Mitigating Agricultural Risks: The Need for Comprehensive Policy Reform in India

India needs to craft policy that makes agriculture less risky. Instead, what we get is state responses that heighten price volatility. Food availability will be better served by farmers making better informed decisions about risk.On a daily basis, farmers and farm workers are exposed to potentially dangerous machinery, vehicles, chemicals and livestock.

Farmers are subjected to all sorts of risks including working at height, dealing with electrical equipment and working near pits and silos.A grain farmer can hire crop scouts to spot disease, fertility problems and pest control problems, thereby reducing (but not eliminating) the risk of poor yields. Another common way for farmers to reduce risk is to diversify across different enterprises.

Presentation- Dibyabharati Nayak