Food and Agricultural Policy: The Challenges Ahead

Indian agriculture has made significant progress since independence. The produc - tion of foodgrains, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton, and milk has increased four-fold since 1950-51. Yet, millions of Indians remain undernourished while, at the same time, more than 25 million tonne of foodgrains remain in the buffer-stock. The persistence of hunger amidst abundance is the result of inadequate purchasing power with the hungry. Agricultural policies alone cannot provide for food security. The main policy dilemma has been to provide farmers incentives to -grow more through remunerative prices and at the same time keep the food prices low enough for the consumers. This has been sought to be achieved through a policy of low output prices and low prices for agricultural inputs of water, power, and fertilizers through subsidies. This policy is no longer tenable and we need to change our agricultural policies. This paper suggests a set of policies which would make Indian agriculture productive, vigorous, and competitive, able to not only face the challenges of global markets but thrive from it.