Potato Portents
The presumptive loss to 50 lakh potato farmers on a very conservative basis was ₹30,000 crore or ₹60,000 per potato farmer.
The presumptive loss to 50 lakh potato farmers on a very conservative basis was ₹30,000 crore or ₹60,000 per potato farmer.
The solution to killer pesticides or to doubling farmer incomes is not limited to on-farm interventions. It stays concealed in the hallowed legislative hallways of a thoroughly compromised system.
Farmers from across the country are out on Delhi’s streets agitating, as the government begins deliberations for the 2018 budget. It is time to seek solutions to the structural issues that plague the system.
The Indian Council of Agriculture Research has long lost it sense of direction and even will to deliver magic in the Indian countryside.
Using dressed up data and wrong farming economics, sycophants — in the guise of economists — are distorting the reality around the farm sector.
The government’s grand vision for a ‘New India’ is at variance with its narrow economic policies; the DBT seems to be all about transferring benefits to the industry.
Budget speeches have consistently prioritised farmer prosperity with across-party consensus on the matter. How come the budget makes little difference to farm woes?
The conversation on the farm sector needs to free itself of the haunt of food shortage and radically shift to issues of nutrition and safety.
Subsidy as a percentage of the GDP has been decreasing in India. The fertiliser subsidy helps farmers grow crops at a lower cost and the consumers who pay a lower price for food.
India needs to weather the WTO storm with diligent data collection, research, documentation and superior negotiation skills.