although significant achievements have been made in this sector of the economy, yet there is a scope for achieving higher growth by value addition and diversification. The focus of the book is to examine agriculture sector in the hilly regions of India. The book is divided into eight chapters, Namely, 1] Theoretical Framework: An Overview, 2] Review of Research Studies on Economic Reforms and Agriculture Sector, 3] Research Design and Methodology, 4] The Economy of Himachal Pradesh: A Discourse, 5] Agricultural Land, Inputs, Assets, Wages & Prices in Himachal Pradesh, 6] Growth and Instability of Agriculture Products in Himachal Pradesh, 7] Farmer's Problems in Himachal Pradesh and 8] Conclusions and Policy Implications. The first Chapter is introductory and expository in focus explaining the period before and after the economic reforms. It also highlights the status of policies and programmes related to agriculture sector in pre-and post reforms period and the position of agriculture, the performance of agriculture and diversification of agriculture at the National and State level in Himachal Pradesh. The second Chapter is an analysis of literature having a direct bearing on the problem under consideration. The studies conducted by various scholars, at the national and state level, have been evaluated to have knowledge about every aspect of the problem. The third Chapter throws light on the research design formulated for the smooth implementation of the study.
It highlights the selection of problems, importance, objectives, methodology, statistical tools used and limitations of the present study. The fourth Chapter discusses various aspects of the economy of Himachal Pradesh, that is, the profile of Himachal Pradesh, growth of state economy, the share of various sectors in the state economy and the role of agriculture sector in the economy of the state has been reviewed. The fifth Chapter evaluates Land use, operational holdings, cropping intensity, net irrigated area, irrigation intensity, cropping pattern, operational holdings, area under High Yield Variety seeds, fertilizer consumption, agricultural implements, agricultural wages, subsidies and farm harvest prices in Himachal Pradesh during pre and post reforms period. The sixth chapter deals with the estimation of growth rate and instability indexes of selected crop or crop group, fruits and vegetables in Himachal Pradesh for pre-reforms and post-reforms period. In the later part of this chapter a classification of selected agricultural crops/crop group, fruits and vegetables has been made. Chapter Seventh evaluates the various problems faced by the farmers in Himachal Pradesh. The problems related to production, marketing, financial and institutional problems have been evaluated on the basis of primary data collected from the sample farmers. The last Chapter presents a picture of conclusions reached and the future policy implications.