India has traditionally been an agrarian economy and its culture outlook and economic

lives of the people have been deeply influenced by agricultural practices. Agriculture
today forms the backbone of Indian economy by supporting livelihood of around 50% of
its population and catering to food security of the nation. Therefore agriculture has
remained a key focus in economic planning by decision makers of the country.

Indian agriculture has made great progress since Independence. With introduction of
green revolution Indian achieved self-sufficiency in food production and upgrading itself
from being a net food importer to next food exporter. India’s agri food competitiveness
has improved with India becoming second largest irrigated area in the world after China
and becoming the largest producer of milk in world.

However in spite of the commendable progress the present condition of agriculture is

poor and India today is suffering from agricultural distress. Starting in 1990s agriculture
in India has started declining adversely impacting the farming communities. Farmers
suicides have become rampant. As per Central Government data about Twelve thousand
farmers committed suicide in 2015, accounting for about 9.4% of total suicide victims in
the country. Also the recent statistics show that around 62% of agriculturalists are
willing to quit farming & move to cities. Only 24% of youth belonging to farming
households are interested in continuing farming.

The key to the present situation lies in the number factors such as decline in produce &
crop failure, lack of crop diversification, price slide, high debt etc. The government
launched a number of policies and schemes to address the issue.

Agricultural policies
Assurance of a good price for produce is essential to keep farming occupation sustainable
and ensure decent earning to the farmers. The government assures the farmers by
announcing Minimum support Price for the crops before each sowing season. MSP has
been significant in hedging the farmers against price volatility however the MSPs has led
to cultivation of selective crops such as sugarcane, rice and wheat which has prevented
crop diversification. As a result such water incentives crops are grown in arid & water
scarce regions which makes crop failures highly probable. Absence of MSP for other
crops like vegetables have made farmers vulnerable to price distortions. Recently
tomatoes were sold 50 paise a Kg in Karnataka which brought farmers in tears.

The government procures food from farmers through its procurement agency Food
corporation of India(FCI). However FCI has been procurement has been limited to states
like Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh etc. This has created regional imbalances
w.r.t states like Bihar, West Bengal & Assam where farmers are distressed by selling their
produce much below the MSP. Moreover the government policies have failed to address
the need for creation of good storage facilities. As a result when there is delay in
procurement , the farmers have to hasten to sell their produce in market which is
regulated by state governments APMC acts-curtailing farmers freedom to sell and
facilitating intermediaries to exploit the farmers.
The policy intervention by government has helped to increase irrigation coverage in
India however still a significant part of Indian agriculture in rain fed. The government
initiative have suffered from several issues. The Accelerated Irrigation Benefit
programme(AIBP) which is presently subsumed by Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai
Yojana (PMKSY) was launched about two decades earlier. The previous CAG reports
indicated gross irregularities in the implementation of irrigation projects funded under
AIBP and a mismatch between irrigation potential reported and actually created. The
programme at several times also witnessed changing of norms. The irrigation initiatives
also failed to address water management in agriculture. Faulty irrigation practices
resulted to water logging, soil salinity and alkalinity which has mad agricultural land
unproductive.

The current scheme PMKSY aims to address the issue of water management through
promoting micro irrigation. However the aim per drop more crop requires higher
investment to introduce costly sprinklers and drip irrigation facilities but the programme
has witnessed shortage in budgetary allocation. Moreover the scheme suffers from
bureaucratic dominance where specialists of water management techniques have little
say.

Majority of Indian farmers are poor and need government support in form of subsidies.
The government of India supports farmers by providing subsidies to several inputs like
power, seeds, fertilizer, credit etc. However the subsidies are causing more harm than
benefits to the agricultural productivity. While plants require at least 17 elements for
their growth fertilizer subsidy has skewed the nutrient use to nitrogen, phosphorous and
potassium. Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have also caused occupational
hazards among farmers. Power subsidies have contributed towards overexploitation of
ground water resources and soil salinity and alkalinity. Informal credits from
moneylenders have exploited farmers due to its exorbitant interest rates. Subsidized
credit in form of interest subvention, farm loan waivers have led to increase in
institutional credits. However subsidies like farm loan waiver have remained
controversial & short-sighted and fails to enhance capacity building of farmers. Although
intended for the small & poor farmers such subsidies have benefited only large and well
off farmers.

Farmers also faces the risks of crop failures due to risks such as pests attack, poor
weather etc. The government protects farmers against crop failures through crop
insurance schemes. Unfortunately the insurance plans suffers from several defaults.
Many farmers who availed insurance plans through Kisan credit card found that they
cannot claim insurance because of unpaid dues to bank loans. With launch of Pradhan
Mantri Bima Yojana coverage of agricultural insurance has increase but the premium
rates has remained high and beyond the capacity of poorer farmers. Also it suffers from
discrepancies such as inadequate, delayed claim in payments, gaps in assessment of
crops loss which denies the insurance benefits to farmers..
The NITI AaYog recently came up with 4 point action plan for doubling farmers income
by 2022 is welcome step however it seems to be very challenging. It fails to address the
rising fragmentation of land which is increasing the proportion of small farmers in India.
The New Policy on Seed Development which permitted 100% FDI in hybrid seeds has led
to monopoly if international firms like Monsatto, Cargill Inc. who have been accused of
exploiting the farmers. The NITI Aayog emphasis on hybrid and GM crops fails to
address this issue

Governance Issues
The government have failed to understand the issues of the farmers. The farmers issues
have been politicized resulting in state government to resort to populist measures such
as loan waiver, free electricity schemes. Political influence have led to fraudulent
practices where acceptance of multiple claims over the same plot of land, discouraging
the insurance companies to take a lead in agricultural sectors. Red Tapism has prevented
farmers from availing benefits of govt. schemes meant for their benefits. The state
governments lacks political will to initiate bold steps such as reforming APMC due to
opposition from various groups such as traders. Further there has been lack of
accountability for failure of meeting the objectives of government policies. The
governance also suffered from non inclusiveness failing take into account the interest of
various agricultural groups. Further it has failed to take lessons from its previous
failures. E.g Land acquisition remained a key issue in AIBP which remains unaddressed
in PMKSY too.

Conclusion
The lack of comprehensive agricultural policies and governance issues together have led
to agricultural distress.The government is well aware of this and has taken a number of
steps to balance the shortcomings such as Soil health card to maintain nutrient balance,
e-NAM to ensure price discovery by farmers, emphasis on organic farming through
Parmaparagat Krishi Vigyan Yojana to cut down dependence on chemical fertilizers.
However the government need to take further initiatives through land consolidation
reforms, introducing long term land leasing policy, encouraging agri-startups, improving
supply chain and processing capacities through Mega food parks, improving
accountability, APMC reforms etc. to make agriculture a beneficial occupation to the
farmers.