Production is dualistic.
Commercial farmers use modern technology, achieve high yields, compete in international markets, and earn high incomes. Before the reforms, government agricultural policy sought to encourage production by protecting the major food crops and cotton through high guarantee prices, which were made feasible by import restrictions on the crops in question. Since the same guarantee prices applied throughout the country, producers near production centers received lower subsidies than those far away. Simultaneously, food policy worked to keep urban consumer prices below farm prices through heavy, untargeted subsidies and market regulations. These consumer subsidies were expensive, amounting to about 1 percent of GDP in 1986.