Contribution to Economy: Agriculture and allied sectors form the backbone of Telangana’s economy, playing a crucial role in both employment and livelihood.
Rural Workforce Dependency:
- 66.15% of the rural workforce in Telangana is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors.
- 47.34% of the overall workforce in the state is employed in these sectors.
- The agriculture sector’s contribution to Telangana’s Gross State Value Added (GSVA) has remained consistent, hovering around 16-17%.
Recent Decline in Contribution:
- The sector’s contribution to GSVA at current prices decreased by 1.2%.
- It dropped from 17.0% in 2022-23 (FRE – First Revised Estimates) to 15.8% in 2023-24 (AE – Advance Estimates).
Decline in Crops Sector Contribution:
- The Crops sector’s contribution to Telangana’s Gross State Value Added (GSVA) at current prices decreased by 1.0%.
- It dropped from 8.5% in 2022-23 (FRE – First Revised Estimates) to 7.5% in 2023-24 (AE – Advance Estimates).
Factors Behind the Decline:
- Delayed Monsoon: The Southwest Monsoon arrived 17 days late, reaching Telangana on June 22, 2023, instead of the usual June 5.
- Rainfall Variability: Significant fluctuations in rainfall were observed throughout the monsoon season, with critical deficiencies during August and October 2023.
- This negatively affected crop yields, especially for dry crops such as Redgram, Maize, and Bengal Gram.
Telangana’s primary sector GSVA from 2022-23 (FRE) to 2023-24 (AE):
- Crops: Declined from 49.8% to 47.5% (down 2.3%) due to unfavorable weather.
- Livestock: Increased from 44.7% to 46.8% (up 2.1%) due to better farming practices and demand.
- Forestry and Logging: Stable at 2.2%.
- Fishing and Aquaculture: Grew from 3.3% to 3.5%.
sub-sector contributions to agriculture growth in Telangana between 2022-23 (FRE) and 2023-24 (AE):
- Crops Sector: Declined sharply from 7.89% to -0.39%, indicating a significant drop in crop production.
- Livestock: Increased from 2.35% to 3.99%, showing notable growth in livestock farming.
- Forestry and Logging: Improved slightly from -0.93% to 0.07%, indicating a marginal recovery.
- Fishing and Aquaculture: Decreased from 0.44% to 0.36%, reflecting a small decline.
- Vanakalam Season: Sown area grew by 5%, increasing from 142 lakh acres in 2021-22 to 147 lakh acres in 2022-23.
- Yasangi Season: Significant rise in sown area, from 56 lakh acres in 2021-22 to 75 lakh acres in 2022-23.
- Total Gross Sown Area: Increased from 198 lakh acres in 2021-22 to 222 lakh acres in 2022-23, indicating an overall positive trend in agricultural sown area.
