An economy can be broadly divided into three sectors namely: the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Agriculture is the most important constituent of the primary sector including forestry, animal husbandry, mining and fishing. The secondary sector contains all types of industries and tertiary sectors represents the services sector includes banking, insurance, trade, and other service. The Primary sector is the backbone of the economy and economic development of the most of the nations of the world. If we look at the history of the economic development of the most of the present developed nations or those, which have embarked on the development path, it is the development of the agriculture that has laid the foundation of the development of the other sectors of their economies. 

Punjab – India’s bread-basket:
Punjab is a little big state of India: little because the state occupies only 1.5 per cent of the geographical area of the country and big because around two-third of the food grains procured annually in the country come from this state. Further over 95 per cent of the food grains that are moved interstate to feed deficit areas through the public distribution system are the stocks procured from this state.


At the dawn of Independence:
At the time of partition of the country in 1947, Indian Punjab (which then included present areas of States of Punjab, Haryana  parts of Himachal and Chandigarh Union Territory) was a food grain deficit area. In 1951, production of food-grains was about 1.99 million tonne only, of which wheat was 1.10 million tonne and rice 0.11 million tonne, Total Real Gross Domestic Product of the state at 1970-71 prices was Rs. 655 crores only, 54.4 per cent of which originated from the agriculture sector. Although at that time also the cropping pattern was dominated by foodgrain crops, occupying 68 percent of the cropped area, yet 38 percent of the area was cropped with pulses and coarse grains, mainly on un-irrigated lands. With net area of 3544 thousands hectare and gross cropped area of 4170 thousand hectare, intensity of cropping was 118 per cent only. Fertilizers and pesticides were not used by the farmers, Tubewells were conspicuous by their absence and tractors were not much in known in the state. Only 52.3 per cent of the area was irrigated and land holdings were quite fragmented.

After independence: i.e "The 50s":
The state started moving on a growth path with mandatory consolidation of land holdings, which was considered a prerequisite for utilisation of canal irrigation water that became available through the Bhakra Nangal Canal System. Simultaneously, availability of electric supply through Bhakra Hydel Project encouraged the installation of tubewells on consolidated holdings that provided assured irrigation supplementing the canal water supply. Yet even in 1960-61, the agricultural GDP of the state (54.01 per cent of the total state GDP) at constant prices was Rs. 473.7 crore only. Production of foodgrain improved to 3.16 million tonnes of which wheat was 1.74 million tonnes and rice 0.25 million tonnes. Balance 1.84 million tonnes were coarse grain and pulses. Irrigated area increased to 54 per cent of the net sown area and intensity of cropping improved to 121 per cent.