📅 May 13, 2025, Post 2: 🌾 Why Indian Farmers Still Prefer Rice and Wheat |High Quality Mains Essay | Prelims MCQs
🌾 Why Indian Farmers Still Prefer Rice and Wheat
NATIONAL HERO — PETAL 002
🗓️ May 13, 2025
📚 GS Paper 3 – Agriculture / Food Security / Environment
🌱 Intro Whisper
In the fields of India, two grains reign —
Not just out of tradition, but trust, stability, and state support.
🔹 Key Highlights
- Wheat Output 2024–25: Estimated at 122.72 million tonnes, covering 330.8 lakh hectares.
- Rice Output: Over 120 million tonnes annually, spread across Kharif and Rabi seasons.
- Key States:
- Wheat: UP, MP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana
- Rice: West Bengal, Punjab, AP, TN
- Why Rice & Wheat Dominate:
- MSP & Assured Procurement
- Green Revolution legacy (semi-dwarf high-yield varieties)
- Irrigation support → Lower risk & yield stability
- Government schemes → Steady demand via PDS / PMGKAY
📘 Concept Explainer: Why Farmers Resist Crop Diversification
1. MSP Assurance & Demand Security
- Wheat & rice are guaranteed by procurement systems, unlike coarse grains and oilseeds.
- Consistent demand from ration shops, welfare schemes, and export channels.
2. Technological Legacy of Green Revolution
- High-yield varieties for wheat and rice respond better to fertilizer & water.
- Research infrastructure built around these two crops → stronger extension support.
3. Irrigation-Favorable Geography
- Most rice and wheat fields are in irrigated belts, making them less prone to rainfall shocks.
- Yield variability is low compared to pulses or millets.
4. Policy & Food Security Link
- These crops are central to India’s food buffer stock and grain subsidy programs.
⚠️ Challenges Emerging from This Reliance
- Climate Sensitivity:
- Heat stress during grain filling stages → Lower yields.
- Erratic monsoon patterns impacting sowing cycles.
- Water Depletion:
- Rice is water-intensive → Overexploitation of groundwater in Punjab-Haryana belt.
- Stagnant Domestic Demand:
- Household cereal consumption capped at ~150 million tonnes.
- Export markets are helping manage the surplus.
🌾 Why Alternative Grains Matter Now
• Climate Resilience
- Millets, maize, and pulses are less water-intensive, and more tolerant to erratic weather.
• Environmental Sustainability
- Rice emits methane, contributing to GHGs.
- Coarse cereals have a lower carbon footprint and help maintain soil health.
• Economic Opportunity
- Crop diversification reduces market oversupply, improves prices.
- Shifting just 10–15% rice area to coarse cereals can reduce climate-induced yield losses by 11%.
• Market & Incentives Gap
- Lack of robust MSP, warehousing, and procurement for non-rice/wheat crops.
- Farmers need clear price signals & insurance schemes to make the switch.
🗺️ GS Paper Mapping
| Paper | Theme | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| GS-3 | Agriculture | Food Policy, Crop Choices, Procurement |
| GS-3 | Environment | Water Use, GHG Emissions |
| GS-2 | Welfare Schemes | PDS, Food Security Act, PMGKAY |
✨ A Thought Spark — by IAS Monk
What grows in the field is not just food —
It is a reflection of faith, policy, and invisible fears.
And until we make change profitable,
The plough will always follow the safest path.
High Quality Mains Essay For Practice :
Word Limit 1000-1200
Why Indian Farmers Still Prefer Rice and Wheat: A Story of Legacy, Security, and Resistance to Risk
Introduction
India’s agricultural landscape is paradoxical — while there’s a loud policy push for crop diversification, a vast majority of Indian farmers continue to grow rice and wheat. This continued preference, often critiqued in policy circles, is not just a matter of tradition but rooted in a matrix of ecological suitability, institutional incentives, and existential security. As India strives to align agricultural choices with sustainability, water conservation, and nutritional security, it becomes vital to understand why the Green Revolution staples remain so deeply entrenched in the Indian farmer’s psyche and practice.
Historical Legacy: The Ghost of the Green Revolution
The preference for rice and wheat can be traced back to the transformative phase of the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. To combat severe food insecurity and famine-like conditions, the Indian government introduced high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of wheat and rice, primarily in Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh.
