On the Farm Front cover

Vol no. 18 Issue No. 123

Expert Panel

B Meenakumari

Former Chairperson, National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai.

Ajit Tyagi

Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Former DG, India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi

Rasik Ravindra

Geologist and Secretary General, 36 IGC, New Delhi.

Saraswati Raju

Former Professor, CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Prithvish Nag

Former Vice Chancellor, MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi

B Sengupta

Former Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi.

Sachidanand Sinha

Professor, CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Dripto Mukhopadhaya

Chief Executive, ACRA, Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Inside this issue

AGRI-CRISIS

Rainfed Agriculture in India

By: R S Deshpande

The rainfed areas have remained in the margins of India’s growth trajectory. Despite measures to address the crucial concern of farming practices in the region, policymakers have largely been unable to devise a long-term strategy to uplift the region’s shackled agricultural growth.

Diversification of Rural Workforce

By: M Chakraborty

Rural diversification has a strong linkage with rural livelihood. In the last three decades, rural employment has seen a shift from the farm sector to non-farm sectors. The structure and pattern of transition is towards casualisation—increase in daily wage earners rather than regular wage earners.

Farmer Suicides in India Causes and impacts

By: Manjunatha AV, KB Ramappa and DT Preethika

Economic distress, coupled with social isolation and remoteness of location often leads to farmers committing suicide in India. Based on a nation-wide survey the paper outlines how rich farmers, as opposed to the poorer ones, are able handle agricultural indebtedness from alternate sources of income.

AGRI-TECH

Precision Agriculture: The Future of Sustainable Farming

By: E Kannan

Precision agriculture is expected to address the challenges posed to the Indian agricultural sector, especially in the context of resource scarcity and climatic variability.

Precision Updates: Fasal and DOMIS

By: Staff Reporter

POLICY

Crop Insurance in India is it an Effective Safety Net?

By: Rajeev M and P Nagendran

Climatic variability in India is making small and marginal farmers vulnerable to crop failures. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, introduced in 2016-17 pledges to bring farmers within its safety net.

Mission Millet

By: Sweta Bhusan

Millet consumption is believed to be adding essential nutrients to a diet. Initiatives by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to observe 2023 as the year of millets following India’s recommendations may bring about an increase in its production in the country.

In brief

Editor's Note

My new readings are on artificial intelligence—the next big ‘discovery’ that humans are collectively and consciously committing themselves to. Its potential delights me. Yet, the fear of the unknown, of an unknown that can overpower every facet of life as we know it—is, well, terrifying to s

Letters