The document discusses the ongoing agricultural distress faced by farmers in India. It outlines several factors contributing to this crisis, including poor policy and planning, declining farm sizes, dependence on rainfall, and collapsing commodity prices. The Swaminathan Commission was established in 2004 to address the issues and recommended setting minimum support prices at 50% above the cost of production calculated based on comprehensive production costs. However, the problems persist due to complex challenges including small landholdings, lack of infrastructure, and limited access to credit and technology for many farmers in India.

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Agrarian distress: Swaminathan
Commission, minimum support price,
crop insurance, right to work, debate
on farm loan waivers
Dr. Amrita Chaurasia, School of Commerce, Finance
and Accountancy

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• Agrarian distress:
• Swaminathan Commission,
• Minimum support price,
• Crop insurance,
• Right to work,
• Debate on farm loan waivers
Flow of the session

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“India is one of the biggest growing economies
in the world”.
Agriculture is the primary occupation of
nearly half the population of the country.
Over the past few decades, the manufacturing
and services sectors have increasingly
contributed to the growth of the economy, while
the agriculture sector’s contribution has
decreased.
The unprecedented agrarian crisis in India has
now been affecting farmers across the country for
nearly a decade
Quote

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Let’s think…..
• What do you Poor Policy and Planning in
general) is?
• In what ways do you think Declining Average
Size of Farm Holdings?
• Can you identify one attribute that defines
Dependence on Rainfall and Climate?
• How identity influences Collapsing Farm
Prices?

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• Poor Policy and Planning: In the past, Government
strategy primarily focused on raising agricultural output and
improving food security rather than recognizing the need to
raise farmer’s income,
• The absence of direct measures to promote farmers’ welfare is
also one of the main reasons for agricultural distress.
• Declining Average Size of Farm Holdings: Increasing
demographic pressure, disguised employment in agriculture
and conversion of agricultural land for alternative uses, have
drastically reduced the average land holding.
• Dependence on Rainfall and Climate: Indian agriculture
is heavily dependent on monsoon and ever-increasing global
temperature has made agriculture more prone to extreme
weather events.
Facets of Agrarian distress

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Collapsing Farm Prices: Low global prices have
affected exports and the cheaper imports have hurt
domestic prices in the country.
Lack of easy credit to agriculture and dependence on
money lenders.
Fragmented supply chains:
Large gaps in storage, Cold chains
Limited connectivity
Absence of marketing infrastructure
Lack of Mechanisation: Introduction of latest
technology has been limited due to various reasons
like accessibility for credit and low awareness.
Collapsing Farm Prices

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Swaminathan Commission
Reports
• In November 2004, the central government led by
Dr. Manmohan Singh constituted a commission
headed by agricultural scientist M.S.
Swaminathan, considered the Father of the Green
Revolution in India.
• The Swaminathan Commission was tasked with
finding solutions to the problems faced by farmers.
• The commission submitted five reports between
December 2004 and October 2006. Notably, it
made the following recommendations:

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Recommendations
(i)To distribute ceiling-surplus and waste land among
farmers.
(ii) To prevent diversion of prime agricultural land and forest
to the corporate sector for non-agricultural purposes.
(iii) To ensure grazing rights and seasonal access to forests to
tribals and pastoralists, and access to common property
resources.
(iv) To establish a National Land Use Advisory Service to link
land use decisions with ecological, meteorological, and
marketing factors based on location and season.
(v) To set up a mechanism to regulate the sale of agricultural
land, based on quantum of land, nature of proposed use, and
category of buyer
(vi) To give farmers MSPs at 50% profit above the cost of
production classified as C2

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Types of
• Production costs of crops are defined under three
categories: A2, A2+FL, and C2.
• A2 is the actual paid-out expenses incurred by
farmers—in cash and kind—on seeds, fertilisers,
pesticides, hired labour, fuel, irrigation and other
inputs from outside.
• A2+FL includes A2 cost plus an imputed value of
unpaid family labour.
• C2 is the most comprehensive definition of
production cost of crops as it also includes cost on
imputed rent and interest on owned land over and
above A2+FL.

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The Perils of Deregulated Imperfect
Agri markets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujEXnbWf7
7s
What is Agricultural Produce Market
Committee? What are the issues with
APMC?
Role: Activity
https://www.menti.com/alrz9dju1ewt

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• https://www.menti.com/alrz9dju1ewt
Role: Activity : Review what we learn

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Agricultural Distress in India
• Temporary voting code
• Expand
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expires in 2 days.

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• Development Initiatives
• Need for Technology
• Improvements in Allied Sectors
• Cooperative Farming
• Policy Developments
• Need for Market Reforms
What Steps can be Taken?

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• Additionally, many farmers in India are
small-scale farmers with limited resources,
which makes it difficult for them to compete
with larger, more industrialized farmers.
• The government of India has implemented
various schemes and policies to address
these issues but it's not sufficient to tackle
the problem.
• Need of creative and intellectuals are still
there
Agricultural distress in India

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• Two-decade-long agrarian crisis.
• In 2011 recorded nearly 15 million fewer
farmers than there were in 1991; that’s a
dropout rate of about 2,040 every 24 hours.
• Seed, fertiliser, and pesticides are firmly in
the hands of corporations.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZxo
avey58
In India, Farmers Face a Terrifying Crisis