NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand recently urged farmers to diversify towards crops outside the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, signalling the need to reduce the continued expansion of paddy and wheat cultivation and promote more sustainable cropping patterns.
Historical Background
- Post-Independence Crisis: After independence, India faced severe food shortages and relied on imports, such as the PL-480 program from the USA.
- Geopolitical Pressure: The USA used food aid as leverage to pressure India on international issues such as the Vietnam War.
- This “ship-to-mouth” existence necessitated the Green Revolution.
- Narrow Focus: To achieve food security, the government focused research and Minimum Support Price (MSP) almost exclusively on paddy and wheat.
The Problem: Monoculture and Its Impacts
- Monoculture: The fixation on these two crops has created a monoculture where farmers grow the same crops year after year, leading to several crises.
- Zero Incentive for Diversification: Farmers lack the incentive to grow other crops, such as pulses, because the MSP for paddy and wheat is raised annually and perceived as safe.
- Expansion of Land Use: The area under paddy and wheat has grown from 36 million hectares in the 1960s to 80–85 million hectares today.
- Soil Degradation: Continuous monoculture depletes specific nutrients from the soil.
- Farmers attempt to address this by applying excessive urea, creating a vicious cycle in which soil health never truly recovers.
- Financial Burden of Subsidies:
- Urea Subsidy: It has increased from ₹63,000 crore in 2010 to ₹1,91,000 crore, diverting taxpayer money from infrastructure development.
- Electricity Subsidy: Approximately ₹1,00,000 crore is spent annually on electricity subsidies to pump groundwater.
- Water Emergency: Producing 1kg of rice requires 3,000 to 5,000 litres of water.
- A 2024 report from the Central Groundwater Board highlighted that groundwater in Punjab and Haryana has reached such low levels that many areas are now dark zones.
- Pesticides and Health: Monoculture allows pests to adapt, leading farmers to use more pesticides.
- Excessive agrochemical use has been linked to a high incidence of cancer among farmers in Punjab, reflected in the well-known “Cancer Train” that regularly carries patients to Bikaner for treatment.
- Procurement and R&D Gap: Over the last decade, the government spent ₹20.2 lakh crore on wheat and paddy procurement, while pulses received less than 5% of that amount (₹93,000 crore).
- Additionally, most Research and Development (R&D) has focused on high-yield wheat and paddy varieties, neglecting other crops.
Political and Social Barriers in Crop Diversification
- Vote Bank Politics: Governments often hesitate to promote crop diversification because electoral incentives favour policies like higher MSP procurement for water-intensive crops (e.g., rice and wheat), making it politically risky to advocate environmentally sustainable alternatives.
- Dietary Preferences and Consumption Patterns: Despite being nutritionally superior and climate-resilient, the preference for traditional millets such as Bajra and Ragi declined as wheat gained popularity due to easier processing, widespread availability through the PDS.
Way Forward
- Crop Diversification: There is a need to shift the focus toward nutri-cereals such as Jowar, Bajra, and Ragi, which use less water and are rich in protein and iron.
- Promoting pulses and nutri-cereals also helps in fixing atmospheric nitrogen, providing a natural fertiliser for the soil.
- Rationalising Subsidies: Rationalise MSPs and subsidies over 5–10 years, with advance policy signalling, so farmers can adjust their cropping patterns.
- Alternative Incentives: Redirect public support toward sustainable crops by strengthening procurement systems for pulses, millets and oilseeds so that farmers have assured markets and income security.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the goal is to protect farmer welfare while addressing the urgent ecological and health crises caused by the long-standing fixation on just two crops.
5 Mar 2026
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