Risking the Farm

Is there a future for smallholders in Indian agriculture? This is one of the primary themes underlying the papers in the edited volume, The Future of Indian Agriculture: Technology and Institutions, which were originally presented at a conference at the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi in 2008. The agrarian crisis and food inflation of 2007–08 formed the backdrop of the conference.

Farmers across the country have been facing increased market risk in the post-liberalisation period with the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), lowering trade barriers in several commodities. This has been compounded with increasing production risks owing to rising input costs and environmental degradation.