Transforming India’s Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food Supplies (TIGR2ESS)
Problem Statement and Background
The challenges of moving towards a sustainable and equitable agricultural system in a country as diverse as India are many and deep. How might these be studied and what are the spaces where meaningful intervention is possible as researchers? This presents the point of departure for our project which reflects on some of the most pressing political economy and policy issues of agricultural development in India. The project is funded by the Cambridge Global Food Security Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. Supported by a Global Challenges Research Fund award for cutting-edge research and innovation addressing global issues, like food security, faced by developing countries, our project is a part of the theme ‘Sustainable and Transformative Agriculture and Rural Development Trajectories’. This project will open a new conversation about the future of agriculture in India.
Research Questions
Following are some of the questions that the research will seek to answer.
- What are the societal choices that will inform the second green revolution, and how will these be negotiated in India’s contemporary political economy?
- What should be the focus of the new agrarian ecosystem, and how should it balance the interests of farmers, agricultural labor, the food industry, distribution networks and supply chains, consumers and those involved in providing support services and inputs to this sector?
- How might different production systems, ranging from small-holder family farms to large-scale commercial production respond to these different needs and interests, of men and women, across generations?
- What is the relative importance of improving yields and efficiency, ensuring ecological sustainability, and ensuring equitable and inclusive outcomes that leave no one behind?