Role of agriculture sector in the economic development of Himachal Pradesh

Agriculture sector in India is of such relevance that it is contributing employment to more than 50 percent of the work force and 17 to 18 percent of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product. It is pertinent to understand that the land available for cultivation is abundant and in a country like India where large majority of the population belongs to middle and low economic class and youth is in search of job avenues, if youth is skillfully involved to initiate and go for adopting innovative agricultural activities, employability can be enhanced. At present, land available for cultivation out of the total land holdings in Himachal Pradesh is 75.3 percent of the total area and 85.9 percent of total area in India. Further, Net Area sown is 11.9 percent of the total cultivable area in the State as compared to 45.8 percent that of the Country. Agriculture sector is contributing nearly 16 percent to the Gross State Domestic Product of Himachal Pradesh. Based upon the criteria of land holding, households, cultivable cropping area, net sown area and irrigation, the research paper endows to examine the role of agriculture sector in the economic development of Himachal Pradesh.