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Persisting Problems of Agriculture in North East India

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PERSISTING PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURE IN NORTH EAST INDIA

Dr. Bhaskar Kumar Kakati

Centre Manager
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research and Analysis
Indian Institute of Management, Shillong
Nongthymmai, Mayurbhanj Complex
Shillong, Meghalaya, India

Abstract
North Eastern Region of India is endowed with rich soils, favorable
climate. Further, more than 50 per cent of rural households
primarily engaged with agriculture but the contribution of this
sector to the state’s GDP is very less compare to other states of
India. Agriculture in NER still remains subsistence, and its potential
for commercialization has remained unexploited. Objective of this
paper is to understand the persisting problems of agriculture in this
region. Accordingly, an attempt is being made to analyze the
different attributes of agriculture of NER such as yield and
production of major crops, land use pattern, fertilizers consumption
pattern, distribution of cold storages, coverage of farmers in
different development scheme and crop credit analysis collected
from different data sources. Further, this paper also tries to forward
some recommendations for mitigating these changes and develop
the sector in this region.

Key Words: land use, fertilizers, cold storage, credit, development

schemes

1.0 Introduction
North East Region (NER) of India is the eastern most region of India consists of
eight states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. This region comprises an area of
262,230 square km and shares more than 4500 km of international border with
Tibet, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. This region is characterised by its hilly
and difficult terrain, sizable share of tribal population, strategic location along
boarders with neighbouring countries and weather conditions and extreme
events (Sharma et al., 2015). “Landscape constituents of the region viz. hills
(60%), plateaux (12 %) and plains (28 %) along with river systems contribute
substantially in enriching its scenic component” (Bhattacharya, 2008: p. 143) of
North East India.

Economic development of the NER of India primarily depends on achievement of

agricultural sector as agriculture is the main source of livelihoods for majority of
rural households of NER. According to Census 2011, North East India is
homeland of 81.64 per cent of rural population to the total population of this
region. Therefore, only 18.36 per cent of total population of NER lives in urban
centre. On the other hand, in India only 68.86 per cent of total population lives
in rural area (Register General of India, 2011). Thus, compare to average
percentage of rural population of India, in NER near about 14.78 per cent people
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lives in rural areas in NER than other states to the total populations of other
states. This signifies that NER is primarily rural in nature with sharing near about
7.22 per cent of inhabited villages of India. Moreover, as per National Sample
Survey Organisation (NSSO), except Tripura, more than 50 per cent of rural
households of NER primarily engaged with agriculture. According to this survey,
number of rural households engaged in agriculture is highest in Mizoram with 81
per cent and lowest in Tripura with 36.9 per cent (NSSO, 2013).

NER is endowed with rich soils, favourable climate and more than 50 per cent of
rural households engaged with agriculture (ibid) but available data (Ministry of
Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, 2017 ; Department of Fertilizers, 2017) shows
that agriculture in NER remains subsistence, and its potential for
commercialization has remained unexploited. As per available data, as
mentioned above shows that agriculture sector including forestry and fishery
contributes less than 50 per cent to Net State Value Added (NSVA) in NER.
Moreover, in all India level except Assam, no other states of NER have
significant contribution to agriculture production. Further, contribution of Assam
to agriculture among all other states is significant only for two cropsi.e. food
grain, jute and mesta. In 2016, Assam ranked 16th position among all states in
food grain production with production of 5.47 million tonnes. Percentage of share
of Assam to total production was 1.98 only. On the other hand, Assam ranked
3rd position in production of jutes and mesta and produced 0.83 million tonnes
million bales of 180 kg each. Thus, share of Assam to total production was 7.93
per cent.

Although as per reports of above-mentioned data sources, agriculture of NER is

not satisfactory yet a recent study of Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation, Government of India, shows that North Eastern Region (NER)
of India produce huge number of marketable surplus in term of production of
rice, vegetable and fruits. However, due to high logistic cost and lack of post-
harvest management, more than 50 per cent of agricultural products are being
consumed in this region. Based on above-mentioned arguments, this paper is
trying to understand the persisting problems of agriculture in NER.

