-The Hindu Agricultural policy should look to address the problem of severe price fluctuations There appears to be no end in sight to the cycle of boom and bust in the prices of agricultural goods. Over the last few weeks, across India the price of potatoes has fallen sharply after a year of bumper production. With the price of a kilogram of potato dropping as low as under a rupee in certain...

-Hindustan Times Unless consumer preferences shift to climate resistant crops, goals associated with the policy won’t materialise After a gap of three years, the Karnataka government has reintroduced ragi/finger millet in its public distribution system (PDS). To feed the PDS system, the government has announced a procurement price much higher than the market price and introduced bonuses. With interventions on the sides of both production as well as consumption, the objectives are...

-Down to Earth Government reports say 2004-14 had the highest agriculture growth that has fast slipped back to near-zero growth despite normal monsoons and bumper yields The National Democratic Alliance government is scrambling to rescue the agriculture sector from a crisis never seen before. On January 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met over 100 economists in a first ever such interaction. Agriculture, rural economy and unemployment dominated the discussions. Modi’s promise of...

-Hindustan Times Access to formal credit can be a major game-changer in determining farm-incomes. It is to be expected that richer farmers would find it easier to avail of formal credit lines. What ails Indian farmers? The answer to this question is often mired in ideological quarrels. Some blame a lack of reforms in agricultural markets, while others accuse the state of not doing enough to support farming. Systemic issues are...

-The Economic Times Politicians in India firmly believe that the woes of farmers can be solved with freebies: free electricity, free water, farm loan waivers, fertilisers and seed subsidies, minimum support prices, etc. Little attention is paid to what really ails Indian agriculture: low productivity. From rice to wheat to coarse grains and pulses, from cash crops to food crops, Indian agriculture is punctured with very low productivity. Let's start with rice....