| | Semi-arid Gujarat has clocked high and steady growth at
9.6% per year in agricultural state domestic product
since 1999-2000. What has driven this growth? The
Gujarat government has aggressively pursued an
innovative agriculture development programme by
liberalising markets, inviting private capital, reinventing
agricultural extension, improving roads and other
infrastructure. Canal-irrigated South and Central Gujarat
should have led Gujarat’s agricultural rally. Instead it is
dry Saurashtra and Kachchh, and North Gujarat that
have been at the forefront. These could not have
performed so well but for the improved availability of
groundwater for irrigation. Arguably, mass-based water
harvesting and farm power reforms have helped
energise Gujarat’s agriculture.
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