CIAO DATE: 03/2012
January 2012
The problems in farming in developing countries are numerous and well-known: drought vulnerability, soil degeneration, a lack of financial instruments (credit and insurance), high transaction costs imposed by intermediaries, the inaccessibility of reliable inputs, and a lack of market opportunities. Over the past decade, agriculture in India has undergone what one state-level commission terms a period of "generalized rural distress," producing high levels of rural unemployment, forced migration, and declines in per capita calorie consumption among the poor. Indian agriculture- characterized historically by much greater volatility than the general economy-has also been adversely affected in recent years by declining productivity, greater import competition, and rising prices for fertilizer, seed, and pesticides. Although the percent of agricultural employment in the labor force has been declining, most of that decline has been due to the loss of cultivators.
Resource link: Can Producer Associations Make Agriculture Sustainable? Evidence from Farmer Development Centers in India [PDF] - 1.2M