• These two crops became symbols of national food self-sufficiency.
• Institutions like the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) evolved around them, creating strong procurement and storage systems.
• Farmers in the northwest regions rapidly adapted to mechanized farming of rice and wheat, receiving consistent returns, government support, and growing generational expertise.
This historical momentum is not easily reversed — the cropping pattern today is an outcome of five decades of policy and market ecosystem built around these two grains.
MSP and Procurement: The Financial Cushion
The Minimum Support Price (MSP) system is perhaps the most decisive factor behind the continued dominance of rice and wheat. While MSP is announced for over 20 crops, effective procurement remains focused on rice and wheat.
• In 2024-25, government agencies procured nearly 120 million tonnes of rice and wheat combined, offering assured returns to farmers.
• The guaranteed procurement is especially strong in Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and parts of Andhra Pradesh, ensuring that farmers face zero market risk for these crops.
• For crops like pulses, oilseeds, or millets, procurement remains weak or non-existent in many states, making them riskier for small and marginal farmers.
Thus, MSP becomes more than just a price mechanism — it’s a security net, a psychological assurance in a sector marked by climate vagaries and price crashes.
Agro-Ecological Familiarity and Resource Dependency
While rice and wheat are not ecologically ideal for many regions (especially water-scarce ones like Punjab), decades of monoculture have altered the soil profile, irrigation infrastructure, and farmer know-how.
• Farmers have developed deep agronomic knowledge in growing these two crops — they know how to manage pests, fertilizer use, irrigation schedules, and harvest cycles with minimal external help.
• The subsidized electricity and groundwater access in regions like Punjab further perpetuate the rice cycle, despite ecological stress.
• Switching to pulses or millets often requires new seeds, learning curves, market access, and storage know-how — hurdles that most small farmers cannot afford.
Public Distribution System (PDS): The Demand Guarantee
Another invisible but powerful driver is consumer demand via the PDS, which distributes over 60 million tonnes of subsidized rice and wheat annually to over 80 crore Indians.
• This creates a built-in demand mechanism — ensuring that whatever is procured under MSP gets consumed through welfare schemes like the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
• Other crops like millets, oilseeds, or horticultural produce don’t enjoy this advantage. Their marketability often depends on open market demand, which is volatile and limited.
Thus, rice and wheat are not just supply-driven — they are systemically demanded by the state and society.
Lack of Market Access and Value Chains for Alternatives
For a farmer considering diversification, the biggest challenge is not cultivation but post-harvest support.
• Where will I sell my millets?
• Will someone buy my pulses at a good price?
• Can I store oilseeds safely without spoilage?
These questions reveal the underdeveloped ecosystem for non-rice and non-wheat crops.
• Cold chains, processing units, value-added products, and agri-startup networks are still weak in rural areas.
• Transport costs, lack of aggregation centers, and absence of local mills disincentivize farmers from moving away from the rice-wheat duo.
Risk Aversion Among Small and Marginal Farmers
With over 86% of Indian farmers being small or marginal, risk is not just economic — it is existential.
• For these farmers, one crop failure or one bad price cycle could mean loss of livelihood, indebtedness, and distress migration.
• Rice and wheat, backed by institutional assurance and historic success, appear like a less risky bet, even if profits are marginal.
• Diversification appears attractive only when institutional risk absorption (insurance, procurement, storage) is extended to new crops — something the current system does not fully ensure.
The Climate Angle: The Irony of Familiarity
Ironically, while rice and wheat dominate Indian agriculture, they are also major contributors to water depletion and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Rice is water-intensive and contributes significantly to methane emissions due to flooded paddy cultivation.
• Wheat, in some regions, relies heavily on groundwater for rabi irrigation, often exceeding recharge rates.
Yet, even in water-stressed regions, farmers continue to grow them because no alternative offers the same level of assurance and income consistency.
This ecological irony reflects a policy failure more than a farmer’s ignorance.
Way Forward: Enabling, Not Forcing, the Transition
To shift India’s cropping pattern sustainably, the solution lies not in penalizing rice-wheat cultivators, but in creating a parallel support ecosystem for other crops:
- Expand MSP Procurement to Pulses and Millets: Operationalize decentralized procurement through FPOs and local mandis.
