Trends in Agricultural Inputs Use in India: Land, Seeds, and Mechanization

India feeds over a billion people from roughly the same farmland it cultivated decades ago. That is not a coincidence – it is the result of deliberate, sustained changes in how agricultural inputs are used across the country. From the quality of seeds planted to the machines used at harvest, every layer of input has evolved significantly. Understanding these trends helps explain how Indian agriculture has managed to grow its output even as the physical frontier of cultivable land has largely plateaued.

The land puzzle: why area alone doesn’t tell the whole story 🔗

India’s total geographical area is approximately 329 million hectares, but the net sown area – land actually under cultivation – has hovered at around 140 million hectares, representing roughly 47% of the total reporting area. This figure has remained relatively stable for several decades, meaning India has not been able to significantly expand the area it farms. Urbanization, land degradation, and fragmentation have all placed limits on expansion.

Yet, according to the Government of India’s Land Use Statistics 2022-23, cropping intensity – which measures how frequently the same land is cultivated in a year – has climbed from 111% at the time of independence to approximately 155.9% in 2022-23. This single statistic captures a profound shift: Indian farmers are growing more crops per year from the same plot of land. The gross sown area has increased by nearly 48.5% even as the net sown area has remained largely unchanged.

Cropping intensity is calculated as the ratio of gross cropped area to net sown area, expressed as a percentage. A value above 100% means that at least some land is being double or triple cropped within a single year. The rise from 111% to over 155% reflects the combined effect of better irrigation, improved seeds, and more reliable input supply – all of which make a second or third crop within the same year economically viable.

Seeds: from farm-saved to certified varieties 🔗

Seeds are the most fundamental input in agriculture. For most of Indian farming history, farmers saved seeds from their own harvest and replanted them the following season. While this practice continues, it has increasingly given way to the use of certified and high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, a shift that was turbocharged by the Green Revolution of the 1960s.

According to a PRS India report on the state of agriculture, quality seeds account for 20-25% of the increase in crop productivity observed over recent decades. This makes seed improvement arguably the highest-return input investment available to farmers. Yet, access to quality seeds has not been uniform. About 30-35% of all seeds available are produced by public and private sector companies, with the remaining majority still coming from farm-saved stocks – pointing to a significant gap in certified seed adoption, particularly among small and marginal farmers for whom the cost of high-yielding varieties can be prohibitive.

The role of the National Seeds Corporation 🔗

To address this gap, the Government of India established the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) in March 1963 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. NSC is a government-owned Miniratna company that currently produces certified seeds of nearly 621 varieties across 80 crops, including cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fiber crops, and vegetables. It operates through approximately 12,500 registered seed growers spread across different agro-climatic zones in the country.

NSC is also the nodal agency for several central government schemes, including the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP). Under the Central Sector Scheme to boost seed production in the private sector, a credit-linked capital subsidy of 25% of the project cost – up to ₹25 lakh per unit – is available for seed infrastructure development. NSC also maintains a SAARC seed bank to meet emergency demand during natural calamities such as floods and droughts.

State Seed Corporations, established to complement NSC’s work, handle certified seed production and intra-state distribution, while State Seed Certification Agencies (SSCAs) conduct field inspections and seed quality testing to maintain standards across the supply chain.

Fertilizers and irrigation: inputs that enable intensity 🔗

The rise in cropping intensity would not have been possible without a parallel increase in fertilizer use and irrigated area. The commercialization of high-yielding variety seeds, together with extensive irrigation and fertilizer use, formed the backbone of India’s Green Revolution, enabling the country to transform from a food-deficit nation in the 1960s to the world’s second-largest producer of wheat and rice today.

However, the use of pesticides without proper guidelines has led to an increase in pesticide residue in food products, prompting regulatory scrutiny and calls for integrated pest management systems that combine mechanical, biological, and chemical approaches. Similarly, the over-extraction of groundwater for irrigation – particularly in states like Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan – has created long-term water stress that threatens the sustainability of intensive cropping systems.

As per the current data on agricultural land use, over 60% of the net sown area remains rain-fed, meaning that irrigation access – while improved – still leaves a large share of Indian farmland exposed to monsoon variability.

Mechanization: from bullocks to combine harvesters 🔗

Farm mechanization represents one of the most visible input trends in Indian agriculture. The transition from animal-drawn implements to tractors, power tillers, and combine harvesters has reshaped farm operations over the past six decades.

India’s overall farm mechanization level currently stands at around 47%, a significant rise from the near-manual methods of the 1950s, but still well below the over 90% mechanization seen in developed countries like the USA, France, and Russia. Within India, there is also substantial variation: mechanization in seedbed preparation reaches around 70%, while sowing, planting, and transplanting remain at only 38%, and harvesting/threshing at 33%.

The farm power available to Indian farmers has risen dramatically. Availability of farm power increased from 0.28 kW per hectare in 1960-61 to 2.10 kW per hectare in 2013-14, and projections suggest it could reach 5.17 kW per hectare by 2032-33. Tractor industries in India have grown to become the largest in the world, accounting for about one-third of total global tractor production.

