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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 ...

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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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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...

  • Articles

Budget 2021-22: Agriculture, procurement, and food security

Discussing agriculture, procurement, and food security in the context of the 2021-22 Budget, Hussain and Mohapatra contend that reforms affecting millions of farmers can only be achieved by preparing ...

  • Perspectives

An agenda for agricultural reforms

As the farmers’ protests continue, Barun Mitra outlines some of the key issues that could help understand the current political deadlock over the three new farm laws, and suggests possible ways to r...

  • Perspectives

Farm laws: Roadmap for agricultural marketing privatisation

Focussing on the essence of the farm laws, which purportedly seek to promote free market competition in agricultural marketing, Dilip Mookherjee emphasises the need for reform of APMC (Agricultural P...

  • Perspectives

DRAMA at the farm gate

Describing the new ‘APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) Bypass Act’ as a ‘Dual Regulation of Agricultural Marketing Act’ or DRAMA, Jean Drèze argues that the legislation's odd framew...

  • Perspectives

National Farmers’ Day

23 December is observed as National Farmers’ Day, to celebrate the contribution and importance of farmers to the Indian economy. This page presents selected I4I content – posted over time – on i...

  • Perspectives

Webinar video: Navigating Covid-19 impact on agriculture supply chains

In October 2020, the India Programme of the International Growth Centre (IGC) and Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) organised a webinar on ‘Navigating the Impact of Covid-19 on the Agricul...

  • Videos

Agricultural worker exits and crop fires

While the process of moving workers from low- to high-productivity sectors is considered critical for economic development, its environmental impact remains largely unexplored. This article shows that...

  • Articles

Farm laws: Reform needed but not at expense of small farmers

Commenting on the controversial farm laws, Kaushik Basu and Nirvikar Singh contend that the government should withdraw these laws, return to the drafting table, engage with farmers and states, and inc...

  • Perspectives

Farm laws: Resolving the deadlock

In a recent Indian Express article, Bharat Ramaswami has proposed some rather provocative suggestions on how the present crisis triggered by the farmers’ protests can be resolved. In this post, Rama...

  • Perspectives

Information technology adoption and productivity: Role of mobile phones in Indian agriculture

During mid to late 2000s, India expanded mobile phone coverage across rural areas and introduced free-of-charge call centre services for farmers seeking agricultural advice. This article shows that th...

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Need for 10-year, state-wise procurement plan for rice and wheat

Against the backdrop of the ongoing debate around India’s new farm legislations, Hussain and Mohapatra make a case for having a 10-year plan indicating the targetted procurement of rice and wheat fr...

  • 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 ...

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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