Meerut GDP 2027

Agriculture

Agriculture & Allied Activities

  1. Uttar Pradesh is essentially an agro centric State with a share of Of nearly 26 per cent of agriculture and allied activities as against the national average of under 20 per cent. Meerut, however, is one of the exceptions with the share of agriculture sector being 19 per cent in 2020-21, lower than the average of Uttar Pradesh as also the national average. Notwithstanding a lower share of agriculture, it supports a workforce of 32 per cent of Meerut as cultivators or agricultural labourers. Some broad characteristics of agriculture and land use are as under:

Table 12 : Land use characteristics for Meerut and Uttar Pradesh

Area in Hectares Meerut Uttar Pradesh Share
Reported Area 273,005 24,170,454 1.13
Forests 21,314 1,714,612 1.24
Area under non-agricultural uses 47,787 3,610,677 1.32
Other Uncultivable Land 1,980 726,601 0.27
Net Area Sown 196,399 16,537,678 1.19
Gross Cropped area 303,308 26,858,658 1.13
Area sown more than once 106,909 10,320,980 1.04
Irrigated area 196,391 14,391,915 1.36
Fertilizer Use (Tonnes) 562,940 32,535,610 1.73

[Source: Uttar Pradesh- District Fact Book: India state Publications 2022]

Gross Domestic Product from Agriculture

  1. Overall gross value added from agriculture and allied activities in Meerut has declined from 2.8 per cent of Uttar Pradesh in 2017-18 to 2.2 per cent in 2020-21 because of a lower growth. Within agriculture crop segment dominates in Meerut accounting for 61 per cent of total value added. Livestock sector has been another important sector accounting for nearly 30 per cent of total value added (Table 13).

Table 13: Value added from agriculture and allied sectors (Rs crore)

2011-12 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 CAGR
Crops 2,580 4,989 5,055 5,847 5,394 8.5
Livestock 2,108 3,530 3,447 3,493 2,590 2.3
Forestry and logging 378 523 683 759 689 6.9
Fishing and aquaculture 4 5 42 53 76 39.0
Agriculture & Allied 5,070 9,047 9,227 10,152 8,749 6.2
Uttar Pradesh 183,252 326,174 351,814 380,939 405,834 9.2
Share 2.7 2.8 2.6 2.7 2.2

[Source: Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Uttar Pradesh]

Production of Major Crops

  1. Within crop sector food crops dominate and 2019-20, area under food crops, including sugarcane accounted for over 85 per cent of the gross sown area. Another 10 per cent of the gross sown area was allocated to fruits and vegetables and rest to the fodder crops as livestock was an important segment. Most of cropped area was irrigated with tube wells accounting for more than 85 per cent of the total irrigated areas. Principal crops grown in Meerut are summarized in Table 14 below.

Table 14: Major Crops grown (Area, production and yield)

Area (ha) Production ( Tonnes) Yield ( Tonnes ) Area (ha) Production ( Tonnes) Yield ( Tonnes )
2008-09 2019-20
Wheat 81,622 299,308 3.7 75,086 367,752 4.9
Rapeseed & Mustard 4,118 5,392 1.3 5,341 8,983 1.7
Coarse Rabi Cereals 202 703 3.5 84 338 4.0
Rabi Pulses 396 342 0.9 754 1,083 1.4
Rice 17,629 22,565 1.3 17,162 22,565 1.3
Cereals 465 887 1.9 1,327 1,973 1.5
Pulses 2,142 1,155 0.5 638 495 0.8
Sugarcane 132,000 10,956 83.0 138,815 12,632 91.0

[Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Meerut]

Employment & Workforce

  1. According to population census of 2011, 32 per cent of the working population of Meerut were either cultivators or agriculture labourers. 87 per cent of these were, however, concentrated in rural areas. However, there have establishments and enterprises other than in the crop segment engaged agriculture and allied sectors, particularly in the livestock segment. Total numbers of such persons in 2013 were reported to be 1.70 lakhs with number of enterprises/establishments being nearing one lakh {Table 15). The numbers in these activities were 6.27 per cent of such persons in Uttar Pradesh. With pandemic getting the agriculture as the fall-back sector and with industry and contact intensive services not being able to offer many jobs, the share of agriculture and allied sector in total employment may still be around 30-35 per cent. While latest data for Meerut are not available, number of persons engaged in agriculture & allied sectors in Uttar Pradesh did show a relative increase during the 2012-2022 decade.

