Accelerating Growth Through Globalization Of Indian Agriculture

This book explores the opportunities and challenges in accelerating growth through globalisation of Indian agriculture. It considers issues and strategies at the national level, overviews the agriculture sector s policies and explores its growth potential

This book presents a comprehensive overview of a range of concepts, methods, strategies and policies in agriculture and natural resource management, environmental economics, production economics and sustainable agricultural development. It explores effective analytical tools and science, innovations and management solutions to enhance yields, manage the supply chain, strengthen institutional mechanisms and service and support system, and plan enabling policies which can benefit farmers, resulting in cost efficient and quality improving farm practices and products, increased profits and income for farmers, and better management of natural resources. The essays in the book are exclusively contributed to honour the outstanding academic, teaching and research guidance contributions of Professor R. Ramanna in the field of agricultural economics, and they contribute to the growing research in sustainable agricultural development and natural resource management through the use of new concepts, tools, analysis, technologies, innovations and policy strategies modelled in local contexts but can easily be extended with needed changes in similar contexts elsewhere. This book will be of interest and use to students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working in varied fields of agricultural economics, sustainable development, public policy, rural sociology, political economy, economics of innovation, institutional economics, and industrial organisation.

In the past 50 years, Indian agriculture has undergone a major transformation, from dependence on food aid to becoming a consistent net food exporter. The gradual reforms in the agricultural sector (following the broader macro-reforms of the early 1990s) spurred some unprecedented innovations and changes in the food sector driven by private investment. These impressive achievements must now be viewed in light of the policy and investment imperatives that lie ahead. Agricultural growth has improved in recent years (averaging about 3.5 percent since 2004-05), but at a long-term trend rate of growth of 3 percent, agriculture has underperformed relative to its potential. The pockets of post-reform dynamism that have emerged evidently have not reached a sufficiently large scale to influence the sector's performance. For the vast population that still derives a living directly or indirectly from agriculture, achieving "faster, more inclusive, and sustainable growth', the objectives at the heart of the Twelfth five year plan, depends critically on simultaneous efforts to improve agriculture's performance and develop new sources of employment for the disproportionately large share of the labor force still on the farm. The scope of this study is broad in the sense that it marshals considerable empirical evidence and analyses to address those issues. Yet the scope is restricted in the sense that the study does not address all of the issues. A wealth of knowledge exists (and continuing analytical work proceeds) on other major strategic issues, water and irrigation management, food grain management, and public expenditures on agriculture, for example, and the findings of this study must be seen in that context. The lack of sufficient quality data, and often the lack of access to such data, also prevents some issues from being explored in greater depth. Finally, some important issues require more focused and dedicated analysis, such as food safety and quality standards, agricultural trade, and food price increases. This relationship between longer-term strategic issues and contemporary concerns, such as water resource management and food prices, are highlighted in this study through the prism of productivity, but they too require further analysis to fully address the underlying issues.

Perspective of Indian agriculture, industry and infrastructure are themes sought after by many in various organisations, including the academic community, for extensive research, policy formulation and implementation. Under these four heads, a number of specific topics have been covered in this publication through thoughtprovoking papers. These are contributions fro specialists associated, with research work, implementors and practitioners of programmes. The contributors present considerable insights into review of progress, gains and shortfalls of implementation, and directions for the future. They throw light on what needs to be done for accelerating economic growth at national, state and sub-regional levels. To enable India to become a developed nation, efficiency of the use of physical resources and human resources is vital, along with effectiveness of the use of capital, advanced technologies, and adoption of modern methods of governance. A few of the specific themes covered are: (a) Agriculture: food security, Indian agriculture scenario, tobacco, cotton, dairy development, and networking of rivers; (b) Industry: enhancing, competitiveness among small and medium enterprises, and Indian industry as a whole, parents, quality improvement and pharmaceuticals; and (c) Infrastructure: export promotion industrial parks, rural infrastructure, power sector.

