-TheWire.in A large chunk of India’s farmers continue to depend on commission agents and not formal institutions for credit, thereby relying on cash. It is now official. Demonetisation has led to an implosion of agricultural trade in the country. In the week following demonetisation, soyabean arrivals in select major states had collapsed by 87% relative to average arrivals over the week preceding demonetisation. The figures were 55% for paddy, 61% for guar,...

-The Economic Times "Demonetisation in a booming economy is like shooting at the tyres of a racing car," says development economist Jean Drèze . A leading advocate of welfare policies, Drèze who was a member of the National Advisory Council during the UPA regime, tells ET that the sudden move to demonetize high-value currency notes has created a scary situation for people who live on the margin of subsistence, and that...

-Scroll.in The liquidity crisis has affected both the trade in food and the planting of the winter crop. As demonetisation enters its second week, traders in Patna’s Maroofganj mandi are seeing something unprecedented. In the last seven days, the supply of new stocks in this wholesale market, which supplies cooking oil, spices, rice, wheat and pulses to shopkeepers across Patna, has plummeted. The supply of cooking oil, for instance, is down by 80%. Talk...

-The Indian Express These enterprises — whom she broadly categorises as ‘rural commercial capital’ — enjoy privileged access to formal credit networks. In her insightful study of the working of agricultural markets in West Bengal, British development studies scholar Barbara Harris-White has documented in detail how trade in farm produce is controlled through a web of rural and semi-urban agro commercial enterprises. These enterprises — whom she broadly categorises as ‘rural commercial capital’...

-The Indian Express Farmers are facing the heat from both collapse of demand and inability to purchase inputs post-demonetisation. Junnar (Maharashtra): The last one week and more has brought nothing but bad news for Vasant Pimpale. This farmer from Pargaon Tarfe Ale, a village in Pune district’s Junnar taluka, has already lost 11 tonnes of green chilli grown on eight out of his 15-acres holding. The loss hasn’t been courtesy drought, flood...