2.0 Objectives
Through this research paper, an attempt is being made to analyze the different
attributes of agriculture of NER such as yield and production of major crops, land
use pattern, fertilizers consumption pattern, distribution of cold storages,
coverage of farmers in different development scheme and crop credit analysis
collected from different data sources. Further, this paper also tries to forward
some recommendations for mitigating these changes and develop the sector in
this region.

3.0 Methodology
This is an analytical study conducted to understand the persisting problems of
agriculture of North East India based on secondary sources of data collected
from different sources such as NEDFi data bank, reports of different ministries,
and department Government of India such as Agriculture and Farmers Welfare,
Chemical and Fertilizers, Horticulture division, Department of Agriculture,
Cooperation & Farmers Welfare etc. Accordingly, this paper tries to evaluate the
present scenario of agriculture in NER with reference to productivity of major
crops, land use, consumption of fertilizers, distribution of cold storages,
coverage of farmers in different development scheme and crop credit
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analysis.Based on this analysis this paper also tries of forward few

recommendations for development of agriculture in North East India.

4.0 Results and Discussion

4.1 Persisting Problems of Agriculture in NER
The major problems of agricultural development in NER are dominance of
traditional production technology, shifting cultivation, technology gap, low
productivity, lack of market stability, high logistic cost etc(IIM Shillong, n.d.).
Moreover, this region suffers from weakness such as poor infrastructure. Further
high vulnerability to natural calamities has resulted in low and uncertain
agricultural productivity. An analysis of state wise estimates of area, production
and yield of major crops during 2016-17 shows that yield per hectare of major
agricultural crops in NER is below to the average yield of India except pulses
(See table-1). Interestingly, compare to share of land to total land under pulses
is less but the share of production is high to total production of pulses in India.
Therefore, it shows that enhancement of productivity of other crops is possible in
NER through proper policy intervention and techno-managerial assistance.

Table-1: State wise Estimates of area, production and yield of major crops
during 2016-17
Area "000” Hectares / Production "000” Tonnes/Yield (Kg/Hectare)
State Rice (Kharif, Rabi) Wheat
Area Production Yield Area Production Yield

Arunachal 131 220 1679.39 3.91 7.7 1969.31

Pradesh
Assam 2467.14 4727.38 1916.14 17.45 23.45 1343.91
Manipur 244 430.4 1763.93 2.25 5.62 2497.78
Meghalaya 11.18 203.01 1825.99 0.46 0.88 1913.04
Mizoram 36.86 61.52 1669
Nagaland 206.44 336.71 1629.28 3.38 6.22 1840.24
Sikkim 10.65 19.67 1846.95 0.32 0.35 1078.13
Tripura 277.11 814.64 2939.83 0.2 0.46 2300
NER 3384.38 6813.33 2013.17 27.97 44.68 1597.26
All India 43993.3 109698.4 2493.52 30785. 98510.2 3199.92
5 3
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India

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Continue ...
State Pulses (Kharif & Rabi) Maize (Kharif & Rabi)
Area Production Yield Area Production Yield

Arunachal 13 13.1 2015 50.3 75.45 1500

Pradesh
Assam 146.3 107.5 1588 31.33 91.2 2911.28
Manipur 31.2 30.3 2083 26.8 58.8 2194.03
Meghalaya 8.2 11.8 2769 18.13 41.54 2291.23
Mizoram 3.5 4.8 2790 5.78 8.91 1541.96
Nagaland 38.7 44.5 2305 68.96 136.54 1979.99
Sikkim 5.7 5.5 961 38.96 68.68 1762.74
Tripura 24.4 23.1 1850 14.7 20.5 1394.6
NER 271 240.6 887.823 254.96 501.62 1967.45
All India 29445.1 23131 1565 9633.2 25899.9 2688.6

In NER, major problem with agriculture is volume of production which is directly

associated with average yield of crop. On the other hand, volume of production
is not necessarily linked with land use pattern but land use also plays a vital role
in volume of production. Volume of production increases with increase of land
use if average yield remains constant or vice-versa. As mentioned in above, only
28 per cent of land in NER is plain (Bhattacharya, 2008), so land under
cultivation in NER is less in plain area in compare to other parts of India. In NER
only 25.41 per cent of total land is used for agriculture whereas national average
is 55.33 per cent. The land used for agriculture in state like Arunachal Pradesh
(5.05 %), Sikkim (13.66 %), Mizoram (17.41%), Manipur (17.47 %) and Tripura
(25.93 %) is below the NER average. Interestingly, hilly state Meghalaya uses
highest portion of land for agriculture with 47.08 per cent followed by Assam and
Nagaland i.e. 42.89 and 41.86 per cent respectively (See table-2).

