Where have all Small Farmers Gone

Agriculture is an important sector of the Indian economy, accounting for 13.7% of the nation's GDP in 2012–13 (down from 30% in 1990–91), and about 11% of its exports, and serving as the principal source of income for about half the country's population. At 179.9 million hectares, India holds the second largest agricultural land in the world and 4% of the world's water resources, but has to support about 17% of the world's human population and 15% of the livestock. With 20 agriclimatic regions, all 15 major climates in the world exist in India. The country also possesses 46 of the 60 soil types in the world. In the crop year 2011–12 (July–June), India had a record food grain production of 259.29 million tonnes. It is the largest producer of pulses, milk, tea, cashew, jute and
jute-like ?bres; the second largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnut, vegetables, fruits and cotton production; and a leading producer of spices and plantation crops as well as livestock, fisheries and poultry.