UPSC Mains 2021 GS Paper 3 Q14: model answer

Haryana's Mera Pani Meri Virasat offered farmers ₹7,000 an acre to give up paddy. Many still went back to rice. That one fact sums up the challenge: farmers stay with the crop that the market and the state make safe.

Price and market challenges

• MSP with assured procurement mainly for rice and wheat; for pulses, oilseeds and millets procurement is thin.
• No assured buyer for alternatives; price crashes in vegetables.
• Weak value chains: few processing units for maize, millets or pulses.

Farm and input challenges

• Free or cheap power and water favour thirsty crops.
• Small holdings and risk aversion; one failed crop means debt.
• Seed and knowledge gaps for new crops; extension still cereal-centric.
• Climate risk in rainfed areas.

Opportunities from emerging technologies

• Remote sensing and GIS to map soils and water and plan crops zone by zone.
• Precision agriculture: sensors, drones and variable-rate input application.
• Biotechnology: climate-resilient and short-duration varieties; genome-edited rice released in 2025.
• Protected cultivation and hydroponics for high-value vegetables.
• Digital markets: e-NAM, FPO platforms, ONDC for agri-produce.
• Cold chains and solar cold rooms that keep perishables.
• Agri Stack and AI advisories to tell a farmer what to grow and where to sell.

Policy support

• Crop-neutral incentives, such as support per hectare rather than per quintal.
• Missions for pulses and oilseeds, with procurement through NAFED and NCCF.
• Price deficiency payments, as in Madhya Pradesh's Bhavantar, to cover the gap when market prices fall.
• Crop insurance and credit designed for new crops, so the first season of change is not a gamble.

Technology can show the farmer a better crop; only a market can make him take the risk to grow it.