Managing Sustainable Transitions in Agriculture: Beyond Productivity and Populism in India

Abstract

This article situates Indian agriculture within the growing field of sustainability transitions, a literature that has largely neglected agriculture in the Global South. We argue that India’s Green Revolution model, characterised by high external inputs, water-intensive crops and technocratic extension, has reached ecological, economic and epistemic limits. Dominant policy responses organised around “productivity and populism” have prioritised short-term farm incomes but deepened long-term vulnerability through soil degradation, groundwater depletion and input dependency. Drawing on recent Indian scholarship and practitioner experience, we conceptualise agricultural transitions not as technological substitutions but as a socially negotiated processes shaped by power, knowledge and institutions. We argue for research that connects agroecology with sustainability-transitions thinking, highlighting the role of civil society, farmer organisations and public institutions in co-producing alternative pathways. We identify key challenges and opportunities for scaling agroecological transitions in India from the five papers in this special issue. We conclude by outlining a research agenda focused on landscape-level change, epistemic justice and metrics that move beyond productivity to include soil health, biodiversity, water and labour, thereby enabling more just and resilient smallholder food systems.