In Jharkhand’s rural economy, agriculture is one of the significant sectors, which leads to food security,income, price stability and livelihood for the majority. As per the statistics more than 76 per cent of the people live in rural areas and 66.85 per cent of the total labour force is dependent on agriculture. This shows the importance of agriculture in Jharkhand. The problem lies in the contribution of agriculture sector to the GSDP which is meager 12.75%. Hence, Jharkhand can’t neglect the most important sector in terms of employment generator.
Jharkhand is classified into three agro-climatic zones which are represented below:
| Agro-Climatic
ZoneAgro climatic Zone |
Characteristics |
| Cnetracentral and western plateau zone | Erratic and uneven distribution of rainfall, coarse texture soils, crust formation on the soil surface, low water retention capacity of the soils, lack of safe runoff disposal and drying of the tanks |
| CenCentral and North eastern plateau zone | Erratic and uneven distribution of rainfall and low water retention capacity of the soil |
| SoSouthern eastern plateau zone | Uneven distribution of rainfall, low water holding capacity, eroded soils,shallow soil depth, poor soil fertility |