This is a remarkable book on Indian agriculture from a well known columnist and speaker on the subject. The remarkable fact about Mr Sud’s analysis, whether in the print or the elcetronic media, and on a wide range of subjects – the prcie of onions, or the efficacy of organic agriculture, or the reasons for farmers suicides is that he marshals empirical evidence to back up his point of view. There are few who would disagree with his analysis, though as is to be expected, there is bound to be a helathy difference of opinion on the way forward. In fact as TN Ninan writes in the Foreword : Change is easiest when you have an empty palette. Populate the palette fully and change becomes difficult; too many things come in the way. And so it has been in agriculture. When half the population ( of India)lives off the land, most of them eking out a marginal existence, change has to be introduced carefully…
It si not that the problems are not well known or documented. There are some things which are ‘no –brainers’ , but the deep entanglement , and the inability to cut through the maze because of ‘short –term considerations’ has ensured that this sector has not been able to garner the benefits of the liberalization regime. Also, in a way, the country has not been able to get out of the Green revolution syndrome. Interventions during the GR period were effective to tackle the problems then – however, the same set of solutions cannot be applied as a silver bullet for all times, all crops, all seasons and all land –holding patterns. This had worked well for a while, and the agricultural output grew significantly faster than the population for the nearly three decades. Then the momentum was lost , and rather than ‘investing ‘ in agriculture, the softer option of ‘subsidising inputs’ became the dominant mantra. Subsidies have the great advantage of being easier to implement, and also afford greater flexibility to accommodate patronage.
In the lead essay ‘ the Green revoltuion : what went wrong ?’ , he has identified soil fatigue, land degradation, vanishing water,
Currently, the Agriculture editor of Business Standard , which ahs also brought out the publication, he has written for the Indian Express, Times of india and several other leading journals in the country, and has addressed professional and lay audiences across the country, including the training programmes at the LBS National academy of Adminstrtaion. His veiws have been non dogmatic, and he has never taken the typical ‘state versus market’ approach in his writings. Both have a complimentary role : state intervention must be efficient,and market regulations must be effective.
The Changing Profile of Indian Agriculture
Surinder Sood
BS (Business Standard Books), 2009