Introduction

There is a strong relationship between the performance of the agriculture sector and its effect on the overall performance of the Indian economy. Although its contribution to the GDP has declined over the years, the farming sector remains one of the essential economic activities since it provides food and nutritional security. It also contributes significantly to employment, income generation, poverty alleviation and the environment. However the sector continues to be unorganised and underdeveloped. This is because there are no central bodies that lobby for it with policy makers. While in markets, traders can form cartels, the farmers reaching such Agriculture Produce Markets Regulation Act (APMC) mandis are at the mercy of traders, and receive a price already fixed by such cartels rather than being able to collectively decide to sell to traders at a price remunerative to them. The farming sector remains underdeveloped also because the benefits of growth are yet to reach them. In terms of technology and inputs, the access of farmers to these is restricted by their limited ability to purchase them. Also the prices received by farmers for their products in the last few decades have been declining over the years.

The other concern is the uneven growth trajectory among different sections of the farming community within a region. For example, farmers growing wheat and mustard in Rajasthan have differential earnings (Multi Commodity Exchange [MCX] field surveys). This is due to the access to irrigation, technology, credit facilities, etc. made available in certain regions.