The Government of Andhra Pradesh has established Rythu Bharosa Kendras (Farmer Assurance Centres) at the village level to take the agriculture-related services to the doorsteps of the farmers. Within three years of their advent, RBKs have found a place in the list of national best practices and NITI Aayog is proposing to replicate the model in other states. While decentralised service delivery is a positive development, the long list of its mandated services is proving to be a bottleneck for effective service delivery. This article examines the functioning of RBKs at the village level to evaluate the merits of the programme.
The authors are thankful to an anonymous referee for making very constructive comments and useful suggestions on the earlier version of the paper and the Alagappa University, Karaikudi for providing research assistance for writing this paper from the RUSA Phase 2.0 Scheme. The views expressed in this paper are the authors’ own. A Narayanamoorthy (narayana64@gmail.com) is senior professor and head, K S Sujitha (sujithakiran861@gmail.com) is research associate, R Suresh (saga42.suresh@gmail.com) is an assistant professor, and P Jothi (jothi5050@gmail.com) is adjunct lecturer at the Department of Economics and Rural Development, Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu.
M S Swaminathan contributed not only to agriculture and rural development in India but also helped other developing countries through his leadership of the International Rice Research Institute and many other international bodies devoted to research and practical application of advances in agricultural sciences with the primary objective of eliminating hunger and ensuring universal food and nutrition security.
The UNFCCC treaty of 1992 conceived of the agriculture sector primarily as a site of adaptation. However, there has been increasing pressure in the global climate regime to reconfigure agriculture into a site of deep emission cuts to meet the Paris temperature targets. Land-based mitigation measures—as opposed to adaptation measures—are prioritised and promoted by influential sections, including developed countries and international development and climate organisations. The emphasis on mitigation is an extension of the strategy of developed countries to transfer the responsibility of deep emission reductions to developing countries in the context of the failure of the former to undertake deep emission reductions in the decades following the establishment of the UNFCCC.
A leading agriculture scientist, humanist, and institution builder, M S Swaminathan passed away on 28 September 2023. The best way to honour him and his rich legacy is by continuing his unfinished mission of eradicating malnutrition with more determination and vigour.
The policies related to the use of nitrogen fertilisers since independence are reviewed using primary and secondary databases to derive the present status of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertiliser use among farmers. Recommendations for increasing nitrogen use efficiency in agriculture for sustainability are provided.
Food for All: International Organizations and the Transformation of Agricultureby Uma Lele, Manmohan Agarwal, Brian C Baldwin, and Sambuddha Goswami, New York: Oxford University Press, 2021; pp xxxvii + 1024, $150 (hardcover).
Apple Is Our Livelihood edited by Nidheesh J Villat, Shubhojeet Dey and Navina Lamba, New Delhi: P Sundarayya Memorial Trust, 2022; pp 116, `150 (hardcover).
Increasing public investment in agriculture is not translating into higher rates of growth in private investment in agriculture, output, and farmers’ income. So this article probes the missing elements that might have come in the way by analysing the state-level data from 1981–82 to 2015–16.
