The impact of infrastructural facilities on agricultural development in the state of Chhattisgarh has been studied based on the secondary data for the years 2000–01 and 2004–05. Agriculture is the primary occupation of the people of Chhattisgarh, with about 76 per cent of the population depending on agriculture and allied sectors for their livelihood. Infrastructural facilities directly or indirectly affect the agricultural productivity, value-addition, labour efficiency, sustainability, etc. Agriculture and allied sectors are not able to absorb the total labour force. The employment opportunities in the non-farm sector in the rural areas have been found limited due to lack of rural industries, trade, etc. The diversification of income sources of rural households is a promising road to strengthen the livelihood of the rural poor. In the state, the production of foodgrains has increased over the years, similarly some improvement has been observed in infrastructural facilities like irrigation, fertlizer consumption, power, transport, agriculture credit and marketing, health, agricultural extension and research, etc. The study has suggested that the state should invest more on infrastructural development, which would lead to both forward and backward linkages. Investments on research and extension have long-term impact on the agricultural development and have a very high incremental capital-output-ratio. It needs special attention of the planners to allocate more funds to the state.
