Prior to independence, agricultural production in India was virtually stagnant for several decades. Soon after independence, the main policy thrust prior to the mid-1960s was agrarian reforms as well as modernizing agriculture through large-scale investment in irrigation and power, and creation of other infrastructure, such as credit institutions, regulated market, roads, and extension and research institutions. As a result, India could succeed in breaking the prolonged structural stagnation. The better performance of agriculture witnessed during the early phase of planning could not be sustained. Moreover, India could not cope with demand for food grains with rising population and dependency on monsoons.
During the mid-1960s, India experienced drought in successive years, in addition to two wars, which led to a food crisis. This crisis prompted the Government of India to give an overriding priority to achieve self-sufficiency in foodgrain production by launching the Green Revolution. Public investment in irrigation and agricultural research was stepped up. Over the Green Revolution period, i.e. from the mid-1960s to the close of the 1980s, India achieved near self-sufficiency in foodgrains production and experienced an improvement in food security. The 1980s were considered to be the best years of Indian agriculture, when labour productivity and total factor productivity were at their peak.