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Interviews | Sudha Narayanan, agricultural economist at International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, interviewed by Shoaib Daniyal (Scroll.in)
Sudha Narayanan, agricultural economist at International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, interviewed by Shoaib Daniyal (Scroll.in)

Sudha Narayanan, agricultural economist at International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, interviewed by Shoaib Daniyal (Scroll.in)

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published Published on Dec 1, 2021   modified Modified on Dec 4, 2021

-Scroll.in

We must remember that there is no one such thing as ‘Indian agriculture’ whenever we discuss reforms. Multiple models need to be discussed.

On Monday, Parliament cleared a bill to repeal the three farm laws that had gripped Indian politics for much of the past year. Passed in September 2020, the laws were meant to allow much greater play of corporate capital in Indian agriculture. However, the laws also sparked fears that this would mean a concomitant retreat of the state – most prominently the buying of produce by the government under a minimum support price.

These fears led to farmers – mostly from the Green Revolution heartland of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh – to converge on Delhi, setting up a remarkable year-long permanent protest, and forcing the Modi government to retreat.

Scroll.in spoke to Sudha Naryanan, an agricultural economist at the International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, to understand what drives the demand for reforms, why the government failed to pass the farm laws and why India needs to focus the farmer every time it talks about changing Indian agriculture.

* Almost everyone agrees that Indian agriculture is in need of drastic reform. Why? What is so wrong with Indian agriculture?

To start with, it would be useful to understand what we mean by reform. It is common to think of reform as a discrete event. Often, it is very narrowly defined as something that limits or does away with the state in a particular sector.

It might, however, be useful to think of reform as a process – something that we need to do constantly to respond to new challenges and circumstances that emerge and to revisit old policies that might have lost their relevance. From that perspective, we can begin by outlining some of the key challenges that face Indian agriculture today.

First off, we have the ominous shadow of environmental challenges – climate change, poor soils and depleting groundwater. Some of these are the consequences of the agricultural policies from another era. Others are in part due to global phenomena. A second challenge is around social concerns – how can agriculture continue to support a large population and workforce. Third, increasingly it has become important to see how agriculture can better address nutritional security and food safety.

The problems with agriculture today stem from these challenges – how well prepared are we to increase yields sustainability in ways that nourish the population, while ensuring that those that grow food also have remunerative livelihoods. Getting all three right is a trilemma.

We must remember that there is no such thing as “Indian agriculture”, given the huge diversity of contexts and agro-climatic conditions. We have different segments and regions performing differently in each of these three domains. We have not managed to work our way through a set of policies that will help us get these right. Different interest groups also differ in their vision of what should be done and governments have their own priorities and compulsions.

Rather than declare that things are wrong with Indian agriculture, I would prefer to think of it as an ongoing effort to get things right. I don’t share this blanket view of bleakness, because even alongside deep agrarian distress in some pockets we see some encouraging examples of sustainable and prosperous agriculture.

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Image Courtesy: ACJ/ Scroll.in


Scroll.in, 1 December, 2021, https://scroll.in/article/1011828/interview-agri-economist-sudha-narayanan-on-why-states-are-key-to-agricultural-reform-in-india


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