CONTRACT FARMING AND AGRICULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION: A TEMPORAL ANALYSIS

Punjab has long been one of India's most progressive and rapidly expanding states. During the early green revolution period (i.e., from the year 1966 of its formation until the mid-1980s), it saw faster growth and consistently rising per capita income than the Indian economy as a whole and other states in particular. After obtaining independence, India's need for food grain self-sufficiency led to the Green Revolution. During the Green Revolution, significant investments were made in crop research, automation, infrastructure, market expansion, and appropriate policy support. Punjab's agricultural output and productivity increased at astounding rates as a result of it. However, traditional farming faces several challenges such as uncertain markets, price fluctuations, low income for farmers and dependence on a few crops. In this context, contract farmoing and agricultural diversification have emerged as important strategies to strengthen the agricultural sector and improve farmers’ livelihoods. Therefore, the current study examines the structural changes in the proportions of various crops in the gross cultivated area and in the total yield of food and non-food crops. Further, it also analyzes the growth and development of contract farming in Punjab state throughout the post-reform era (1990-1991 to 2019-20). The study's conclusions indicated that rice and wheat were the two main crops planted during the study period, indicating the state's predominance of traditional farming patterns, which is cause for grave concern. The findings also showed that Punjab state's percentage of contract farming has been falling, indicating that the program hasn't had much of an impact on the state's agricultural situation. This could be because certain policy factors continue to support the wheat and rice cycles. To transform the state's agrarian economy, coordinated efforts must be done so that it doesn’t pose a threat to its sustainability.