Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
During 2007-08, the production of rice was 14719.2 thousand tonnes,
of wheat 917.3 thousand tonnes and of pulses 158.0 thousand tonnes re-
spectively. There was substantial increase in the food grain production
in West Bengal in the last two decades. Table 3 shows a spatial-temporal
variation of food grain production in West Bengal. In 1990-91 the state's
food grain production was 11270 thousand tonnes which reached to 16060
thousand tonnes in 2007-08. During 1990-91 to 2007-08 the additional
increment in food grain production was 4790 thousand tonnes.
Temporal change in food grain production varies signifi cantly over the
districts. Among all the districts, Midnapur shows the highest increase in
the food grain production during 1990-91 to 2007-08, adding a total 1093
thousand tonnes of food grain during the period and followed by Murshid-
abad (523 thousand tonnes), Dinazpur (522 thousand tonnes) and Bankura
district (490 thousand tonnes). There is spatial inequality in the food grain
production in West Bengal. More than fi fty percent of the state produc-
tion is confi ned only in the fi ve districts out of nineteen. During 1990-91
the top fi ve food grain producing districts were Midnapur (13.8 percent),
Burdwan (12.7 percent), Murshidabad (8.8 percent), Bankura (7.7 per-
cent) and Birbhum (7.5 percent). These fi ve districts together contributed
50 percent of the state production during 1990-91 whereas during 2007-08
the contribution increased to 53 percent. Food grain production in West
Bengal increased signifi cantly over the time.
The gap between food grain production and requirement decreased sig-
nifi cantly in the recent decades (fi g 4) but the current level of food grain
production is not suffi cient enough to meet the domestic food requirement.
Fig 4 shows that during 2007-2008, total food grain production was 16060
thousand tonnes against its requirement of 17014 thousand tonnes.
12.3.4 POPULATION GROWTH AND AVAILABILITY OF LAND
FOR AGRICULTURE
Rapid growth of population in a geographical area affect adversely on the
land, especially on the cultivable land. It creates pressure on the cultivable
land by reducing its area. Production can decline marginally when the land
crosses its caring capacity due to over population.
