Changing from subsistence to cash cropping

Overview

Increasingly, cash-crop production is overtaking traditional subsistence farming in India. The Government, development workers, banks and financial institutions are pushing cash cropping as leading to greater yield, higher earnings, and raised living standards. But the shift is bad news for small producers and women farmers. Payment is now in cash rather than in kind. Whereas in kind payments were equal for men and women, women receive less cash than men. Their real income is not increasing, because cash crops require more investment than subsistence farming. Families are eating less, lower quality food, and the use of pesticides cause sickness. Rajamma explores these, and other, problems.

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