Agricultural Economics Research Review
  • Year: 2023
  • Volume: 36
  • Issue: 1

Bearing fruit or falling flat? The story of contract farming in India

  • Author:
  • A G Adeeth Cariappa1,*, Manjisha Sinha2, Sheela Kharkwal3, Apoorva Srinivas4
  • Total Page Count: 22
  • Page Number: 21 to 42

1International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, ICRISAT Campus, Hyderabad, 502324, India

2NITI Aayog, New Delhi, 110001, India

3Sri Karan Narendra Agricultural University, Jobner, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 303328, India

4Institute of Public Policy, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560072, India

*Corresponding author: adeeth07@gmail.com

Online Published on 27 September, 2023.

Abstract

Contract farming (CF) holds potential to stimulate demand-led agricultural growth in India. CF is practiced by 5.5 lakh farmers. Government of India’s 2020 CF law was withdrawn after extensive farmer protests. We scrutinize CF’s empirical evidence, highlight research gaps, and discuss policy implications. Meta-analysis indicates CF can decrease input costs by 28%, improve productivity by 20%, and boost profits by 51%. Notably, outcomes like educational progress, nutritional security, gender equity, social inclusion and sustainability remain under-researched.

Keywords

Contract farming, Meta-analysis, Impact evaluation, Evidence gap map, Farmers’ income, India