The structural changes taking place in villages are partly due to market forces and also because of public policy. The article examines the transformation and development of a village namely Dokur in Telangana, India which has undergone changes since mid-1970s. The village was initially studied in 1975–1984 by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), but resurveyed from 2001 to 2014. There has been seen a significant change since 1980s in its livelihood diversity. Until the mid-1970s, there was more focus on green revolution technologies under the assumption that the trickle-down effect would take care of poverty. Hence, in the initial years, very few development programmes existed and were mostly focused on agriculture growth. Although public distribution system was in place from the mid 1970s, a new government initiative targeted poverty directly through a 20-point plan. From the 1990s, more specific schemes were introduced, which often targeted poor, scheduled castes and tribes (SC and ST) and other backward castes (OBC) as well as small and marginal farmers also. After realizing that most of the benefits were captured by village elites and large farmers, the focus shifted to self-targeting of various developments and social safety net programmes targeting lower castes and poorer households in the late 2000s, especially after the introduction of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This was also an attempt to reduce gender bias in the programmes. The participation of poor, SC and ST and women increased after the self-targeting schemes were introduced in the country. The Public Distribution System (PDS), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), pension schemes, complete sanitation programmes, agricultural input subsidy programme, million wells programmes, loan waiver scheme and the drought relief programmes had positive impacts on livelihoods, but with less targeting. Most of the gains from agricultural subsidies were enjoyed by medium and large farmers, although small SC and ST farmers benefited some what. However, all indicators show a systematic and considerable increase in living standards.
The demand for organic foods is increasing worldwide due to health and environmental benefits. However, there are several unanswered questions, such as: Do organic farmers generate higher profits? Will the cost of cultivation reduce to compensate for low yields? Can farmers practice as per the organic agriculture protocols and obtain certification? The literature on organic agriculture varies widely in terms of profitability, yields and costs of organic products. A few studies have researched site-specific organic agriculture, but none have compared organic with conventional agriculture at larger scale in India. The Indian government has promoted organic agriculture since 2015 through its pan-India scheme—Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). Under this program, there were 13.9 million certified organic farmers in 29,859 organic clusters, covering 0.59 million hectares (about 0.4% of the cropped area in India). This study assessed the implementation process of PKVY and the impact at the farmer level using the Difference-in-Difference approach. An economic surplus model was employed to observe the macro scale using data from an all-India representative sample from 576 clusters for the crop year 2017. The results identified that organic farmers experienced 14–19 percent less costs and 12–18 percent lower yields than conventional farmers. The net result is a marginal increase in profitability compared to traditional agriculture. The economy-wide economic surplus model indicates that there will be a reduction in producer and consumer surplus due to reduced crop yields. However, if the shift from conventional to organic is confined to rainfed, hilly and tribal areas, there will be an increase in both consumer and producer surplus.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure performance of India in food and nutrition security relative to other Asian countries like Bangladesh, China, Africa and also developed countries from 1991 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on FAO food security indicators under four dimensions, namely, food availability, access, stability and utilization. These indicators are further categorized into determinants and outcome indicators of food security. A comprehensive fifteen indicators are examined in depth. Findings – Food availability in terms of dietary calories and protein per capita was less in India compared to even Africa and Bangladesh. However, food access indicators like road density is better, food prices remain low and stable, which improved food access and stability. However, in utilization indicators, access to water and sanitation remained low, anaemia among pregnant women and undernourishment was relatively higher when even compared to least developed countries like Africa and Bangladesh. Depth of food deficit (an indicator of severity of food deficit) was higher in India except Africa. Research limitations/implications – Future research should focus on policies for decreasing undernourishment and anaemia and severity in depth of food deficit with focus on India. Practical implications – The results highlight the severity of food deficit and anaemia among women, undernourishment and provide benchmark to monitor sustainable development goals in zero hunger goal. Originality/value – This study examined the relative performance of India in various food and nutrition security indicators in comparison to other countries.
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