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Impact of climate change on smallholder dairy farmers in India

A considerable number of agricultural households in India engage in livestock rearing and milk production to supplement their income and improve household nutrition. This article examines how global w...

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Exploring urban perceptions around freshness of vegetables

With urban Indians increasingly seeking healthy lifestyles, the demand for fresh produce has escalated. In this note, Raj, Purushothaman and Sadashiva discuss findings from their survey in Bengaluru, ...

  • Notes from the Field

Watering the seeds of the rural economy: Evidence from groundwater irrigation in India

Over time, technological advancements accompanied with government energy subsidies have made groundwater the single largest source of irrigation in India. This study evaluates the impact of access to ...

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Promoting the use of a novel water-saving agricultural technology among Indian farmers

The Met Department has forecasted a below-normal monsoon in India this year. This column analyses the demand for a water-saving agricultural technology — laser land levelling — among farmers in U...

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Bovine Economics

About a month ago, the state government of Maharashtra instituted a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, in addition to the existing ban on the slaughter of cows. In this article, Shanta Gokha...

  • Perspectives

Adoption of Balanced Use of Chemical Fertilisers: Farmer's Response to Scientific Evidence and Social Learning

Government of India has launched a massive program of individualized soil tests and customized fertilizer recommendation, with the hope that scientific information will lead farmers to optimize the fe...

  • IGC Research on India

Transforming landholding agricultural workers into farmers

Some believe that MNREGA has negatively impacted agriculture by reducing the supply of labour available for farm work. This column refutes this view and argues that MNREGA has enabled agricultural wo...

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Financial inclusion for agricultural growth: An alternative approach

Traditional, group-based microcredit has had limited success at enabling farmers to expand the cultivation of risky but profitable cash crops. Evidence suggests that this is mainly because of its mech...

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Reconstructing facts in Bt cotton: Why scepticism fails

In disputes around Bt cotton, a “triumph narrative” is alleged to have emerged from researchers - mainly economists - catering to vested interests of the biotech industry, its funding and allied j...

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Do the poor need genetically modified crops?

Field trials of a few genetically modified crops were recently put on hold by the Environment Ministry. This article asserts that the decision reflects an ideological resistance to and suspicion about...

  • Perspectives

Why do insecure rural property rights persist?

Poorly specified and weakly enforced property rights over land may reduce productivity in the agricultural sector. This column examines why strong private property rights are not adopted more widely, ...

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The unintended child health consequences of the Green Revolution in India

While the Green Revolution in India greatly enhanced agricultural production, the enhanced use of fertilisers led to the contamination of surface and ground water. This column analyses the impact of f...

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The role of Bt cotton in improving food security

The role of genetically modified crops in the fight against hunger remains disputed. The debate primarily focuses on whether or not these crops can contribute to sustainable increases in food producti...

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Willingness to pay for index-based crop microinsurance in India

Given the significance of the agricultural sector in India and its vulnerability, an adequate and sustainable risk management system is critical. However, uptake of microinsurance is quite low. This c...

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Grain stocks: Is it a problem of storage capacity?

Foodgrains rot due to insufficient storage capacity, even as millions go to bed hungry. This column argues that increasing capacity is only a partial resolution. The crisis has happened before and wil...

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Digvijay S. Negi

Ashoka University

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Rahul Rao

Ahmedabad University

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Aranya Chakraborty

Ahmedabad University

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Amlan Das Gupta

O.P. Jindal Global University

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Bharat Ramaswami

Ashoka University

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Rajveer Jat

University of California, Riverside

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Jean Drèze

Ranchi University; Delhi School of Economics

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Most Popular Agriculture Posts

Climate change and Indian agriculture

Indian agriculture remains vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, and the looming threat of climate change may expose this vulnerability further. This article presents findings from a study that uses ...

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India's farm crisis: Decades old and with deep roots

In this Perspectives piece, Prof. Himanshu argues that the crisis in Indian agriculture today is not a new one; it goes back many years. Therefore, the problems of farmers cannot be addressed by the b...

  • Perspectives

How new technologies can raise farm productivity

Lele and Goswami discuss the potential of new technologies in raising farm productivity, and the challenges involved in turning the power of information and other technologies into a farmer-friendly t...

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