Indian agriculture stands at a critical crossroads. Despite decades of planned development and three decades of economic liberalisation, the sector continues to grapple with a profound crisis-one that is simultaneously ecological, economic, social, and political. Over 58 percent of India's population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, yet this sector contributes only 17 to 18 percent to the national GDP. This stark structural imbalance has reached alarming levels. Farmer suicides have become a grim reality, landholdings have fragmented to less than a hectare on average, and the feminisation of agriculture has resulted not in women's empowerment but in their systematic marginalisation as unpaid family labour.
Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Futures: Food Security, Gender Dynamics and Public Policy in India confronts these challenges head-on. This volume brings together leading scholars from across disciplines-agricultural economics, development studies, gender studies, nutrition science, and public policy-to offer a comprehensive and critical examination of the pathways toward a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient rural future.
The book's central argument is both urgent and transformative: the dominant model of agricultural development-characterized by heavy external inputs, monocropping, market integration without institutional safeguards, and the invisibilisation of women's labour-has reached its limits. The environmental costs are no longer sustainable, and the social costs are no longer acceptable. Yet, amidst these challenges, the volume documents promising alternatives: the revival of climate-resilient millets (Shree Anna), the empowerment of women through Self-Help Group-based enterprises, the reinvigoration of traditional knowledge systems among tribal communities, and the emergence of natural farming as a viable pathway to ecological restoration.
Through five thematic sections-Millets, Nutrition and Food Security; Gender, Labour and Social Dimensions; Tribal Livelihoods and Traditional Knowledge; Agricultural Markets, Structural Change and Rural Transformation; and Public Policy, Schemes and Institutional Interventions-this volume engages with the most pressing questions of our time. How can we build resilient food systems in an era of climate uncertainty? Why do educated young women continue to toil as unpaid family labour? What can traditional knowledge systems teach us about sustainability? And how can public policy bridge the gap between good intentions and transformative outcomes?