India has made lot of progress in agriculture since independence in terms of growth in output, yields and area under many crops. It has gone through a Green Revolution, a White Revolution, a Yellow Revolution and a Blue Revolution. Today, India is the largest producer of milk, fruits, cashew nuts, coconuts and tea in the world, the second largest producer of wheat, vegetables, sugar and fish and the third largest producer of tobacco and rice. The per capita availability of food grains has risen in the country from 350 gm in 1951 to about 500 gem per day now, of milk from less than 125 gm to 210 gm per day and of eggs from 5 to 30 per annum despite the increase in population from 35 crores to 95 crores. However, India would have been in an even better position now both in terms of agricultural output and economic development had our planners given the required importance to its development it deserved in the early years since independence. Even today, the farmers in India are able to obtain only 15 per cent of their requirements of agricultural credit from banks. The various state seed corporations are able to produce only 10 per cent of the seeds required by our farmers. At present only 2330 per cent of the farmers are able to derive any benefits of extension services provided by various government agencies and every year about 20 per cent of the crop is lost due to mishandling, spillage, floods, droughts and pests and diseases. In fruits and vegetables the loss is around 30 per cent.
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