Issues in agricultural reforms: public investment and land market development

Paper indicates:

• Agriculture is vital to food security and employment generation and hence to socio-political stability
• It is necessary to shift public investment to underdeveloped regions, in order to ensure that small and marginal farmers are not driven out of the liberalised land markets

Concludes:

• Indian agriculture is important for the global market, because of its size and potential impact on it
• The strength of Indian agriculture stems from its diversified production base and mixed peasant farming. Although this system is less 'efficient' relative to large-scale dairy farming for instance, it is 'stable and effective' from the point of view of:
  • Labour absorption
  • Nutrition
  • Soil fertility maintenance
  • Risk management and equity
• The interstate disparity indicates that public investment should be channeled into the underdeveloped regions with high potential for enhancing productive capacity and labour absorption and reducing regional disparities
• Ongoing integration with the global economy is merely one of many options for Indian agriculture

[Author]