Agriculture in India

The history of Agriculture in India dates back to Indus Valley Civilization and even before that in some places of Southern India. India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per 2018, agriculture employed 50% of the Indian work force and contributed 17-18% to country's GDP.

F

 * The Rohillas, especially the lower classes, were, with but few exceptions, the only sect of Mahometans in India who exercised the profession of husbandry; and their improvements of the various branches of agriculture, were amply recompensed by the abundance and superiour quality of the production of Rohilcund.
 * Forster G. A Journey from Bengal to England: Through the Northern Part of India I 1970, p. 120.  quoted from     Jain, M. (2010). Parallel pathways: Essays on Hindu-Muslim relations, 1707-1857. page 71

G

 * If farmers become weak the country loses self-reliance but if they are strong, freedom also becomes strong. If we do not maintain our progress in agriculture, poverty cannot be eliminated from India. But our biggest poverty alleviation programme is to improve the of our farmers. The thrust of our poverty alleviation programmes is on the uplift of the farmers.
 * Rajiv Gandhi, Inagural Speech at the 25th National Convention of the Bharat Krishak Samaj, Hyderabad, 15 February 1988. Transcript printed in Selected Speeches and Writings: 1 January 1988-31 December 1988 (, India, 1989), p. 180. Quoted in Memorable Quotes from Rajiv Gandhi and on Rajiv Gandhi (Concept Publishing Co., 2009), p. 25

R

 * May the ploughshares break up our land happily; may the ploughman go happily with the oxen; may Parjanya (water the earth) with sweet showers happily.
 * Rigveda, III, 57, as translated by H. H. Wilson (1857)