Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Resource Economics

The policy thrust being given to the agricultural sector by the indian government since the 90’s places greater reliance on the free operation of the market forces and the creation of a favourable price and trade regime. This new policy package marks a clear departure from the past agricultural policies. Given this background, however, there are many rain-fed systems, largely bypassed by the Green Revolution and where technological innovations and institutional structures are weak. Rural poverty, which is highly incident here, is often associated with lack of markets, poor water management, insecure land tenure systems, and land degradation that increase vulnerabilities to drought. Over the years, various interventions have been targeted to reduce poverty and enhance sustainability in drought-prone areas. An overview of these innovations to overcome development constraints in the framework of agricultural transformation will be one part of the proposed research. Based on the past and ongoing research at the Department of Resource Economics, Humboldt University, three key research domains are proposed for an in-depth analysis; (a) agricultural development policy, institutional change and collective action (b) watershed development as new development paradigm towards agricultural transformation and institutional building (c) agricultural transformation, poverty alleviation and food security.