Agriculture is counted as the chief economic occupation of the Chattisgarh. According to a government estimate, net sown area of the state is 4.828 million hectares and the gross sown area is 5.788 million hectare.
Horticulture and animal husbandry also engage a major share of the total population of the state. About 80% of the population of the state is rural and the main livelihood of the villagers is agriculture and agriculture-based small industry.
Agro-climatic zones of Chhattisgarh:
Chhattisgarh state is divided into three Agroclimatic zones viz Chhattisgarh Plains, BastarPlateau and Northern Hills zone covering 51.0%, 28.0% and 21.0% of the geographical area, respectively. The location of the state is such that it is close to the Bay of Bengal, which is instrumental in bringing monsoon in the Northern part of the country. The cropping intensity of the state is about 135 percent.
Bastar Plateau:
| Bastar | Bijapur | Dantewada |
| Narayanpur | Sukma | Kondagaon |
Chhattisgarh Plains:
| Raipur | Raigarh | Korba | Bilaspur | Janjgir- Champa | |
| Kanker | Rajnandgaon | Durg | Mahasamund | Dhamtari | Kabirdham (Kawardha) |
| Baloda Bazar | Gariyaband | Balod | Bemetara | Mungeli | – |
Northern Hills:
| Balrampur | Jashpur | Korea | Surajpur | Surguja |
Source: Indira Gandhi KrishiVidhyala
Agricultural products:
The main crops are rice, maize and other small millets and pulses (tuar and kulthi); oilseeds, such as groundnuts (peanuts), soybean and sunflowers, are also grown. In the mid-1990s, most of Chhattisgarh was still a monocrop belt. Only one-fourth to one-fifth of the sown area was double-cropped. When a very substantial portion of the population is dependent on agriculture, a situation where nearly 80% of a state’s area is covered only by one crop, immediate attention to turn them into double crop areas is needed.
Also, very few cash crops are grown in Chhattisgarh, so there is a need to diversify the agriculture produce towards oilseeds and other cash crops. Chhattisgarh is also called the “rice bowl of central India”
Agricultural development in the state
The majority of the farmers are still practicing the traditional methods of cultivation, resulting in low growth rates and productivity. The farmers have to be made aware of modern technologies suitable to their holdings. Providing adequate knowledge to the farmers is essential for better implementation of the agricultural development plans and to improve the productivity.
Considering this and a very limited irrigated area, the productivity of not only rice but also other crops is low, hence the farmers are unable to obtain economic benefits from agriculture and it has remained as subsistence agriculture till now.
Positive results of efforts over the years for the economic regeneration of the state of agricultural development and farmers by the state government said. Chhattisgarh state government to increase the production of rice farmers by farmers of the aid went and state due to the advanced agricultural technology by adopting the highest paddy production by the Government of India for the year 2010-11, 2012-13 and 2013-14 and prestigious “the fourth state of pulses output in 2014-15 was awarded the Krishi Karman award”. State farmers for this achievement deserve congratulations.
Agriculture Today magazine awarded the “Agriculture Leadership Award” for the state by the year 2015. An increase of 39 percent, 24 percent, 35 percent of the total grain, 13 percent of the total pulses, 13 percent, 33 percent and total oilseeds in total food wheat in rice in the past 12 years.