“I had to bear this burden”: Youth transcending constraints to become farmers in Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

In the context of a wider trend in India of young people’s reluctance to pursue farming as an occupation, the experience of young farmers in Madhya Pradesh provides evidence to the contrary. This case study of two districts in Madhya Pradesh suggests that several young farmers, given a choice, would rather engage in agriculture as a full-time activity. In this, the main barriers for young farmers are in the form of larger constraints such as water availability, the quality of land, and these farmers’ limited ability to expand farm size through land purchase. To be sure, several young farmers feel stuck in agriculture and are waiting to find off-farm jobs. Even for this group of farmers, however, agriculture seems to provide a fallback option, in a context where these off-farm jobs are difficult to obtain and often are of poor quality. As in many other contexts, significant differences exist between young men and women in terms of their aspirations to become farmers and their ability to fulfill these aspirations.