Assessment of Agriculture Development in Kurnool District (A.P.)

Abstract

Agriculture plays a vital role in the Indian economy. Over 70 per cent of the rural households depend on agriculture. Agriculture is an important sector of the Indian economy as it contributes about 17% to the total GDP and provides employment to over 60% of the population. Indian agriculture has registered impressive growth over last few decades. The food grain production has increased from 51 million tonnes (MT) in 1950-51 to 250MT during 2011 - 12 the highest ever since independence. Kurnool is primarily an agriculture district of Andhra Pradesh state. More or less 60 percent of the population of the district depends on agriculture for their livelihood. The contribution of agriculture in Kurnool district to state GDP was 3.55 percent in 2004-05. But it was 3.75percent in 2010-11. An interesting feature of agriculture in this district is that people of all castes and classes are represented in it. There are three well defined seasons of cultivation the first called "karif” from June – July to September – October, second called "Rabi” lasting from October – November to January – February and third called "Javed” from January – February to April – May.