Another problem was the dominance and profitability of rice farming and its hold over the political establishment. Agricultural subsidies kept the economic value of growing paddy and wheat artificially high, which prevented a natural transition of small and marginal farmers out of agriculture. The state government further distorted economic choices by offering farmers free power to draw out groundwater, which depleted the water table. Eventually, smaller farmers, who could not afford the big pumps that were needed to draw water from the depths it had sunk to, were hurt.
