An Appraisal of Crop Sector Growth in Assam

The paper has assessed the status of crop sector in Assam based on the secondary data collected from various published sources and websites for the period 2001–2011. The times series data on area, production and yield of various crops were obtained from different official sources like Economic Survey, Statistical Handbook of Assam, etc. The study has observed a positive relationship between area and production and production and yield of food crops and horticultural crops during the decade. Although fertilizer consumption (74.5 kg) in the state in terms of nutrients (NPK) per hectare is much lower than the national average consumption (167.2 kg), the growth rate of fertilizer consumption increased significantly (22.06%) during 2004–2011. The State Agriculture Department has prioritized improvements in irrigation facilities in the state through distribution of shallow tube-wells (STW), low lift pumps (LLP), sprinkler/drip irrigation sets, etc. Various schemes have been initiated by the government to increase the production and productivity of food crops and horticultural crops such as NFSM-Rice, NFSM-Pulse, Mission Double Cropping, Integrated Programme for Rice Development (IPRD), Integrated Cereals Development Programme in Rice-based Cropping System (ICDP-RICE), Bringing green revolution to eastern India (BGREI), Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (TMIDH), etc.