Understanding the patterns of agrarian transformation: state-mediated commercialisation and deagrarianisation in Kashmir

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the significant agrarian transformations in India’s Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is witnessing a rapid transition into commercial farming and, simultaneously, an increasing trend of deagrarianisation. The study uses a mixed-method approach to investigate why farmers adopt commercial farming in this region and how the processes of deagrarianisation, reconfiguration of land use, and deepening commodification have become inevitable for many small and medium-scale farmers as a result of this process. In the analysis, our empirically tested theoretical model confirms that institutional factors in terms of state support work as a significant driver toward commercialisation. We then argue that combined with the stimulus of the state, a vigorous process of neo-extractivism is being promoted, which renders the substantive changes in agrarian transitions by displacing the subsistence sector. The study highlights that this contemporary commercialisation is altering the social and physical landscape and driving broader forms of dispossession and consolidation of farmlands at micro-levels. Furthermore, it raises questions about the fundamental role of the Indian state’s neo-extractivist policies in a politically contested region.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural transformation
• adoption
• deagrarianisation
• neo-extractivism

Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere gratitude to Dr Emily Finlay and the two anonymous reviewers of the journal for their helpful feedback. Their insights not only enriched the content of this work but also drew our attention to critical debates we had inadvertently overlooked.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Ubaid Mushtaq, upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.