Structural Reforms and Agriculture: Issues and Policies

The performance of Agriculture in India is important as the sector not only contributes to overall growth of the economy but also provides employment and food security to majority of the population in the country. The 11th Five Year Plan also indicates that agricultural development is an important component of inclusive growth approach. Structural reforms were introduced in India in a big way in 1991. These reforms were followed by India becoming founder member of WTO in 1994. The structural reforms and obligations of WTO have positive and negative effects on Indian agriculture2. The negative effects can be reduced and benefits from overall reforms can be realized by following pro-agriculture macro policies and easing of supply side constraints in agriculture. In this context, this paper provides an over view of issues and policies on two aspects: (a) Impact of structural macro policy reforms on agriculture and (b) reforms needed in agriculture in order to benefit from overall economic reforms and cope with the emerging challenges in the post-reform era.