Farm Revolution 2.0

How to make the spate of farm reforms by the Modi government work

- Raj Chengappa

INDIA’S FARM SECTOR IS a plateful of paradoxes. Chew on this, to begin with: We are the world’s largest producer of milk, oilseeds, pulses, cotton, mangoes, papayas, and bananas. There’s more: Globally, India is the second-largest producer of rice, sugar, tea, vegetables, and fish. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) currently has enough buffer stock of wheat and rice in its godowns to feed every Indian family dependent on the Public Distribution System for rationed grains for the next two years.

Impressed? Then try digesting these contradictions. Agriculture accounts for a mere 17 per cent of the GDP but employs 56 per cent of the country’s workforce. Fragmentation of land holdings has worsened over the decades, with 87 per cent of farmers now owning only up to two hectares of arable land on an average. Farm income for individual cultivators in terms of real prices has stagnated in the past decade. Now, 52.5 per cent of Indian farming households are steeped in debt. The average outstanding debt per agricultural household is estimated to be Rs 1.04 lakh, according to a 2016 NABARD report on rural financial inclusion, 36 per cent more than their urban counterparts. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 28 persons engaged in the farm sector committed suicide every day in 2019, with the annual toll being 10,281.