Economic Reforms and Small Farms

Comparing and contrasting the Indian states of Punjab and Bihar, this study argues that whereas Punjab farming has bright prospects for a new phase of corporatization, Bihar's agriculture is still caught in the web of subsistence farming. As it looks at the impact of recent agriculture-related policy changes on the emerging production, marketing, and earning status of small versus large farms, this analysis reveals how farmers’ opinions contend that only the large and mid-sized farms benefited from the reform process, and examines the potential for better reform.

Parmod Kumar is a professor and the head of the Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Center at the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore. He is a former employee of the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, India, and the author of several books, including Targeted Public Distribution System: Performance and Inefficiencies. Sandip Sarkar is a professor at the Institute for Human Development in New Delhi, India. He is a former employee of the Institute of Economic Growth and the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development.