Agriculture: features, problems and policies

The essentials

At independence Indian agriculture had low productivity, depended on the monsoon, and was marked by unequal land ownership. Policy after 1950 had two broad parts: institutional reforms (land reforms) and technological change (the Green Revolution).

Land reforms

• Abolition of intermediaries: zamindars and other intermediaries were removed so that cultivators became owners. This was guided by the idea of "land to the tiller", since ownership gives an incentive to invest and raise output.
• Land ceiling: fixing the maximum land an individual could own, with surplus land to be redistributed to the landless.
• Tenancy reforms: regulating rent and giving security of tenure.
• Results were uneven: land reforms were more successful in Kerala and West Bengal, while in many states landlords used loopholes to evade ceilings.

Green Revolution

• The use of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds with adequate fertilisers, pesticides and assured irrigation produced a large rise in food grain output.
• In the first phase (mid-1960s to mid-1970s) it was limited mainly to wheat in states with good irrigation, such as Punjab and Haryana; in the second phase it spread to more states and crops.
• It raised the marketable surplus (the part of output sold in the market), helped the government build buffer stocks and reduced dependence on food imports.
• Risks discussed at the time: larger gains for rich farmers, crop failure from pests, and regional inequality; government loans and subsidies helped small farmers adopt the new methods.

Key points

• Subsidies on fertilisers, power and water encouraged adoption but put a burden on government finances; some argue they mainly benefit richer farmers.
• Even after these gains, a large share of the population remained dependent on agriculture, showing slow structural change.

Common mistakes

• Saying the Green Revolution first covered rice; the first phase was mainly wheat.