Eco Survey pegs agriculture growth at abysmal 4% against last year’s 17.9%

Highlighting some green shoots in the economy, it said that industrial growth is expected at 11.9 percent, which is higher than the negative growth rate of 10 percent in the previous financial year

Mumbai: Pointing to the continuing stress on the economy, the ‘Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2021-22’ has said that the agriculture sector is expected to grow at 4.4 percent as against 17.9 percent in the previous year. The numbers hold importance as a majority of the state’s population depends on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood.

The economic survey report was tabled by finance minister Ajit Pawar in the state legislative assembly on Thursday. (REUTERS)

Highlighting some green shoots in the economy, it said that industrial growth is expected at 11.9 percent, which is higher than the negative growth rate of 10 percent in the previous financial year, while the services sector is expected to grow at 13.5 percent in 2021-22, versus a 9 percent contraction in 2020-21.

The economic survey report was tabled by finance minister Ajit Pawar in the state legislative assembly on Thursday.

The real Gross State Value Added (GSVA) of the agriculture and allied activities sector is expected to grow at 4.4 percent in 2021-22. Of this, the real GSVA of the crops sector may rise by 3.0 percent, while that of livestock, forestry and logging, and fishing and aquaculture sectors is expected to grow at 6.9 percent, 7.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

“Erratic rains, climate change, erosion & degradation of soil quality, high input cost, market uncertainties, etc are major challenges of (the) agriculture sector in the State,” said the report.

Notably, a majority of the state’s population depends on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood.

It pointed to how agriculture was affected by vagaries of the weather like frequent hailstorms, cyclones, floods, heavy rainfall and untimely rains during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 cropping seasons. Total rainfall in Maharashtra during 2021 up to October was 118.2 percent of the normal range.

Underlining the growing fragmentation of land, the economic survey said that the number of operational holdings, which were 0.50 crore during the first Agriculture Census (1970-71) had increased to 1.53 crore during the tenth Agriculture Census (2015-16).

Consequently, the area of operational holdings decreased from 2.12 crore ha in Agriculture Census 1970-71 to 2.05 crore ha during Agriculture Census 2015-16 and the average size of holding decreased from 4.28 ha (Agriculture Census 1970-71) to 1.34 ha during the Agriculture Census 2015-16.

Indicating some green shoots as the economy recovers from a pandemic-induced shock, the industries sector is expected to grow at 11.9 percent as against the negative growth of 10 percent in the previous 2020-21 financial year.

In industries, the manufacturing and construction sectors, which employ a bulk of the working population in the industries category, are expected to grow at 9.5 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively. The services sector is expected to grow at 13.5 percent in 2021-22, versus a 9 percent contraction in 2020-21.

Since the liberalisation policy was adopted in August 1991 till November 2021, a total of 21,216 industrial projects with an investment of ₹15,09,811 crore were approved in Maharashtra.

Up to November 2021, a total of 258 projects with a proposed investment of ₹74,368 crore were registered in the State. Maharashtra saw Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows of ₹9,59,746 crore since April 2000 to September 2021, which was 28.2 percent of the total FDI inflows into India.

As of September 30, 2020, the number of primary schools (class I to VIII) was 1,06,338 with a total enrolment of 153.9 lakh and the number of secondary & higher secondary schools (class IX to XII) were 28,505 with a total enrolment of 65.2 lakh.

According to the ‘All-India Survey of Higher Education 2019-20,’ there were 65 universities, 4,494 colleges and 2,393 standalone institutions in the state with 52.31 lakh enrolment therein.