Dried up livelihoods: The political economy of the "Liberalised Green Revolution" in India

生计枯竭：印度“自由化绿色革命”的政治经济学

• 批准号: ES/W005204/1
• 负责人: Ambarish Karamchedu
• 金额: $ 13.29万
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW005204%2F1
• 关键词: Dried; up; livelihoods; political; economy

Millions of smallholder farmers globally earn low incomes from agriculture, which are only set to worsen under climate change. Policies on how to improve smallholder outcomes however, have been contested in the literature. In my PhD, I found that, since the 1980's, policy makers in developing countries have promoted the private sector to lead agricultural development in inputs, credit, irrigation, and extension provision. Pushed for food security and economic growth, policy makers assumed that private sector commercialisation increased yields and profitability for smallholder farmers in rainfed areas, who numbered 1.5 billion people in 55 countries. To compare the aims and outcomes of these agricultural policies for smallholder farmers, I conducted interviews and household surveys over eight months of fieldwork in Telangana, a drought prone state in south India. Telangana was the epicentre of rapid smallholder adoption of private sector driven genetically modified cotton and groundwater irrigation technologies since the 1990s after economic reforms in India. My research showed that smallholder commercialisation in Telangana increased farmer indebtedness from crop failures and failed investments, causing farmers to leave agriculture as a primary income. This was down to four explanatory factors:1) Low rainfall, soil fertility and drought extremes in Telangana meant cotton saw frequent harvest failures and low yields2) Farmers borrowed credit to pay for crop investments but low yields and cotton, groundwater failures made them unable to repay their debts3) Market intermediaries promoted and financed cotton cultivation in environmentally fragile areas, worsening economic outcomes for smallholder farmers4) Government withdrawal in agricultural policy made way for private sector driven agricultural development, being absent in regulating unsuitable cash crop adoptionThese findings detailed what the consequences of policy makers ignoring the economic, social and environmental context in which agricultural policies are implemented. In this fellowship I plan four steps to increase the impact of my PhD research to academic, non-academic and policy audiences:First, I will conduct new scoping research in India for one month, expanding from my PhD thesis. I examine the politics behind how and why groundwater irrigation policies promote cash crop agriculture in rainfed smallholder areas given the adverse environmental and economic outcomes. Second, I will utilise the scoping study to write research applications to the ESRC, British Academy and Leverhulme Trust. In this research, I study the intersection of irrigation policy, climate change, groundwater depletion and energy subsidies in India.Third, I will publish three journal articles out of my PhD thesis in leading geography and development studies journals, on genetically modified cotton and groundwater irrigation adoption and the effects on non-farm livelihoods in rainfed and smallholder India. These publications will increase my academic career prospects via their interdisciplinary impact in geography and international development. Fourth, I will communicate my PhD research to multiple audiences via presentations, videos, blogs, and policy briefs. Within academia, I will present at prestigious geography and international development conferences in the USA, UK and Europe. To engage with popular audiences online, I will write articles for The Conversation, an influential academic journalism site. Finally, over two weeks, I will present at and organise a workshop inviting agricultural economists, rural development NGOs and agricultural policy audiences in Hyderabad, a city in Telangana, south India. The event will discuss the policy implications of my research on dryland smallholder commercialisation in India, helping to nuance agricultural policies by the Indian government. This will help me build my academic and policy networks in India for future research projects.

全球数以百万计的小农从农业中获得的收入很低，而在气候变化的影响下，这种情况只会变得更糟。然而，有关如何改善小农成果的政策在文献中一直存在争议。我在攻读博士学位时发现，自 20 世纪 80 年代以来，发展中国家的政策制定者一直在推动私营部门在投入、信贷、灌溉和推广服务方面引领农业发展。在推动粮食安全和经济增长的过程中，政策制定者认为私营部门的商业化可以提高雨养地区小农的产量和盈利能力，这些地区的小农分布在 55 个国家，总数为 15 亿。为了比较这些针对小农的农业政策的目标和成果，我在印度南部干旱易发的特伦甘纳邦进行了为期八个月的实地调查和访谈。自 20 世纪 90 年代印度经济改革以来，特伦甘纳邦是小农户迅速采用私营部门驱动的转基因棉花和地下水灌溉技术的中心。我的研究表明，特伦甘纳邦的小农商业化增加了农民因农作物歉收和投资失败而负债，导致农民放弃农业作为主要收入。这可以归结为四个解释因素：1) 特伦甘纳邦降雨量低、土壤肥力低和极端干旱意味着棉花经常歉收和产量低2) 农民借入信贷来支付作物投资，但产量低以及棉花、地下水资源短缺使他们无法偿还债务3) 市场中介机构在环境脆弱地区促进和资助棉花种植，导致小农经济状况恶化4) 政府退出农业政策，为私营部门驱动的农业发展让路，缺乏对不适宜经济作物的监管采用这些研究结果详细说明了政策制定者忽视农业政策实施的经济、社会和环境背景的后果。在这项奖学金中，我计划采取四个步骤来增加我的博士研究对学术、非学术和政策受众的影响：首先，我将在印度进行为期一个月的新范围研究，以我的博士论文为基础进行扩展。鉴于不利的环境和经济后果，我研究了地下水灌溉政策如何以及为何促进雨养小农地区经济作物农业背后的政治。其次，我将利用范围界定研究向 ESRC、英国科学院和 Leverhulme Trust 撰写研究申请。在这项研究中，我研究了印度灌溉政策、气候变化、地下水枯竭和能源补贴的交叉点。第三，我将在领先的地理和发展研究期刊上发表我的博士论文中的三篇关于转基因棉花和地下水的期刊文章灌溉技术的采用及其对雨养印度和小农户非农业生计的影响。这些出版物将通过其对地理学和国际发展的跨学科影响来增加我的学术职业前景。第四，我将通过演讲、视频、博客和政策简介向多个受众传达我的博士研究。在学术界，我将在美国、英国和欧洲著名的地理和国际发展会议上发表演讲。为了与在线受众互动，我将为 The Conversation（一个有影响力的学术新闻网站）撰写文章。最后，在两周多的时间里，我将在印度南部特伦甘纳邦的城市海得拉巴出席并组织一次研讨会，邀请农业经济学家、农村发展非政府组织和农业政策受众参加。该活动将讨论我对印度旱地小农商业化的研究的政策影响，帮助制定印度政府的农业政策。这将帮助我在印度为未来的研究项目建立学术和政策网络。

项目成果

Creating the 'Rice Bowl of India': Examining the political economy of groundwater-led agrarian transformation in dryland India

创造“印度的饭碗”：审视印度旱地地下水主导的农业转型的政治经济学

• DOI: http://dx.10.1177/25148486231217141
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Nature and Space
• 作者: Karamchedu A

Dried up Bt cotton narratives: climate, debt and distressed livelihoods in semi-arid smallholder India

枯竭的 Bt 棉花故事：印度半干旱小农的气候、债务和生计困境

• DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2023.2211037
• 发表时间: 2023-06-11
• 期刊: Climate and Development
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: Ambarish Karamchedu