Some aspects of agriculture and marketing development in Rajasthan

Agriculture is the major source of livelihood in the rural sector. The general conditions are not very conducive to agriculture resulting in to relatively low yields of crops in the state as compared to the national average. Agriculture and marketing of its products are the key elements for agriculture development and prosperity of farmers in the state. Government policies and programs are focused on increasing yield levels of farm products as well as the development of marketing infrastructure in Rajasthan. The growth performance of agriculture production in the state has achieved good position in the country. The area under forest land, non-agricultural uses and net area sown to total reporting area has increased during the past while area under barren and un-culturable land and fallow lands declined. Rajasthan has net cropped area of 185.49 lac hectares, out of this, approximately 75 per cent is rain fed and only 25 per cent is irrigated area. However, this 25 per cent irrigated area contributes more than 50 per cent of agricultural output. The share of oilseeds, pulses and horticultural crops in the gross cropped area has increased substantially during the last two decades which proves that the process of diversification of agriculture towards high valued crops is in right direction. The share of area under total cereals has declined by 10.87 per cent while the share of total pulses and oilseeds has increased by 10.98 per cent and 5.25 per cent, respectively during 2000–01 to 2018–19. The fertilizer consumption is still one of the lowest in India. The livestock population of the state as per 2019 livestock census was 568 lacs. The total milk production was 23.67 million tons during the year 2019 in the state. It ranked second in India after U.P. (30.5 million tons). State has good strength in inland fish production. Establishment of the regulated markets, warehouses, cold storages, promotion of direct marketing, contract farming, timely amendments in APMC Act, e-NAM, and development of agri-export zones are some of the examples of