Treating farmer health as capital could help unlock the next phase of Indian agricultural growth. India’s agricultural story has long been told through the language of inputs, usually better seeds, more irrigation or improved market access. These levers powered the Green Revolution and continue to underpin policy. But as farming confronts climate volatility, it is time to take a hard look at the cost of human labour, long regarded as a constant. The health of farmers is typic

Farmers in drought-scarred Latur find their claims trapped in a maze of technicalities and delay. Latur district has long been hostage to the vagaries of the monsoon. With the weather being increasingly defined by erratic temperatures and monsoon patterns, agriculture in Marathwada region is fast becoming a gamble. Each season, farmers stake their livelihoods on the caprice of rain which is either too little or unseasonal, causing crops to wither or rot. The Kharif season of

For a country that still depends on the monsoon, India has grown surprisingly dependent on the Middle East. Not for rain, but for the fuel and fertilizers that keep its farms running. In an era of proliferating conflicts, especially the chronic instability across West Asia as evinced by the Iran conflict, that dependence is proving costly. The connection between geopolitics and the price of tomatoes in Pune is no longer abstract. When tensions flare in the Gulf, crude prices

India’s dependence on West Asian fertiliser routes has turned the Iran war into a domestic agricultural risk. When geopolitics intrudes upon agriculture, the consequences are measured in delayed sowing, rising costs and anxious farmers scanning uncertain skies. With no sign of the ongoing Iran war receding anytime soon, the prospect of a prolonged disruption in fertiliser supply, particularly through the narrow maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, poses a tangible thr

In India’s farm policy, arithmetic often collides with reality. Nowhere is this more evident than in Maharashtra, where the official logic of Minimum Support Prices (MSP) struggles to keep pace with the lived economics of cultivation. As the 2025–26 agricultural season unfolds, fresh evidence from the state’s Agricultural Price Commission suggests that the gap between what farmers spend and what they earn is widening. At first glance, Maharashtra appears an agricultural power

A technology-driven farm overhaul seeks to lift Maharashtra’s agricultural economy from $55bn today to $500bn by 2047. Prioritizing the holistic development of the agricultural sector in Maharashtra's budget, Chief Minister and Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis has placed farming firmly at its core, unveiling a sweeping set of initiatives aimed at reviving agricultural growth and embedding technology deep into the countryside. The State Government has set an ambitious target

To turn Konkan’s bounty into export muscle, Maharashtra must marry farm output with modern logistics. The Konkan coast has long been blessed by geography. Its laterite soil and monsoon rhythm yield a rich agricultural basket: rice and ragi, coconut and areca nut, spices and pulses. Above all, it is home to the celebrated Alphonso mango and a robust cashew and fisheries sector. Districts such as Ratnagiri district command brand recognition that many global producers would envy

Until agricultural productivity is prioritized, Maharashtra will remain trapped in a paradox of plenty without prosperity. Agriculture in India is often discussed as a story of prices and protests. Far less attention is paid to the quieter but more decisive force shaping farm incomes that is productivity. Yields determine not just how much farmers earn, but how competitive states are, how resilient agriculture becomes to climate stress, and how credible promises of ‘doubling

In India’s interminable debates over agricultural prices, one constant is striking by its absence. Policymakers argue over fertiliser subsidies, diesel prices and monsoon forecasts with the precision of book-keepers. Yet the farmer, who absorbs the shocks of all these variables, is reduced to a cipher. In the spreadsheets that govern Minimum Support Prices (MSP), labour is a fixed input, assumed to endure endlessly. The physical and mental toll of farming in form of the stres

India’s Union Budget for 2026–27 sketches a quieter but more consequential overhaul of agricultural policy. For much of independent India’s history, agricultural policy has been shaped by urgency. Droughts, price spikes and electoral cycles have encouraged governments to rely on input subsidies and ad hoc support, often at the expense of long-term productivity. The Union Budget for 2026–27 marks a departure from that habit. Rather than another incremental adjustment, it propo

The missing variable in India’s farm economics is the slow erosion of farmers’ bodies and minds. Agriculture is usually narrated as a story of soil, seeds and rain. In policy papers and production models, land is measured in acres, fertiliser in kilograms and water in cubic metres. Labour appears, if at all, as a residual cost. What is almost never counted is the condition of the person doing the work. Yet on India’s farms, especially those growing labour-intensive crops, the

The future of agriculture depends not on controlling the climate but on adapting smartly to it. In Maharashtra — especially in Marathwada, Solapur, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, parts of Vidarbha, and some talukas of Pune — unprecedented September rains caused massive destruction. Nearly 69,000 hectares of farmland were flooded, damaging crops like cotton, soybean, maize, pulses, vegetables, sweet lime, sugarcane, banana, mango, and grapes, with riverbank sugarcane fields worst hit.

It’s not sympathy. The farmers own the company. They bring the crops; Sahyadri does the rest. This is real business—with a Rs 2,000 crore...

As Trump reshapes agricultural trade policies, the global economy braces for a new era of protectionism and competition. U.S. President...

Despite ambitious reforms and record spending, India's farmers remain shackled by skewed incentives, outdated infrastructure and...

India’s agricultural story is one of paradoxes. Despite employing nearly half the workforce and contributing 16 percent to GDP, the...

Every year, as the Union Budget looms, we farmers hold our breath. Agriculture in India is not just a profession but the pulse of the...

For the Shinde-led Mahayuti government, the soybean crisis in Marathwada should serve as a wake-up call as campaigning intensifies ahead...