Agriculture and Food Security

MSP and CACP, procurement and FCI, PDS and the National Food Security Act 2013, buffer stocks, farm subsidies, WTO boxes and land reforms for UPSC GS III.

SyllabusGS III · Major crops, cropping patterns, irrigation, farm subsidies, MSP, PDS, buffer stocks and food security, food processing, land reforms

Agriculture employs the largest share of India’s workforce and feeds the largest food security programme in the world. This chapter follows grain from the field to the ration shop: how the government sets prices, buys and stores grain, distributes it under a legal entitlement, and how land ownership shapes who gains from it.

What UPSC asks

Prelims: CACP and the MSP crops, cost concepts (A2, A2+FL, C2), FCI and decentralised procurement, NFSA entitlements, WTO boxes and the peace clause, land-reform terms, and schemes in the news.
Mains GS III: “direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; public distribution system — objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security”; land reforms; marketing reforms.

Key sub-topics

Sub-topic	Core idea
Minimum Support Price	CACP recommends; the Union Cabinet decides; 22 crops + FRP for sugarcane
Procurement and storage	FCI (1965), decentralised procurement, buffer norms
Public Distribution System	Universal PDS → TPDS (1997) → AAY (2000) → NFSA (2013)
Food security	Availability, access, utilisation, stability
Trade rules	WTO Agreement on Agriculture: amber, blue and green boxes
Land reforms	Intermediaries abolished, tenancy, ceilings, consolidation, records

Start with MSP, PDS and Food Security, then Land Reforms in India.