Wheat Revolution in India: Constraints and Prospects

An economic analysis on “Wheat Revolution” – Its past, present and future carries special significance particularly in a food deficit state like West Bengal. In the perspective of recent declining trend of per capita availability of foodgrain in West Bengal, this study is specially significant. Its main thrust lies in identifying the factors that have been responsible for the expansion of Wheat area during the period 1967-68to 1975-76 and for its inter-year fluctuation thereafter. The role of relative price and relative profitability of wheat for its area movement has been carefully examined. How the absolute price difference between the two closely substitute commodities rice and wheat rather than the relative price of the latter has contributed to temporal area variability of wheat under the pressure of inflation has been analysed in detail. With given technology and price structure, the possibility of future expansion of area under wheat has been examined on the basis of cost-price relation and, lastly through a programming exercise. The intricacies of price fixation for wheat in West Bengal have also been highlighted by the study. A separate chapter examines the variability in cost structure of wheat between West Bengal and Northern tracts of India, eliciting differential policy implications in view of rising input prices.