ABSTRACT
The vast irrigated lands of South Asia, and the Indo-Gangetic Plains in particular, played a key role in the Green Revolution and helped move the South Asian subcontinent from national food crises and starvation to a position of food security and relative plenty. But these areas are now struggling with second-generation problems, including low prices and declining profitability of rice and wheat within a larger context of national and global cereal surpluses, unsustainable water use, and farming practices that threaten the viability of continued productivity growth. Just what should the future role of these irrigated regions be, and what kinds of policies are relevant to solving their second-generation problems? We address these issues in tum, with a focus on India, the largest practitioner of the rice-wheat system.
