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Betting on Potatoes: Accumulation in Times of Agrarian Crisis in Punjab, India

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  • Shreya Sinha

Abstract

Despite the widespread consensus that neoliberal India is reeling under an overarching agrarian crisis, this article argues that at least some capitalist farmers are continuing to accumulate and are thereby contributing to the process of class differentiation. Through a study of potato‐growing capitalist farmers in Punjab, the archetypal Green Revolution state of India, the author shows that such farmers can navigate complex production and market processes to make profits. However, risks of volatile prices and land and credit markets have made capital accumulation more uncertain. While potato is a minor crop in Punjab and the case cannot be generalized, it brings into focus both under‐explored non‐state actors and processes in the state, and important tendencies of change since the plateauing of Green Revolution technologies. The analysis also highlights the agency of such farmers in negotiating a transformed political economy context, including the presence of corporate agribusinesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Shreya Sinha, 2020. "Betting on Potatoes: Accumulation in Times of Agrarian Crisis in Punjab, India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(6), pages 1533-1554, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:51:y:2020:i:6:p:1533-1554
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12589
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Judith Heyer, "undated". "The Changing Position of Thottam Farmers in Villages in Rural Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, between 1981/2 and 1996," QEH Working Papers qehwps59, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Amit Basole & Deepankar Basu, 2010. "Relations of Production and Modes of Surplus Extraction in India," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2011-01, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    3. Minten, Bart & Reardon, Thomas & Singh, K.M. & Sutradhar, Rajib, 2012. "The New and Changing Roles of Cold Storages in the Potato Supply Chain in Bihar," MPRA Paper 61109, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2014.
    4. Guillaume Gruere & Debdatta Sengupta, 2011. "Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India: An Evidence-based Assessment," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 316-337.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ahilan Kadirgamar & Hashim Bin Rashid & Amod Shah, 2021. "Contesting Agricultural Markets in South Asia: Farmer Movements, Co-operatives and Alternative Visions," Millennial Asia, , vol. 12(3), pages 277-297, December.

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