Growth and distress in a South Indian peasant economy during the era of economic liberalisation (original) (raw)

Liberalizing Agriculture by OECD Countries: Welfare, Growth and Distributional Impact in Developing Countries

International Journal of Economics and Finance, 2011

Although it is often argued that liberalization provides opportunities for growth and development in all over the world, there are divergent views about the effects of agricultural trade liberalization on growth and income distribution in developing countries. The developing countries' main complaint in this regard is that trade distorting activities in agriculture by developed countries adversely affecting their exports and consequently growth, and income and employment of the people therein. There is a general perception among the policymakers and academia that the developing countries would gain much from the removal of existing distortion in the agricultural market because of the tremendous importance of the agricultural sector in their economies. The current paper has analyzed the effect of trade liberalization in agriculture on welfare, growth and income distribution in developing countries, using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and indicates that the effect is not similar for all the developing countries.

Indian Agriculture: Before and After Economic Reforms

Agriculture once known as the backbone of Indian Economy is at present at its worst, thanks to the anti farmer, pro-Industry policy of the various Indian Governments since 1991. India is once considered as the "Ann Data" of the entire world is struggling even to manage the own demand-supply problem of various agricultural commodities. The farmers are committing suicides, are celebrating "Crop Holidays" and are fighting with Govt. for illegal acquisition of land for developing Real estate or other commercially viable projects at the cost of Agriculture. The aim of this paper is to bring out the present scenario in the field of agriculture that leads to the minimum contribution of Agriculture in the Indian GDP, once the main contributor. This paper will discuss the various issues like less technical support to farmers, poor quality seeds, inappropriate storage, Minimum Support Price, irrigation, the problem of credit availability and above all the impact of Liberal...

The Distributional Implications of Agricultural Policies in Developing Countries

Agricultural Policies for Poverty Reduction, 2012

The working paper series is designed to make available to a wide readership selected studies by OECD staff or by outside consultants and are generally available only in their original language. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.

Economic reforms and its impact on agriculture

The Economic reforms of 1991 was a turning point for India's economy. Major changes were taken in terms of trade, industrial, and macroeconomic reforms and these reforms affected agriculture. It was expected that the element of economic liberalisation would help in commercialization of agriculture and increase the potential of agriculture in international trade. Therefore In this article we will critically analyse how the 1991 economic reforms in India have impacted the agriculture sector. We will start by explaining the condition of the Indian economy at the dawn of independence and especially the condition of agriculture in the post independence period. Then we will look at the 1991 economic reform policies and how different policies affected the agriculture sector i.e. its contribution to the gdp, public and private investment in this sector etcetera. Lastly we will compare the post reform situation to the current situation of agriculture, and conclude the work

Nature, Extent, Causes, and Issues in Agricultural Distress

This paper explains the nature and extent of distress in Indian agriculture by analytically separating the issues therein into two interrelated domains—the agricultural and the agrarian—the former being about production and the latter about distribution; the former about the farm and the latter about the farmer; the former about the inadequacies and inappropriateness of the agricultural developmental programmes, and the latter about the livelihood of the people involved in or dependent upon agrarian activities. In this broader thinking farmers’ suicides and indebtedness become symptoms of a larger malaise. Drawing on our understanding of farmers’ suicides, we show some interrelated demand-side and supply-side factors that touch upon output (including income and prices), input, credit, and other aspects. In the larger discourse on farmers’ suicides the paper also raises the importance of appropriate reporting, measurement that is relevant to the social context and suggests ways to take the debate away from a specific technology to livelihood issues. The paper thus calls for context-specific, knowledge-centric interventions, and people-centric investments.