Vol. 2, Issue 8, Part J (2016)

Abstract
Mahatma Gandhi believed that, India lives in villages and agriculture is the soul of Indian economy. These words still ring true today. Because agriculture brings home the bread to nearly half of all households and supplies it to the remainder. Indian agriculture has come a long way since independence, with chronic food scarcity giving way to grain self-sufficiency, despite a two and half fold increase in population. This made Indian agriculture transform from Subsistence farming to modern farming. Modern agriculture depends on the four main factors, viz: water, fertilizer, seed and pesticides. Pesticides are the integral part of modern agriculture. The per capita consumption of pesticides in India is 0.5 Kg/ha which is lowest compared to other countries. The main reason for low per capita consumption of pesticides in India is low purchasing power and small land holdings. The majority of agricultural farm land belongs to marginal farmers, but maximum contribution to the produce is also from marginal farmers. As a result the large scale farming is growing and therefore, there is a good scope for increase in per capita consumption of pesticides in India. Against this background an attempt is made to analyse trends and growth rate of pesticide use in Indian agriculture.