Right agricultural policy decisions can bring India back from the brink of current food crisis. The current scenario of rising food prices is not just due to inflation. It is a cumulative effect of mismanagement of agricultural sector over past decade. There has been gradual deceleration in production of food grains and increased dependence on international supply of the same. With right policy changes if this can be reversed and India can avoid imminent food crisis and become self-sufficient once again.

In early 90s there was a surplus stock of food grains. Maybe that led to complacency on part of the government and it made serious policy changes. It failed to understand that it was just an illusion of self-sufficiency and not a case of surplus production. Decision makers failed to understand there were excess food grains in FCI godowns because people didn’t have money to buy. Further it made a mistake of allowing private players to procure these stocks and at the same time it opened doors to international markets. Naturally food stocks for public sector took a plunge. At the same time there was stagnation on production front. All crops have shown decelerating growth rates in past decade. CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of food production fell to 1.7% in the 1990s from 2.9 % of the 1980s and the trend remains. This deceleration in food grain production continued for more than a decade. The three agricultural inputs like irrigation, fertilizers and electricity increased the cost of investment, thus reducing the margins of profits for an average farmer. Naturally production plunged. Instead of looking deeper into decelerating food grain trends, India further erred by depending on international supply with a faith of uninterrupted supply. This was a serious error.

It is never too late to mend these policy errors. More than loan waivers farmers need affordable infrastructure (irrigation, fertilizers and electricity) to cultivate the land and produce much needed food grains and good trade policies to ensure comfortable profit margins. Instead becoming buyers in international markets India can become a seller of grains. It has large land and manpower for agriculture. What seems to be lacking is the political will.