Agriculture Production in Madhya Pradesh :

In 2015, Madhya Pradesh contributed over 8 million metric tonnes (MMT) of wheat to the central procurement pool. This was the second highest procurement of wheat by any state that year and even higher than that of Haryana, traditionally the second highest contributor after Punjab. The event capped a remarkable period of eight years, which saw Madhya Pradesh emerge as the state with the highest growth rate in agriculture. Long clubbed with the socalled BIMARU group of poor northern, central and eastern states, MP successfully broke ranks to set a scorching pace of growth, which has been unparalleled in the past quarter century.

Madhya Pradesh spans over 30.8 million hectares of land and comprises around 6.0 per cent of India’s population. The state is primarily an agricultural state, with almost 70 per cent of its workforce engaged in agriculture, much above the all-India average of 55 per cent. Unlike other states where the share of agriculture in GDP has been falling, MP has undergone a reverse structural change after 2010-11. Between 2003-04 and 2010-11, the share of agriculture in GDP declined from 29.8 per cent to 22.5 percent (2004-05 prices), which reflected the national trend. However, after 2010-11, the share of agriculture in GDP has increased from 22.5 to 30.0 per cent (2004-05 prices) in 2014-15. However the agriculture production in Madhya Pradesh has recorded a dip in 2017-18 compared to the previous year, as per the state economic survey. In 2017-18, the state recorded agriculture production to the tune of 42,136,000 metric tonne (provisional data), which is 2,334,000 MT less than the 2016-17 figure of 44,470,000 metric tonne (MT).The crop sowing area also shrunk by 599,000 hectares in year 2017-18 compared to the previous year.In year 2016-17, the sowing area was 17,543,000 hectares which has been reduced to 16,944,000 hectares in 2017-18.

 While the agriculture production has registered a drop, the per capital income in the state increased by 9.06 per cent in 2017-18 compared to the previous year. The per capita income has increased to Rs 79,907 in 2017-18 from Rs 73,268 in 2016-17, as per the Survey.

Earlier research by the World Bank (World Bank Report, 2008) shows that higher agriculture growth holds the key to faster alleviation of poverty. This is particularly so, as 82 per cent of poverty in Madhya Pradesh is rural. Although MP has recorded a significant decline in poverty rates from 53.6 per cent in 2004- 05 to 35.7 per cent in 2011-12, there is still much to be done to improve the livelihood of the rural population. Moreover, MP’s per capita income is low, standing at Rs 51,798 (FY14 at current prices) as compared to the national average of Rs 74380. Although it is much better than that of Bihar (Rs 31,199) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 36,250), it remains way below top performing states like Sikkim (Rs 1, 76,491), Maharashtra (Rs 1,14,392), Haryana (Rs 1,33,427) and Gujarat (Rs 1,06,831). Therefore, the study also makes policy suggestion to bolster agriculture growth in MP.

Notably, Madhya Pradesh has been a recipient of the Krishi Karman Award for five successive years for the record agriculture production.Government also prepared a roadmap to double farmers' income by 2022, the agriculture production in Madhya Pradesh