Table: -2: State Wise land under cultivation in NER during 2014-15
(Thousand Hectares)
State Geographical Agri. Land/ Percentage of land
Area Cultivable land/ under Agri. Land/
Culturable land/ Cultivable land/
Arable land Culturable land/
Arable land
Arunachal Pradesh 8374 423 5.05
Assam 7844 3364 42.89
Manipur 2233 390 17.47
Meghalaya 2243 1056 47.08
Mizoram 2108 367 17.41
Nagaland 1658 694 41.86
Sikkim 710 97 13.66
Tripura 1049 272 25.93
NER 26219 6663 25.41
India 328726 181886 55.33
Source: NEDFi Data Base

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Similarly, the consumption of fertiliser is very low in NER in compare to all India
scenario. In NER, only 38.41 kgs fertiliser used per hectare in compare to all
India average of 123.41 kg per hectare (See table-3). Among the NER,
consumption of fertiliser is highest in Tripura followed by Assam. Manipur and
Nagaland consume near about same amount of fertiliser. However, one may
argue that less use of fertiliser means forwarding towards organic farming. It is
true that there is record of non-utilisation of fertiliser in Arunachal Pradesh,
Sikkim and Meghalaya. Sikkim has been officially declared as organic state.
Many studies have shown that organic farms can be almost as productive as
conventional farms and sometimes even more productive specially in developing
countries. Hill region of NER can be easily converted to organic food production
zone and can be earn higher income. However, the most important challenges
of organic farming of NER is lack of proper policy (Datta et al., 2015). Unless
such a clear policy is available in term of technical and financial support mere
regulation cannot boost up the organic farming of NER. Other challenges
associated with organic farming of NER is lack of awareness, output marketing,
lack of supporting infrastructure, high input cost, lack of price advantage etc
(Das et al.,2018).

Table: -3: State-wise Consumption of Fertilizers (N, P & K) per Hectare 2016-17
(Kgs. / Hectare)
State N P K Total
Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0
Assam 27.42 6.72 7.12 41.26
Manipur 23.74 6.52 4.42 34.67
Meghalaya 0 0 0 0
Mizoram 17.32 3.13 2.43 22.88
Nagaland 16.44 11.18 7.1 34.71
Sikkim 0 0 0 0
Tripura 25.01 12.66 8.44 46.11
NER (Average) 25.09 6.76 6.57 38.41
India (Average) 79.59 31.89 11.93 123.41
Source: Indian Fertilizer Scenario 2017, Department of Fertilizers

Another majorchallenge to agriculture of NER is coverage of irrigated area under

major crops. During 2014-15, average percentage of irrigated lands in NER is
below the all India average. In all India level, the percentage of irrigated land
was 48.6 whereas this percentage was only 18.7 for Arunachal Pradesh, 9.2 for
Assam, 18 for Manipur, 37.1 for Meghalaya, 14.5 for Mizoram, 21.2 for
Nagaland, 8.9 for Sikkim and 24 for Tripura. Less coverage of irrigation further
leads to less adoption of mechanization. Except Assam, in all other states of
NER, farmers use less mechanization in agriculture. However, in here one must
remember that less uses of mechanization are not only the out come of less
coverage of irrigation but also the outcome of two other factors such as
physiography of the region and pattern of land holding. As this region is
primarily hilly terrain, so it is not feasible to adopt large mechanization
operation. Further, fragmentation of land holding in NER is also playing a major
role in less use of mechanization. Although state like Nagaland is reported higher
average size of land holding with 2.1 hectare but state like Tripura is reported
for less average size of land holding with 0.60 hectare.

