Agrarian Concerns, Food Security and Sustainability in Modern India

What is the nature of the small and marginal farmer and the non-farm informal sector?

The vast majority of India’s farms are small and marginal holdings that form the primary production system of the country that is intricately linked to biodiversity, water, livestock, commons and social practices. Understanding the relevance of these producers and their relationship with local and distant forces is essential for an understanding of development and catalysing welfare gains. 

Additionally, there is a contiguity between the social and natural in rural India. Forest-centric ecological concerns and food-centric agricultural concerns can overlook this linkage in the articulation of development and sustainability discourses.