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Abstract
The deceleration in growth trends in agricultural output and
yield rate is a matter of great concern in recent years in India. This
study makes an attempt to examine the growth performances of
agricultural production and productivity of major States of India and
the nature and extent of disparity in the performances of agriculture.
The growth performances have been analyzed considering three
distinct phases of agricultural development in India viz the first phase
of green revolution 1970-71 to 1979-80, second phase of green
revolution 1980-81 to 1990-91, and the period after economic reform
1991-92 to 2007-08). The agricultural infrastructural index,
constructed using Principle Component Analysis, reveals the
prevalence of a wide inter-state variation in agricultural infrastructure
in India. Moreover, using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM)
under the panel data framework, the study attempts to examine the
trends of convergence/divergence of per capita value of agricultural
output over the period 1970-71 to 2007-08. The results of conditional
convergence establish the argument that variations in the provision of
agricultural infrastructure and natural factor like rainfall play the
divergent role in accruing benefits from agriculture in India. The
skewed distribution of public and private investment in favour of
agriculturally developed states has been found to be responsible for
enhancing the disparity in agricultural infrastructure and thus, to the
per capita net state domestic product across states in India.