Impact of mechanization on input efficiency 🔗

Mechanization is not just about speed – it directly affects the efficiency of other inputs. According to an ICAR report, farm mechanization reduces input costs by saving 15-20% on seeds and fertilizers, while increasing cropping intensity by 5-20%. It also cuts labor requirements and operational time by 20-30%, and boosts crop productivity by 10-15%. For example, harvesting one acre of wheat using manual labor can cost around ₹5,000, while a combine harvester completes the same task for ₹2,000-3,000 per acre.

Mechanization also improves precision in applying seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers, minimizing waste and reducing the environmental footprint of farming operations. Modern tools such as laser land levelers, rotavators, and direct seeding machines allow for more uniform field preparation and planting, which in turn improves germination rates and reduces input losses.

Barriers to wider adoption 🔗

Despite the clear benefits, mechanization has not reached all farmers equally. The single biggest structural challenge is land fragmentation. The average landholding size in India is just 1.08 hectares, making it economically unviable for most small and marginal farmers to purchase capital-intensive machinery. Over 85% of Indian farmers operate on plots smaller than 2 hectares, creating structural barriers not just for mechanization but also for irrigation infrastructure and precision agriculture adoption.

Cumbersome credit procedures for agriculture term loans, lack of repair and servicing infrastructure in remote areas, and limited awareness among farmers about available technology further restrict uptake. The agricultural machinery market in India is currently valued at USD 14.3 billion and is projected to reach USD 24.05 billion by 2029, suggesting that private sector momentum is building – but targeted policy support will be essential to ensure this growth reaches the smallholder farmer.

Government initiatives driving input use trends 🔗

The government has consistently played a central role in shaping how and which inputs are adopted across Indian agriculture. Key policy instruments include:

Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM): A flagship scheme providing financial assistance for the purchase of machinery, establishment of custom hiring centres, and demonstration of modern equipment at the farm level. It specifically targets small and marginal farmers who cannot afford individual machine ownership.

Kisan Credit Card (KCC): A credit delivery mechanism that provides farmers with short-term, revolving credit for purchasing seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and other inputs. The KCC has significantly expanded the formal credit access of rural farmers and is often cited as a model for simplifying agricultural lending.

National Food Security Mission (NFSM): Launched in October 2007, the NFSM targets increased annual production of rice, wheat, and pulses through improved input delivery, with certified seeds being a key component of its implementation across states.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): A broad-based scheme that finances state-level agriculture development plans, including investments in seed infrastructure, farm mechanization, and irrigation expansion. Together with NFSM and ISOPOM (Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil Palm and Maize), it has increased demand for quality seeds supplied by NSC and State Seed Corporations.

More recently, the emergence of agri-tech startups has added a new layer to input delivery. Between 2013 and 2020, the agtech landscape in India expanded from fewer than 50 startups to over 1,000, offering farmers direct access to quality inputs, credit, and advisory services through digital platforms. Companies like UPL and Mahindra have begun providing mechanization-as-a-service models, where farmers can rent equipment rather than purchase it – a breakthrough for smallholders who cannot justify ownership costs.

The productivity payoff: what these trends have delivered 🔗

The combined effect of improved seeds, expanded irrigation, greater fertilizer use, and increased mechanization is visible in India’s agricultural output. Food grain production reached 292 million metric tonnes in 2019-20, transforming India from a food-deficit country in the 1960s to a net exporter of agricultural produce. India is now the second-largest producer of wheat and rice globally, and the largest exporter of rice.

However, this growth has also come with environmental costs. Overuse of chemical fertilizers has led to soil nutrient imbalances and declining organic matter. Excessive groundwater extraction for irrigation threatens long-term water security in several key agricultural states. And the shift to a few high-yielding crops has reduced agricultural biodiversity, making farming systems more vulnerable to pests, climate variability, and market shocks.

The next phase of input use in India will need to address these trade-offs – focusing not just on productivity but on sustainable intensification: getting more from the same land while preserving the natural resource base that makes farming possible in the first place. Precision agriculture tools, micro-irrigation systems, and biological inputs are all part of this evolving input landscape.

What do you think? With India’s cropping intensity already at 155% and groundwater depletion accelerating in key farming states, can the country continue to raise agricultural productivity through intensified input use – or has it reached a point where a fundamentally different approach to farming inputs is needed? And given that over 85% of Indian farmers operate on less than 2 hectares of land, what input delivery models do you think would be most effective in closing the productivity gap for smallholders?

References

1. https://desagri.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Final-file-of-LUS-2022-23-for-uploading.pdf
2. https://prsindia.org/policy/analytical-reports/state-agriculture-india
3. https://nsc.gov.in/who-we-are
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5. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-0763-0_2
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7. https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/farm-mechanization-1
8. https://blog.sathguru.com/agribusiness/farm-mechanisation-in-india-unveiling-the-drivers-and-outlook/
9. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cf14/78d64286416e1d02851aad93fea37a222f01.pdf
10. https://compass.rauias.com/current-affairs/mechanisation-agriculture/
11. https://nfsm.gov.in/ReadyReckoner/CU1/CroppingIntensity_Jan2021.pdf
12. https://www.indiaseeds.com/citizen-charters
13. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/how-agtech-is-poised-to-transform-india-into-a-farming-powerhouse