Priya Deshingkar, Usha Kulkarni, Laxman Rao, Sreenivas Rao

Development Policy Review  Volume 21 Issue 5-6 Page 627 - September 2003

Transformations in the global food system are causing changes in food production and marketing in India at a slower rate than elsewhere in the developing world but there is is a growing domestic market for horticultural produce, in both traditional and exotic vegetables. Production and marketing arrangements are responding to changing demand driven by urbanisation and diet change. Government-sponsored schemes in horticulture have mixed results, generating more jobs than cereal production but reaching larger rather than smaller farmers and landless households. Beyond direct government interventions, new forms of contractual and sharecropping relationships are emerging between private dealers and farmers. These could be useful in developing a model for ensuring that the horticulture sector can benefit small and marginal farmers.

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