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Along with productivity, agriculture of NER also suffers from post-harvest losses.
It is mainly associating with high transportation cost and lack of cold storages.
NER has only 63 cold storage facility. Thus, NER shares only 0.84 per cent cold
storage to total cold storage of India which shares only. Lack of cold storage
further lead to wastage of marketable surplus products. Further, this problem is
also accompanied by lack of packaging of agricultural products. In NER, the
containers of packaging of fruits and vegetable is not easily available. Generally,
packaging container for NER brought from Kolkata which again lead to increase
the cost of the packaged product. Cost of locally available packaging is too high
and quality is not good. Although, polythene is used to package the product but
it is not suitable for long distance export.

Although, in above, a number of challenges of agriculture in NER related to

production and post-harvest management has been discuss but along with these
challenges the farmers of NER also suffers some other institutional problems.
Two such major institutional challenges to agriculture of NER are- coverage of
farmers under different Government sponsored schemes and availability of
agricultural credit facilities. Performance in coverage of farmers of NER under
different insurance scheme is considerably very low in compare to all over India.
Only 0.86 per cent land under crop production covered under insurance scheme
during 2016-17 whereas in all India level percentage of insurance land under
crop was 28.63(see table-4). Therefore, the NER shared only 3.01 per cent
insurance land under crops in total insurance land under crops in India.

Table-4. State-wise coverage of farmer in different scheme during 2016-17

State Restructured Crop Area Insured under
Pradhan Weather all Insurance Schemes
Mantri Based Crop (Area in Lakh Hectare)
FasalBima Insurance Gross % of
Yojana Scheme Area Area area
(PMFBY) (RWBCIS) sown insured insured
Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 2.99 0 0.00
Assam 8516 51749 40.83 0.41 1.00
Manipur 8366 0 3.83 0.09 2.35
Meghalaya 89 0 3.43 0 0.00
Mizoram 0 0 1.45 0 0.00
Nagaland 0 0 5 0 0.00
Sikkim 574 0 1.36 0 0.00
Tripura 12528 0 4.83 0.05 1.04
NER 30073 51749 63.72 0.55 0.86
India 55071091 2050999 1983.6 567.92 28.63
Source: Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare
Moreover, formal credit distribution in NER for agriculture is not encouraging. As
per Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, the NER shares
only 1.37 per cent of agriculture loan account to total agricultural loan account
of India during 2016-17.

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5.0 Policy Implications

i) There is a need for knowledge sharing with the neighbouring nations of
NER. For example, economy of Thailand like India derives its strength
from the agricultural sectors. By sharing the best practices both counties
can be benefited.
ii) Smooth the institutional delivery of credit linkage, insurance, coverage
under welfare scheme etc. Promotion of farmer Self Help Group/ Producer
group of small number may solve the problem of these institutional
problems.
iii) Should focus on food processing industry. Government subsidy and
technical and managerial support should be provided to entrepreneur to
set up such industry. Government sponsored institute, organisation
should build the capacity of these identified entrepreneur.
iv) Must focus on increase of production. There should be institutional supply
of inputs and other production related items to farmers.
v) There is need for formulation of State Formulating a State specific land
and water use policy rather than regional and national policy. Further
there is need for adopting agro-climatic zonal level planning.

There is need for promoting institutions for capacity building of farmers or

groups of farmers to adopt technology, credit facility and market linkage.

6.0 Conclusion
NER-the eight states of India have huge potential for agricultural growth. The
economy of this region highly depends on agriculture as majority of people live
in rural area as well as majority of rural people depend on agriculture for
livelihoods. However, the contribution of agriculture to the State GDP is not
satisfactory which is associated with number of challenges related to production,
post-harvest management and institutional delivery systems. It is well known
fact that logistic is the one of the most prominent challenges to agriculture of
NER which directly and indirectly affects both inflow and out flow of agriculture
production as well as productivity. However, in here, it is also important to
relook the existing policy and delivery system of agriculture in NER as it is region
which receives different products from outside NER very easily but could not
export its product to outside NER even if has marketable surplus.

References
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Recreational Demand, Developmental Challenges and Issues associated with
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