‘Why can’t the government provide a higher income for farmers?’
Fifty years since the Green Revolution, the architect of the reform highlights the crisis facing Indian agriculture today . It is 11 years since agronomist M.S. Swaminathan handed over his recommendations for improving the state of agriculture in India to the former United Progressive Alliance government, at the height of the Vidarbha farmer suicides crisis, but they are still to be implemented. To address the agrarian crisis and farmers’ unrest across the country, he urged the government to take steps to secure farmers’ income. As India marks 50 years of the Green Revolution this year, the architect of the movement says sustainability is the greatest challenge facing Indian agriculture. The greatest challenge facing Indian agriculture 50 years back was achieving self-sufficiency in foodgrain production. What is the greatest challenge today? There are two major challenges before Indian agriculture today: ecological and economical. The conservation of our basic agricultural...