AGRICULTURE

From field to thali

What India grows and where, what the government buys from farmers, and what India sells to the world and buys from it.

In the fieldFarmers cut the wheat. A woman winnows it on a soop: the light husk blows away and the grain falls into the sack, which a farmer carries to the stack.
Scroll to follow the grain
India’s food at a glance

What India grows, sells and buys the most

Grows the most

    Sells abroad the most

      Buys from abroad the most

        DBIE has no figures for other countries, so this shows what India itself grows, sells and buys the most, not how India ranks in the world.

        01What India grows

        How much India grows each year
        RiceWheatPulses (dal)Oilseeds
        Table view

        One hectare, then and now

        A hectare is about two and a half acres, a little bigger than a football field. A sack here holds 50 kg.

        What one hectare gives, in 50 kg sacks

        Why some dal and oil come from abroad

        How many times more each hectare gives now
        Table view
        02Which state grows what

        These are all the crops DBIE gives state by state. It has no state figures for fruit, vegetables, milk or spices.

        Table view

        03What the government buys

        The minimum support price (MSP) is the price the government announces for a crop each season.

        Procurement means the grain the government buys, mainly to keep in stock and give out through ration shops.

        Rice and wheat the government bought, gave out and kept
        Bought from farmersGiven out (mostly through ration shops)In stock

        04Support prices and everyday costs

        Everyday costs here are the prices of the things a farm worker’s family buys, such as food, fuel and clothes. They are the same figures as in “The women who stayed”.

        For sugarcane, the price is the fair and remunerative price, which sugar mills pay.

        Support priceEveryday costsA day’s farm wage
        Table view

        How we worked it out

        Each “times” figure is the later amount divided by the earlier one. Here are three of them in full.

        What one day of farm work buys at the support price

        A quintal is 100 kg. Shop prices are higher than the support price, so this is a way to compare, not a shopping bill.

        05Money out, money in

        Trade is counted in US dollars: the money paid or earned, not the amount of food.

        Farm goods India sold abroad and bought from abroadUS$ billion a year
        Sold abroad (money in)Bought from abroad (money out)

        US$ billion
        US$ billion
        Table view: each item, then and now

        Rice sold, oil and dal bought

        Rice sold abroad against cooking oil and pulses boughtUS$ billion a year
        Rice soldCooking oil boughtPulses bought
        From field to thaliThe bill, in short

        In short

        Annexure

        The DBIE tables behind this story

        Every number on this page comes from these tables on the Reserve Bank’s Database on Indian Economy (DBIE). Each link opens the table on this site; the figures used here are given under each one, and the full series can be downloaded.

        REFERENCES

        The figures. Every figure on this page comes from the DBIE tables listed in the annexure above, each linked to its page on this site.

        A related story. The women who stayed uses the same farm wage and the same everyday costs, for the same years.

        METHOD

        Crop years and estimates. Farm output is counted by crop year, July to June. The latest year in DBIE’s tables is an advance estimate, so the comparisons stop at the year before it; the charts show the estimate, marked.

        States. DBIE’s state table runs to the year it names, but its latest years leave out some states. The comparison uses the latest year in which every state and the union territories report. States formed since 1980-81 are counted with the states they were part of, for the comparison with 1980-81 only.

        The share the government buys. Rice bought in a year is set against that year’s rice harvest. Wheat is sown in winter and bought the following spring, so wheat bought in a year is set against the previous year’s wheat harvest. The result is rounded, and the words say “about”.

        Support prices, wages and costs. All three are compared over the same ten years. The farm wage is the daily wage of a general farm labourer (men; DBIE publishes no women’s series), and everyday costs are the consumer price index for agricultural labourers, both averaged over each financial year.

        Farm trade. The farm items are those DBIE lists under agriculture and allied products, with fertiliser shown on its own. DBIE changed its list of items in 2009-10; before that, cooking oil is listed as “edible oils”.

        The pictures. The 3D field, mill, shop and thali at the top are decoration; they carry no figures.