Indian agriculture was transforming from a cereal-based production system toward high-value crops (HVC) during the 1990s. However, food security concerns resurfaced during the first decade of the 21st century, and the policy environment tilted in favor of cereal-based production systems, especially rice and wheat. This paper revisits an earlier study to evaluate how the policy shift influences the patterns and the sources of agricultural growth in India and assesses their implications for regional priorities for higher, more sustainable, and more inclusive agricultural growth.

Agricultural growth is a crucial element in resolving food price crises, enhancing food security, and accelerating pro-poor growth. After decades of policy neglect and underinvestment in public goods such as agricultural science, rural infrastructure, and information and monitoring, high food prices have provided some positive incentives for policymakers, farmers, and investors to increase agricultural productivity. By the end of the year 2008-2009, the global crisis had taken a substantial toll of India's economic performance but it was by no means catastrophic. The rate of economic growth had slowed to the 5-6% range in the second half of the year from the 9% average of the previous five years, but it was still much better than the negative growth rates in industrial countries and better than the performance of most significant developing countries with the exception of China.However, with the sudden shrinkage in world trade after September 2008, India's exports in January-Mary, 2009 were about 20% lower than in the previous year. This meant that hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost in sectors like garments, textiles, footwear and leather products and gems and jewellery. This paper try to answer the following questions: How did this global crisis come about? How severe is it and how long might it last? And against the backdrop of this world crisis, what are some of the priorities for India's agricultural sector.To conclude, the unprecedented global economic crisis has definitely taken a toll of India's economic performance. Most likely it has also reduced our potential for economic development in the next 3 or 4 years. However, despite the severity of the global crisis, India's economy has demonstrated considerable resilience, in part, thanks to the strength of our agricultural sector. With sound and determined economic policies we should be able to recover a growth momentum of 7-7.5% in a year or two. That will be a little less than our growth performance in 2003-2008. But it will be far better than nearly every other significant economy in today's world.

Following independence in 1947, India's agricultural policy could broadly be classified under three phases. Phase one, immediately after independence, witnessed several institutional changes through land reforms and the initiation of major irrigation projects. The second phase, since the mid-1960s, aimed to increase agricultural productivity to attain self-sufficiency in foodgrains through technological revolution and government support for credit, marketing, and extension services. This was followed by the current phase, since the late 1980s, which makes agriculture more market-oriented. The agricultural sector occupies a key position in the Indian economy. It provides employment to about 65% of the working population of India. Unfortunately, India's economy has witnessed a loss of dynamism in the agriculture and allied sectors in recent years. The sector, as a whole, has showed poor performance in the recent years. The government has launched programs to rejuvenate agriculture and improve farm income. Accelerating the growth rate of agricultural production is seen as central to a more inclusive growth. This book traces developments in Indian agriculture during the post-Independence period. It explains the key reform measures undertaken for the modernization of agriculture.

Documented and analyzed in this comprehensive account are the cross-country evidences in India that establish a relationship between capital and growth as well as between growth and poverty. The accelerated growth of the service sector, the almost stagnant growth of the industrial sector, and the decelerated growth of the agricultural sector have all been registered as patterns of growth in India during the last few decades. As a result, among other things, the rural-urban development divide has broadened and deepened, moving the agricultural sector to the top of the development agenda. The book analyzes macro evidences on investment behavior in Indian agriculture, shifting composition of public and private sector investment in agriculture, and the relationship among capital formation, agriculture growth, and poverty alleviation. It also provides comprehensive micro (field) level evidences on capital structure, growth, composition, capital intensity, the impact of capital stock on productivity of labor and land, and determinants of farm-level capital formation.

This book covers various aspects of Indian agriculture. It consists of 32 chapters that are presented in 12 parts with the following headings: agricultural scenario; revolutions in agriculture; reorienting agricultural research for innovation; improving productivity and production; harnessing agricultural biotechnology; managing plant genetic resources; the role and growth of the seed sector; integrated natural resource management; impact of climate change; innovation in extension; the role of women and youth; and policy reforms for accelerated growth.