Table 15: Establishments in agriculture & Allied sectors (Numbers)

Sector Rural Urban Total Rural Urban Total
Number of Units Number of Persons Engaged
Total 89,932 7,018 96,950 157,602 12,913 170,515
Uttar Pradesh 1,367,202 78,135 1,445,337 2,563,458 157,629 2,721,087
Share 6.58 8.98 6.71 6.15 8.19 6.27

[Source: Uttar Pradesh- District Fact Book: India state Publications 202]

Sector Specific Initiatives

  1. On April 13, 2016, the government set up a committee to prepare a report on doubling income of the farmers by 2022-23. On a pro-rata basis, doubling the income in seven years implicitly assumes a growth of over 10 per cent per annum, nearly twice the historically observed rate of growth in agriculture. Various studies on agriculture sector have identified crop productivity, intertwining livestock with crops, improved resource use efficiency, crop diversification, better prices and shift to non-farm occupations as the instruments for a sustained growth of agriculture.
Box 5 : Increasing Income of Farmers and GDP from Agriculture
Objective Policy Options Instruments Schemes/Programmes
Enhancing Farm Income Enhancing Gross Income Production Growth Increase cropping intensity
Bridge productivity gaps
Extended irrigation
Higher nutrient use
Better Prices Increased MSP
Institutional Procurement
Aggregation for volume & better prices
Diversification Processing Linkage
Allied Activities/Animal Husbandry
Better crop mix
Reducing Costs Reduce Purchase Inputs Better nutrient management
Use of farm residue
Exploit Complementarities Technology use
Income Stabilization Coping Mechanisms Crop Insurance
Assets Insurance
Institutional coping mechanism
Enhancing non-farm income Employment Generation MGNREGA and other employment
Reducing dependency Skill Development

  1. There has been a consensus that agriculture needs a new direction. The traditional approach as in Meerut depending on sugarcane, wheat and rice hardly answer the sustainability issues. The crop production is somewhat ensured because of inherent soil quality, though it is deteriorating and needs additional use of chemicals and remunerative prices are guaranteed as these are exogenously determined. It has also to be realised that crop diversification is another significant instrument to sustain the agricultural growth. As the second-generation agriculture reforms, farmers need to be motivated to undertake crop diversification towards newer varieties of high-value crops, orchards, fruits, pulses, vegetables and flowers. There are studies to show that these newer varieties could fetch three times more revenue compared to traditional staple crops.All these are doable and actionable. The Department may need to enable farmers with quality inputs, technical guidance, market information, and capital for on-farm investments. This will also address issues of small holdings. Technology, diversification and transfer of labour from agriculture to non-agriculture is critical. Sustained labour force in agriculture in Meerut is roughly of the size as its share in GDP.
Box 6 : Agriculture
Over sixty percent of Meerut's population is currently employed in some aspect of the agricultural sector, making it the city's primary economic driver. Due to its geographical location favourable for agriculture, Meerut acts a major centre for diverse agricultural produce such as Wheat, sugarcane, rice, pulses, oilseeds, potatoes, fruits.
The state of agriculture in Meerut is in a precarious position. On the one hand, there has been significant progress made in terms of productivity and yields. Over the course of the last decade, the amount of wheat that has been produced in Meerut has increased by more than fifty percent. On the other hand, the agricultural sector in Meerut is still confronted with a great deal of difficulty due to a number of factors. There is problem of water scarcity and lack of water infrastructure around the city. Being located in a semi-arid region, water scarcity is a major challenge, and agricultural produce gets severely disrupted due to untimely monsoons and droughts.
Another major hurdle in the agricultural sector in Meerut is the low level of mechanisation. Many farmers cannot afford heavy farming equipment and often rely on old and traditional farming methods, which are not only weather-dependent but also quite inefficient. After the green revolution, many farmers were forced to grow cash crops like flour and rice since they had access to high-yielding seeds, which required a lot of fertiliser and pesticides. Using these chemicals caused the soil to erode at an alarming rate. Due to continuous usage of insecticides, after some time those insects develop immunity against insecticides. It becomes a compulsion for farmers to use such insecticides that are toxic and harmful.
However, Meerut being situated between the planes of two might rivers of India Ganges and Yamuna. Environmental concerns have led to directive for compulsory adoption of natural farming on the banks of Ganges which covers a vast swath of the district's agricultural land. Farmers are reluctant to adopt as yields of natural farming- at least in short term, are below average, cost is higher and there are few takers of their produce in their traditional market channels such as Mandis. A systemic awareness creation programmes, capacity building and market linkage is necessary. Surprisingly even the Agriculture University in the district does not offer a course in Agroecology (natural farming).