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Agriculture

The ‘cereal gap’: Looming issues in India’s foodgrain policy

  • Perspectives

The ‘cereal gap’: Looming issues in India’s foodgrain policy

Cereal production in India recently crossed 300 million tonnes for the first time. In this post, Drèze and Oldiges point out that a major gap has emerged between the net availability of cereals and h...

  • Perspectives

Watering the seeds of the rural economy: Evidence from groundwater irrigation in India

Over time, technological advancements accompanied with government energy subsidies have made groundwater the single largest source of irrigation in India. This study evaluates the impact of access to ...

  • Articles

Land misallocation and industrial development

Although a large share of land in India is used for cultivation, large tracts of this are unproductive and produce low crop yields. In this post, Dasgupta and Rao explain their calculations to determi...

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The long-run effects of agricultural productivity gains: Evidence from irrigation canals in India

Evidence from canals in India shows that labour mobility is a key channel to agricultural growth. This article shows that villages with access to canal water have persistently higher agricultural yiel...

  • Articles

The 10,000 FPOs scheme ignores women farmers

In this piece, Shilpa Vasavada puts forth her concern that if we don’t revisit the new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) guidelines with a gender lens, women in the agriculture sector will be left...

  • Perspectives

Digital agricultural extension: Stimulating or supplanting farmers’ interactions?

Governments and non-profit organisations are increasingly reliant on using digital technologies to deliver information. In the context of agricultural extension in Gujarat, this article looks at wheth...

  • Articles

Wheat export ban and heat stress: Balancing the trade-off between food security and farmers’ income

The recent imposition of a ban on wheat exports, in a bid to ensure food security, has meant that farmers will not realise the benefits from the recent increase in global wheat prices. In this post, K...

  • Perspectives

Addressing the economic trade-offs of interlinkages in contemporary agrarian markets

Agrarian markets often see interlinked market transactions – the arhatiya deals with the farmer in both the crop market as a commission agent, and in the credit market as a moneylender. In this post...

  • Perspectives

Easing contracting frictions with machines: Evidence from Karnataka

Productivity-enhancing technology adoption in agriculture, which makes workers available for other economic sectors, has long been considered essential for economic development. Based on a field exper...

  • Articles

Higher poultry prices and policy (or data) gap

Food and agricultural prices have been rising over the past two years – particularly so for pulses and livestock. In this post, Saini and Das track livestock and feed prices, and identify the key dr...

  • Perspectives

Gendering technological change: Evidence from agricultural mechanisation

Rising mechanisation in Indian agriculture has been accompanied by reduction in farm employment in rural areas, particularly for women. This article shows that the observed 32 percentage point increas...

  • Articles

Impact of agricultural reforms in Bihar: Test case for new farm laws

The 2020 farm laws have been opposed by several farmers due to their possible use for corporate takeover of agriculture, removal of APMC mandis, and dilution of minimum support price and public procur...

  • Articles

Addressing the nutrition crisis: Reflections from Odisha Millets Mission

The state of Odisha has a severe malnutrition problem, and evidence shows that increasing risks of climate change will render the resource-intensive, rice-wheat cropping system unsustainable. In this ...

  • Notes from the Field

Webinar video: Putting farmers first

In December 2020, the India Programme of the International Growth Centre (IGC) and Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) organised a webinar on ‘Putting Farmers First’. The panel comprised S...

  • Videos

Drought relief by state governments: Evidence from South India

In developing countries, extreme climate events can have disastrous consequences for vulnerable populations. This article analyses state government’s responses to droughts in South India during 2008...

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Recent Contributors

Jean

Jean Drèze

Ranchi University; Delhi School of Economics

Christian

Christian Oldiges

UN ESCWA

Anjali V. Raj, Seema Purushothaman,

Anjali V. Raj, Seema Purushothaman, Vidya Puttur Sadashiva

Azim Premji University

Camille

Camille Boudot-Reddy

Birkbeck, University of London

André

André Butler

University of Cambridge

Manaswini

Manaswini Rao

University of Delaware

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Sadoulet

University of California, Berkeley

Alain

Alain de Janvry

University of California, Berkeley

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Most Popular Agriculture Posts

Climate change and Indian agriculture

Indian agriculture remains vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, and the looming threat of climate change may expose this vulnerability further. This article presents findings from a study that uses ...

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India's farm crisis: Decades old and with deep roots

In this Perspectives piece, Prof. Himanshu argues that the crisis in Indian agriculture today is not a new one; it goes back many years. Therefore, the problems of farmers cannot be addressed by the b...

  • Perspectives

How new technologies can raise farm productivity

Lele and Goswami discuss the potential of new technologies in raising farm productivity, and the challenges involved in turning the power of information and other technologies into a farmer-friendly t...

  • Articles