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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...

  • Articles
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Crop insurance scheme 2.0: Implementation issues and weaknesses

Launched in 2016 and revamped earlier this year, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is Government of India’s flagship crop insurance scheme. However, it has been riddled with implementation challe...

  • Notes from the Field

Farm laws: First principles and the political economy of agricultural market regulation

Wrapping up the Symposium on farm laws, Mekhala Krishnamurthy and Shoumitro Chatterjee contend that regulatory reforms are an important but limited part of what must be both a more comprehensive and c...

  • Perspectives

Farm laws: Potential for positive outcomes

Siraj Hussain contends that while the farm laws may have medium- to long-term benefits for Indian agriculture, following parliamentary processes for their passage and efforts to build consensus would ...

  • Perspectives

Farm laws: Unlikely to bring transformative change

Sanjay Kaul discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the farm laws for all stakeholders – farmers, businesses, commission agents, and the government – and concludes that given the dynamics involved...

  • Perspectives

Farm laws: Design leaves much to be desired

Sukhpal Singh examines the potential implications of the farm laws in view of the existing mechanisms of agricultural marketing, and highlights certain design flaws.

  • Perspectives

Farm laws: Liberalisation of agricultural marketing is necessary

Providing his perspective on the farm laws, Bharat Ramaswami contends that the liberalisation of agricultural marketing is the necessary direction – a view endorsed in the past across the political ...

  • Perspectives

Introduction to e-Symposium: Understanding the new farm laws

Would the farm laws help increase farmers’ incomes? Could farmers benefit from an expanded access to markets? Would they be more willing to engage in contracts with urban firms because of the law on...

  • Symposium

How self-help groups enable households to cope with climatic shocks

Climate variability and extremes, combined with a lack of appropriate insurance devices, pose a risk to rain-fed agriculture and large populations in developing countries. This article examines how se...

  • Articles

Food and agriculture during a pandemic: Managing the consequences

A critical fallout of the lockdown following the novel coronavirus pandemic has been a combination of confusion, uncertainty, and anxiety for farmers and consumers alike as to what lies in store in th...

  • Perspectives

Identifying the binding constraints of agricultural growth in Bihar

Out of the seven-year period set for doubling of farmers’ income by the government, four full agricultural years have already gone. This article identifies the binding constraints on farmers’ inco...

  • Articles

Economic Survey 2019-20: How does it seek to address challenges of farm sector?

This year’s Economic Survey, the flagship document of the Ministry of Finance, was recently tabled in the Parliament at a time of economic slowdown and rural distress in India. In this post, Sudha N...

  • Perspectives

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

Recent Contributors

Jean

Jean Drèze

Ranchi University; Delhi School of Economics

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 ...

  • Articles

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