Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, continuous reforms and farmer-centric initiatives have led to steady growth in the agriculture sector, and the country has achieved record production of paddy, wheat, maize, groundnut, and soybean. As per the third Advance Estimates for the production of major crops for the agricultural year 2024-25, total food grain production is estimated at 353.96 million tonnes (mt), India’s highest production so far; it is also 40% more than it was in 2014-15.

Indian agriculture has gone from stagnation and food insecurity before the 1960s to large surpluses today, disproving the Malthusian belief that population growth would outstrip food production. In 1967, William and Paul Paddock predicted a famine in India, claiming it couldn’t feed its growing population and controversially argued against food aid, fearing it would worsen future starvation.

The Green Revolution, driven by high-yielding rice and wheat varieties, agrochemicals, and irrigation, proved the Paddocks wrong by boosting India’s foodgrain production from 74 mt in 1966-67 to 130 mt by 1979-80. Annual gains peaked at 8.1 mt (2014–2025). Horticulture also surged from 40 mt in the 1960s to 334 mt in 2024-25, with recent annual increases of 7.5 mt. Crop production has also become more stable due to advances made in developing stress-tolerant varieties and the adoption of resilient farming practices.

India’s dairy, poultry, and fisheries sectors........

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