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Journalism of Courage
— Ritwika Patgiri
The primary sector in India provides employment to 44 per cent of the labour force while contributing less than 20 per cent to the country’s GDP. The primary sector is defined as the economic sector that produces goods by exploiting natural resources like land, water, forests, mines, etc. Agriculture is one of the most important primary sectors.
However, while agriculture’s share in employment has fallen slowly, its share in GDP has declined relatively faster. It underlines the slow nature of structural transformation of the Indian economy. As a result, agriculture is no longer the primary driving force of the economy. What remains hidden, though, is the role of the non-agricultural primary sector in most discussions on the Indian economy.
As per the official categorisation of economic sectors, the non-farm or non-agricultural primary sectors and activities include mining and quarrying, fisheries, forestry, and animal husbandry. The importance of each of these sectors becomes clearer when examined individually.
For example, the fisheries sector provides employment to around 28 million people, many of them from marginalised and vulnerable communities. Similarly, around 20.5 million people are employed in livestock-related activities. The livestock sector’s contribution to agriculture and allied sector Gross Value Added (GVA) has increased from 24.38 per cent in 2014-15 to 30.23 per cent in 2022-23, and it accounts for around 5.50 per cent of total GVA as of 2022-23.
Non-farm primary activities are an important source of income for agricultural as well as landless households. At the same time, the sector contributes to food security by providing a source of affordable and nutritious food.
For instance, the livestock sector is considered to be more egalitarian than crop cultivation as many landless rural households can engage in animal rearing. Thus, non-farm primary activities serve as a diversification strategy and are seen to be playing a key role in poverty-reducing growth.
Evidence suggests that rural households in India are increasingly becoming pluri-active and are engaged in a range of economic activities – crop production, animal husbandry, non-farm self-employment, casual farm as well as non-farm labour, and migration.
The NABARD All-India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2021-22 highlighted that for farm households, crop cultivation is the main source of income and contributes one-third of their monthly earnings. However, these households also engage in government or private services, wage labour (both farm and non-farm), and other enterprises. Animal husbandry or livestock rearing alone accounts for 12 per cent of their income.
This diversification of income sources is driven by multiple factors, such as reducing risks, coping with shocks, and addressing seasonal factors. For example, studies have found that rural households sell their cattle or other livestock during the non-agricultural season, or use livestock earnings to finance migration to urban areas during the off-season. Thus, non-farm and allied activities act as a form of insurance for farmers during the non-agricultural season or against vagaries of nature like drought and other natural calamities.
Historically, farmers integrate agriculture with some of these non-farm primary activities in mutually reinforcing ways. With the adoption of Green Revolution technology and farm mechanisation, the use of animal labour in farming has declined.
However, there are studies showing an increasing productivity in the livestock sector, especially in states that benefited most from the Green Revolution. At the same time, states that benefited from both the Green Revolution and the White Revolution, there was a noted rise in high milk-yielding cattle.
In addition to technology, physiographical conditions also shape non-farm primary activities. For instance, fisheries thrive in regions with long coastlines and large rivers, while mineral rich areas act as hubs for mining activities.
But in the mineral-rich regions like Chhotanagpur, mining activities often result in the grabbing of indigenous land along with the displacement of the tribal population. Expansion of mining activities has contributed to land degradation, pollution, and agrarian distress. Thus, while primary non-farm activities are crucial for development, they are also deeply embedded in India’s ecological and socio-economic contradictions.
It is also important to understand who carries the labour for such non-farm primary activities. For instance, much of the work in livestock is carried out by women, and hence, the growth in the livestock sector is seen as empowering for women. However, official statistics often undercount women’s contributions. At the same time, there are many women who often dismiss such work as “nothing”, resulting in the underreporting of their contribution to the livestock economy.
Notably, non-farm primary activities also have distinct caste-based dimensions, according to some studies. For instance, landless households, in contrast to dominant-caste households, are more likely to treat animal husbandry as an income-generating source. In fisheries, there is a significant presence of marginalised communities, which exposes them to distinct forms of vulnerabilities and economic shocks. For instance, the Kaibartas of Assam – the fishing community without access to cultivable land – had to diversify in other non-farm jobs due to declining income from fishing.
India is the largest producer of milk in the world, the second largest producer of eggs, and the fifth largest producer of meat. The primary non-farm sector is, thus, crucial to the economy and to health and nutrition. Sectors like livestock, fisheries, and forestry sustain millions of landless and marginal farmers, providing them with cash income, insurance against agricultural shocks, and a foothold in wider markets.
Recent policies have been targeting these primary non-farm activities. The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) is one such example. The PMMSY intends to improve fish production and the productivity of the fisheries sector through technical and financial support. Similarly, there are insurance schemes for animal rearing. Training on vaccination of animals and other awareness generation have also been introduced at the district level for farmers.
However, there are some instances when such policy intervention didn’t yield the desired result. For instance, the Samanwita Project introduced in Orissa (now Odisha) in the 1980s aimed to create a range of cross-bred cattle to increase milk production. However, the project produced only eight cross-bred cows while decimating the local bull population. Likewise, the proposed Kylleng-Pyndengsohiong (KPM) Uranium Mining Project in Meghalaya has found significant resistance from the local community due to serious environmental as well as health concerns.
These experiences highlight that while policy interventions in the non-farm primary sector have the potential to improve productivity and resilience, they also carry risks if they ignore local ecologies, community practices, and social contexts. Therefore, integrating local knowledge, respecting ecological limits, and recognising the role of the real “workers” in these sectors are essential to active desired outcomes.
What are non-farm primary activities? How are these activities related to physiographic features in India? Discuss with suitable examples.
Discuss the role of non-farm primary activities in diversifying rural household income and reducing poverty.
How have the Green Revolution and White Revolution shaped the trajectory of livestock development in India?
Evaluate the ecological and social contradictions associated with mining as a non-farm primary activity.
Evaluate the role of government interventions such as the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in strengthening non-farm primary activities.
(Ritwika Patgiri is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Economics, South Asian University.)
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