1/n The ongoing farmers’ protests against the deregulation of the APMC Act makes me wonder again about how influential Punjab & Haryana are in India’s agri & food policy discussions. These 2 states are critical to our calorie security.
2/n But let's not forget that >95% of India’s farmers live elsewhere. Our food policy discourse weighs farmers; it does not count them. It should. Especially, if the goal is to double farmers’ income, not just produce more of what we already produce too much of.
Sep 19, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/n Everyone is using Bihar as an example of the negative impact of such deregulation—without much data or analysis of what happened. Government of Bihar abolished the APMC Act in 2006. Abolishing the APMC Act changed little in Bihar.
2/n >90% of Bihari farmers sell their produce at the farmgate. Mandi regulations matter little to them. There is an interesting case study of wheat growers in Bhojpur by Jeff Wittsoe.