- Strengthen Storage, Processing, and Marketing for New Crops: Create value chains and urban demand through awareness and retail incentives.
- Link Diversification with Climate Financing: Reward farmers through carbon credits and ecosystem service payments for shifting to climate-resilient crops.
- Customized Agri-Insurance Products: Support first-generation diversifiers through financial cushions for new crops.
- Create PDS Demand for Millets and Pulses: Mainstream nutritional security by introducing variety into the PDS grain basket.
Conclusion
Rice and wheat are not just crops — they are a story of security, history, and familiarity. The Indian farmer’s continued preference for them is not a matter of stubbornness, but a rational response to a risk-laden environment. To usher in true crop diversification, India needs to replicate the institutional architecture built around rice and wheat for a wider basket of crops. Only then can we shift from a supply-security model to a nutrition-climate-resilience model, without pushing the farmer into deeper uncertainty.
Quote to End
“You can’t ask the farmer to grow differently until you grow differently as a society.” – Anonymous Agrarian Reformer
Target IAS-26: Daily MCQs :
📌 Prelims Practice MCQs
Topic:
MCQ 1: Type – “How many of the above statements are correct?”
Consider the following statements about the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system in India:
1.MSP is announced for more than 20 crops every year.
2.Effective procurement under MSP predominantly benefits rice and wheat farmers.
3.Millets and pulses have equal procurement levels under MSP.
4.MSP guarantees price protection even if the government does not procure the crop.
How many of the above statements are correct?
A) Only two
B) Only three
C) All four
D) Only one
🌀 Didn’t get it? Click here (▸) for the Correct Answer & Explanation
✅ Correct Answer: A) Only two
🧠 Explanation:
•1) ✅ True – Over 20 crops are covered under MSP announcements.
•2) ✅ True – Actual procurement is heavily skewed towards rice and wheat.
•3) ❌ False – Millets and pulses lack consistent procurement.
•4) ❌ False – MSP without procurement does not ensure price protection.
MCQ 2: Type – “Two Statements”
Consider the following statements:
1.The Public Distribution System (PDS) creates consistent demand for rice and wheat in India.
2.Crop diversification has been fully implemented due to equal MSP coverage for all crops.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
A) Only 1 is correct
B) Only 2 is correct
C) Both are correct
D) Neither is correct
🌀 Didn’t get it? Click here (▸) for the Correct Answer & Explanation
✅ Correct Answer: A) Only 1 is correct
🧠 Explanation:
•1) ✅ True – PDS ensures stable demand for rice and wheat.
•2) ❌ False – MSP coverage for alternative crops remains weak and uneven.
MCQ 3: Type – “Which of the above statements is/are correct?”
Consider the following statements about challenges in crop diversification in India:
1.Lack of storage and processing infrastructure limits the sale of pulses and oilseeds.
2.Small and marginal farmers are more willing to experiment with crop switching.
3.Groundwater exploitation is higher in wheat and rice-growing belts.
4.Familiarity and low risk are major reasons for continued cultivation of rice and wheat.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
A) 1, 3, and 4 only
B) 1 and 2 only
C) 2, 3, and 4 only
D) All four
🌀 Didn’t get it? Click here (▸) for the Correct Answer & Explanation
✅ Correct Answer: A) 1, 3, and 4 only
🧠 Explanation:
•1) ✅ True – Infrastructural bottlenecks prevent effective diversification.
•2) ❌ False – Risk aversion is high among small/marginal farmers.
•3) ✅ True – These belts are heavily dependent on groundwater.
•4) ✅ True – Institutional and cultural comfort zones matter.
MCQ 4: Type – “Direct factual question”
Which of the following is a major ecological consequence of rice cultivation in India?
A) Depletion of phosphorus in soil
B) Methane emissions from flooded fields
C) Arsenic contamination in pulses
D) Salinity caused by zero tillage farming
🌀 Didn’t get it? Click here (▸) for the Correct Answer & Explanation.
✅ Correct Answer: B) Methane emissions from flooded fields
🧠 Explanation:
Paddy fields are a significant source of methane — a greenhouse gas — due to anaerobic decomposition.
