Indian Agricultural Policy at the Crossroads: Priorities and Agenda

The book is an outcome of a collaborative study addressing the highest priority issue which India faces today in agricultural sector policies. The main objective of the study was to document and analyze the impacts of past and current policies relating to trade, marketing, pricing, poverty reduction and employment generation, and also to identify policies/strategies in respect of trade, domestic markets, output and input pricing and other policy support. The authors have identified several areas of policy changes for Indian agriculture. However, they point out that political economy of policy shifts is a complex and jerky process. This is particularly true of Indian agriculture which continues to sustain around 70 percent of the total Indian population of over one billion. Nevertheless, the policy package suggested in the book provides a window of opportunity for a rational debate among status quoists and pro-liberalisers. The authors take the position that the mix of policy changes propounded by them constitutes the best option for Indian policy makers today as far as agricultural sector is concerned. The book includes: (a) review of Indian agricultural trade policies, trade flows and impact of trade liberalization on domestic prices and net social welfare; (b) review of domestic marketing policies, subsidies and their impact on incentives/disincentives and market integration; (c) trends in terms of trade for agricultural sector at the state level; (d) analysis of cropping pattern changes, total factor productivity and factor-demand output supply; (e) poverty reduction performance, employment situation and inter-regional equity issues; and (f) suggestions for strategic changes in agricultural marketing, trade and poverty reduction policies.