Assam Agriculture

Assam is an agrarian state with almost 70 percent of the total population relying directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood. A majority of the population, almost 90 percent live in rural areas where their mainstay of business is farming.

The farmer population is a combination of peasants and tenants who farm on the bulk of the cultivable land. The average size of operational holding is 1.17 ha. The net cultivable land in Assam is 24.90 lakh hectors.

Paddy is the main food crop grown in the state. Assam is self sufficient in rice production but is deficient in pulses and oil seeds. The other agricultural products include jute, tea, cotton, oilseeds, sugarcane, potato, orange, pineapple, litchi, banana etc. The spice crops viz. black pepper, ginger, garlic, turmeric, onion, chilies etc. are grown extensively in the state. Among vegetables tomato, chilli, peas, beans, cucurbits, brinjal are grown in large amounts.

The state has six agro climatic zones which are divided based on soil, rainfall and crop characteristics. These climatic zones are Upper Brahmaputra Valley, Central Brahmaputra Valley, Lower Brahmaputra Valley, Hill Zones, Barak Valley and North Bank Zones.

To know about state agricultural policy of Assam, click here