This paper estimates instability for the aggregate of the crop sector as well as for the sub-sectors and important commodities at the national and state level. Besides instability analysis, the study has also prepared estimates of the value of crop output for 551 rural districts in the country by using data and information for the years 2003-04 and 2004-05. This has been used to prepare district-wise estimates of agricultural productivity per unit of land and per worker in agriculture. Alongwith the estimates of value of crop output per hectare area, the paper also provides information on fertilizer-use, irrigation, crop intensity, normal rainfall, and some demographic features of each of the district in the country. Efforts have also been made to analyse the factors that explain inter-district variations in crop productivity in the country. The paper has classified districts according to the levels of productivity in Indian agriculture and based on
some other typologies.