Estimating the Impact of Crop Diversification on Economic Growth in India: A Quantitative Assessment

Though agriculture is the mainstay in India, it accounts only 14 percent sectoral share in GDP. This is mainly because of low productivity and income generation capacity of agriculture. In this regard, crop diversification can act as a mechanism to eliminate this dilemma. It not only will increase the agricultural productivity but also will accelerate the income generation capacity. In this study we have investigated the impact of crop diversification on economic growth in India since 1988. The study is completely based on secondary data. In order to investigate the impact of crop diversification on economic growth, we have estimated Granger causality test based on vector error correction model setting. The results reveal that in India, there is no causality running from crop diversification to economic growth in the short-run. However, in the long-run crop diversification causes economic growth in India and the nature of cause is positive. Finally, the study concludes that suitable policies should be adopted to encourage the farmer to adopt the crop diversification mechanism. This will ultimately accelerate economic growth of the nation through increased income and employment in agriculture and reduction in poverty of the nation.