POLITICS OF FERTILIZER SUPPLY TO AGRICULTURE 69


hailed from these states than with substantial variation in positions across states. Information gathered through our interviews suggests that farmers from other states take similar positions with respect to fertilizer subsidies and price increases.


Farmers’ Movements and Interest Articulation


During the 1980s and 1990s, regional farmers’ movements emerged in several states in India calling for higher support prices (Brass 1995; Assadi 1997; Varsh- ney 1998). These movements, which were largely apolitical, were led by local activists. Although these movements were led by owners of large and medium- sized landholdings, small and marginal farmers also joined, as there was an identity of interests among all farmers on that issue. Such a unified movement does not exist today, and farm-sector interest articulation is quite fragment- ed.7 Not surprisingly, however, there is strong unified support for keeping input prices low, regardless of the size of farms, and all political parties and farmers’ organizations demand that the farmgate price of fertilizers be main- tained at existing levels. As the discussion in the next section demonstrates, when fertilizers are made available through a pricing structure in which higher prices affect only owners of large and medium-sized farms, then we find clearer evidence of lobbying and exercise of veto from representatives of large and medium-sized farm owners from the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Such interest articulation takes place through the debates in the legislature, through incumbent politicians with strong farm-sector ties, and through ministry consultation with constituents.


The Role of the Executive and Legislature in Setting the Farmgate Price of Fertilizers


To understand the role of government in setting fertilizer prices, it is nec- essary first to understand which Indian political institutions are involved. Through the budget process, the MoF sets the farmgate price and proposes increases in the price in consultation with the DoAC. The approval for such an increase has to come from the legislature. Within the executive branch, farmers’ interests are articulated by several cabinet ministers as well as the DoAC. In the legislature, a majority of the members of Parliament have pri- marily rural constituencies. In addition, various ministries consult with farm- ers’ groups during discussions on policy change in fertilizers.


7 Interviews with leaders of farmers’ associations, New Delhi, June–July 2005 and July–August 2006.


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