China’s embrace of market reforms in the late 1970s, as legend has it, began in Xiaogang village, where farmer families struck a secret pact to defy collective farming by splitting up commune land and keeping profits private after meeting the state’s harvest quota.
Yields soared, the idea spread, rivalry rose, Beijing noted what the profit motive could achieve and adopted it as policy.
Indian agriculture is based on private land ownership, but the state looms large over the sector. While granary pile-ups make news, food supply has responded too slowly to dietary shifts as India’s economy emerges.
Shaped by state procurement, our carbs-heavy harvests may even be turning into a national health risk. And input subsidies don’t just distort consumer demand and farming costs alike, but in cases like fertilizer, often harm the soil too.
Keeping nutrition cheap is a worthy aim, but cash support can be Aadhaar-aimed at the needy while space is made for price flexibility—not just to reflect real costs along the value chain, but also sway demand and supply.
Sure, farm reforms are very hard to sell. An earlier attempt ran into farmer resistance. But a plan that’s broader in scope might be worth a try.