Understanding the Next Agricultural Transition in Asia: A Critical Review of Major Facets and Future Challenges

Abstract

Global agriculture is passing through a distinct phase of transformation as caused by a plethora of endogenous and exogenous factors. A majority of the Asian countries are already caught up in a serious development dilemma, where the sustainable future of agriculture is at stake due to various internal structural contradictions and externally imposed trade or market integration policies. Despite the fact that Asian region has emerged as the ‘power centre’ in the highly market integrated and dynamic global context, there are several contradictions in the organization of agriculture across countries in the region. This paper provides a critical review of the agrarian transformation taking place in the Asian region with particular reference to five countries, viz, Bangladesh, India, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. It mainly deals with the critical aspects of the agrarian transformation in these countries in the past few decades and the challenges facing their sustainable agriculture. The paper also tries to develop future perspectives and provide critical inputs and useful insights for identifying potential research areas needing rigorous empirical investigations in the specific regional/country contexts.