India’s journey from agricultural basket case to breadbasket

Indian agriculture has a poor reputation, which is not unfair. About half the country’s workforce toils on the land. Their labour unfolds in the brutal heat and tends to be done by hand or in unsheltered, rudimentary vehicles. Seasonal financing often comes through informal channels, with lending at annual rates approaching 30%. Paralysing debts are not uncommon. Production efficiency is low; yields for corn, rice, wheat and other crops are a fraction of those in America, China and Europe. In Punjab, the country’s agricultural heartland, roadside signs forgo typical advertisements for cars, films and phones, and instead hawk foreign-language training, overseas education and expedited visas. What local farmers want is not a new gadget but a way out.