India’s Dilemma: Can Agriculture and Industry Survive Together?

In India’s West Bengal, an overt dispute has erupted between carmaker Tata Motors and local farmers, who claim that part of the land earmarked for a new plant was taken illegally from them. They demand better compensation, even for some of them full restitution of their land, and have shown no qualms to initiate an indefinite blockade of the site.

This episode is not an isolated phenomenon and tends to become widespread in developing countries, such as Brazil and China. These nations, which register strong economic growth as well as critical poverty rates, are facing an ambiguous situation. While they currently value a certain level of food security and resources––and the Doha Round’s breakdown is sufficient case in point––they nevertheless approve a large number of heavy industrial investments on agricultural land, to the detriment of their local population.

Yet consequences can prove to be very severe. On one hand, in terms of food security: the expropriation of farmers cuts down agricultural production, which in turn increases the country’s dependence on food imports. On the other hand in terms of social unity: these farmers, once deprived from their livelihood, are bound to join the ranks of urban poor, thus endangering the country’s social stability.

This explains why, if industrial investment is a major requirement for India’s economic expansion––as well as that of emerging nations––it must not be achieved at the detriment of agriculture, at the risk of jeopardizing their entire development progress.