The depesantisation and feminisation of agriculture: Analysing present and exploring the future scenarios for sustainable agriculture in India

Abstract

The rural India is passing through unprecedented challenges primarily in terms of human capital. Two major bottlenecks in relation to human capital that have emerged and can become insurmountable problem in foreseeable future are the depesantisation and feminisation of Indian agriculture. The paper aims to investigate the contemporary relevance of depesantisation and feminisation of agriculture in India and tries to explore the possible future scenarios which may help policy makers and development community at large by using futures methodology. The scenarios presented in this paper search complex realities in which the existence of traditional class of peasantry falls in an acute exile while the progressive, skilled and experimental peasant class could have a better future. Likewise, the process of feminisation in India would be mostly positive in a long term-from a labour supply, productivity-income and social-political point of view.