From food shortages to record harvests: How India learnt to feed itself | Economy & Policy News

India, a country born in 1947 after centuries of struggle for freedom from colonial rule, faced numerous challenges as it sought to establish itself as an independent nation. The upheaval of partition, internal divisions, and a population that had witnessed a devastating famine (1943) in the recent past added to the challenges. Feeding a population of nearly 330 million people while dealing with these pressures was far from easy.

A country short of food

At the beginning of the 1950s, India had a much smaller population but limited food production. The 1951 population was about 361 million, while foodgrain production in 1950-51 stood at 50.82 MT.

The Economic Survey’s historical data show that foodgrain production grew by 3.22 per cent annually in the 1950s, largely because the area under foodgrains expanded. Growth slowed to 1.72 per cent in the 1960s, a period that required large-scale imports.

The Survey records the position directly: “Sixties recorded a low annual growth of 1.72 per cent, necessitating large-scale imports of foodgrains.”

The data show a shift from positive net imports in the early years to negative net imports in recent years, alongside a much larger domestic procurement and distribution system.

The Green Revolution changes the trajectory

The historical growth rates data also show how wheat responded faster than other crops during the Green Revolution period. Between 1970-71 and 1979-80, wheat production grew at an annual rate of 4.69 per cent, compared with 1.91 per cent for rice, 0.74 per cent for coarse cereals and a decline of 0.54 per cent for pulses.

The current Economic Survey continues to link productivity to inputs and technology. It said limited availability of quality seeds remains one of the constraints on crop productivity. The government has also announced a National Mission on High-Yielding Seeds to promote climate-resilient, high-yielding varieties.

Irrigation and fertiliser use became part of this production system, while procurement and MSP provided a price-support mechanism. The current procurement system operates through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and designated state agencies.

The real breakthrough was yield

Using the production and area data, yield rose from roughly 522 kg per hectare in 1950-51 to about 1,552 kg per hectare in 1997-98.

The latest data put India’s average foodgrain yield at 2,646 kg per hectare in 2025-26, against 2,343 kg per hectare in 2019-20.

The Economic Survey describes the importance of this shift in simple terms: “Agricultural productivity is the most vital differentiator in a country with limited capacity to enhance its agricultural land.”

India’s crop basket changed

India’s foodgrain growth was not evenly distributed.

Wheat recorded the biggest increase, rising nearly 19 times from 1950-51 to the 2025-26 estimate. Rice production increased about 7.5 times. Pulses increased by about 3.3 times.

This changed the composition of foodgrain output. Wheat accounted for about 13 per cent of foodgrain production in 1950-51. Its share is about 32 per cent in the latest estimate. The share of pulses, meanwhile, has fallen from about 17 per cent to 7 per cent.

The Economic Survey says pulse yields remain low across states because of technological, structural and climatic constraints. It also records the impact of climate conditions on pulse production.

The shift towards cereals also matters for the next stage of food security. Producing more grain addresses food availability, but the composition of that food supply also matters for nutrition.

From imports to procurement and buffer stocks

The food-security system changed alongside production.

The government now procures wheat, rice and coarse cereals, stores the grain and distributes it through the Public Distribution System. The Economic Survey says the government procures foodgrains from mandis, manages their movement and storage, and distributes them through Fair Price Shops.

The scale of government procurement has increased sharply. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data show procurement of foodgrains at 107.2 MT in 2021-22, 77.2 MT in 2022-23 and 79.4 MT in 2023-24. Food stocks stood at 60.7 MT on March 31, 2024.

The NFSA now covers 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population, amounting to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries based on the 2011 Census.

The PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana has extended free foodgrain distribution to NFSA beneficiaries. The scheme was extended for five years from 2024.

Did food availability rise as fast as production?

Production and availability are not the same measure. Availability also takes account of imports, exports, and changes in stocks.

The latest comparable per-capita foodgrain availability series available in the supplied government data runs to 2022-23. It shows that per-capita annual foodgrain availability increased from 144.1 kg in 1951 to 207.6 kg in 2022-23. 

The increase in per-capita availability was therefore much smaller than the increase in total production. Population increased almost four-fold over the period, while annual per-capita foodgrain availability rose by about 44 per cent.

This is why production figures alone do not capture the entire food-security story.

A handful of states became India’s breadbasket

Foodgrain production is also concentrated across states.

The concentration also comes with differences in productivity. The Economic Survey says several major rice-producing states, including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, had yields below the national average. It attributes the gaps to factors including unseasonal rain, heat stress, and dry spells during critical crop stages.

The next challenge: water, climate and productivity

India’s food-security challenge has changed.

The Economic Survey 2025-26 showcased that climate change is affecting crop yields through erratic weather, rising temperatures and other extreme events. It also described water scarcity as a critical challenge in regions that depend heavily on monsoon rainfall.

The survey also identified small landholdings, climate risks, productivity gaps and weak market integration as continuing structural constraints.

India has come a long way since it was freed from the shackles of colonial rule. While certain challenges persist, the journey from being a country unable to feed itself to one producing food surpluses shows that India can overcome many of the challenges that stand in its way of becoming a developed nation.