Agriculture
Punjab is the leading State in agricultural production in India. The output of food grains during 1996-97 was about 21.06 million tonnes. The State produced about 20% of India’s wheat, 9% of the country’s rice and 15% of the national output of cotton. This was achieved despite the fact that the State has only 1.6% of India’s geographical area.
Punjab has heralded the "Green Revolution" in agricultural production in South Asia. The foodgrain production increased from 7 million tonnes in 1970 to over 21 million tonnes last year. This is one of the highest rate of growth achieved anywhere in the world.

The table below gives the area under major crops in the State.

Area Under Major Crops(000 hectares)

The Output of major crops in the State is given below.

Output of Major Crops(000 tonnes)

With its excellent irrigation facilities, farmers in Punjab have achieved very high yields per hectare for major crops, which are given in the table below.

Yield Per Hectare of Major Crops (Kg. per hectare)

Correspondingly, the agricultural sector in Punjab also has one of the highest consumption rates of chemical fertilizers, which has gone up from 113 kg per hectare in 1980 to 163 kg per hectare in 1996-97.


Animal Husbandry
Dairy is one of the important activities related to the agricultural sector of the State. The per-capita daily availability of milk has increased from 440 gm. in 1980-81 to 825 gm. in 1996-97. This high rate of growth will be continued and have been increased further in the future under the State’s plan to introduce new technologies, livestock and animal management practices in collaboration with the Israeli Dairy Development Board. There are 35 milk processing plants in the State started by a network of dairy centers which ensure delivery of high quality of milk and milk products to consumers.