Mapping natural resources and agricultural performance for targeting interventions and investments in India

Performance of agriculture depends on natural resource endowment and their efficient utilization. This paper maps the natural resource status vis-a-vis agricultural performance of 458 districts of India. The status of natural resources was captured through seven indicators viz., rainfall, mean temperature, degraded and wastelands, available water-holding capacity of soils, drought proneness, cyclone proneness and flood proneness. Likewise, an agricultural performance index was computed based on the values of share of agriculture in district domestic product and income inequity in agriculture. The districts were categorized as high/low natural resource status and high/low agricultural performance districts. The natural resource status was low in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The agricultural performance was poor in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, eastern Madhya Pradesh, despite their better natural resource status. The districts performing better, despite their poor natural resources, are well-placed in terms of fertilizer use, adoption of HYVs, irrigation, market density and electrification.