Sustainable management of soil is a benchmark of organic and sustainable agriculture. A research on economic impact of sustainable soil management practices on tomato production in Dhading district of Nepal was carried out in 2012 where sustainable soil management (SSM) program was successfully

launched for five years. Altogether, 60 tomato producers were selected randomly for the study. Primary data were obtained using pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule, focus group discussion and key informant interview. Per ropani expenditure on seed, manure and average cost in

tomato production were found significantly increased whereas, cost of chemical fertilizers, cost of pesticides and total cost were significantly decreased after the adoption of SSM practices as compared to before adopting SSM practices. Gross margin was higher by NRs.1472.31 compared to before SSM practices. Similarly, B: C ratio was significantly higher by 0.32 after using SSM practices whereas, return to scale was 1.098 and 0.719 for after and before adopting SSM practices respectively.

Cobb-Douglas production function revealed human labor and organic manure for after SSM practices and seed including organic manure for before SSM practices as the significant factors determining tomato production. All the resources were not utilized to optimum economic level in tomato production

and for optimum allocation human labor, expenditure on seed and organic manure is required to increase by 42.1 per cent, 64.1 per cent, 79.6 per cent respectively whereas, expenditure on chemical inputs is required to decrease by 137.1 per cent. For healthy soil and environment and achieving

sustainable production and quality product farmers were adopting SSM practices.

The main purpose of the paper is to empirically examine the aviation-led growth hypothesis for India by testing causality between aviation and economic growth. We resort to econometric tests such as unit root tests and test of cointegration purposed by Johansen (1988). Fully Modified OLS,

Dynamic OLS and Conical Cointegration Regression are used to estimate the cointegration equation for time span of 1970 to 2012. Empirical results reveal the existence of relationship between aviation demand and economic growth. Graphic methods such as Cholesky Impulse Response function (both

accumulated and non-accumulated) and variance decomposition have also been applied to render the analysis rigorous. The positive contribution of aviation demand to economic growth is similar in all three estimation techniques of cointegration equation. Findings help in lime-lighting the importance of aviation industry in economic growth for a developing country like India.

Resource endowments specific to a given agrarian region determine pattern of input use and efficiency, thereby costs and returns involved in crop production. Scarcity of water is the foremost factor that critically limits the economic potential and restricts a farmer from maximising his output; thereby

profit, despite the role of other factors like seeds, manures, fertilizers etc. Using Cobb-Douglas production function, we examined the influence of such factors on output of chilli in two different production conditions, namely irrigated and rainfed, within a dry land agricultural system by using

primary data. Results revealed that number of irrigation significantly increased chilli output. Factors like seeds, manures, fertilizers and plant protection chemicals also had significant positive impact, with varying degrees under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Still, inefficiency was observed in

resource use, particularly in labour (in both conditions) and seed-rate (in rainfed condition). Costs and prices realised were higher in irrigation crop production, which ultimately resulted in increased returns. Shortage of agricultural labourers, high wage rates, excess rain during harvest but paucity of water at seed germination and early growth stages followed by pest and disease incidences were critical constraints in chilli production.

Dairy farmers in Bihar are mostly smallholders having one or two local-bred milch animals, which are raised on crop residues and natural pastures with under-employed family labour. Feeding grains, oil cakes and green nutritious fodder are limited to crossbred cattle. Feed and fodder deficiencies are

major limiting factors in raising livestock productivity. Fodder markets are important for communities, which have limited ability to produce their own fodder, but need quality fodder at reasonable prices to produce milk at competitive cost and trading is an important livelihood activity for poor who

engaged in it. The study tries find ways to improve the livelihoods of resource-poor livestock producers by alleviating fodder scarcity. Livestock being an important source of livelihood in Bihar, the study has a direct poverty relevance for state. The findings indicate a huge gap between demand

and supply of both dry and green fodder. South Bihar is fodder surplus area because of irrigated cultivation of paddy and wheat, while north Bihar is fodder deficit and depend on fodder surplus regions. There are no dedicated market places so, trading takes place along roadsides and without legal credentials. Fodder being a bulky item, makes its trading and handling difficult. Some traders do use compressing machines to make fodder blocks. Development of technology for cost-effective and nutritive feed requires urgent attention and here public sector R&D can play an effective role which

can also be done in public-private partnership mode.

Sugarcane is a major cash crop of India, particularly in UP, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujurat, and foot hils of Uttarakhand. Sugarcane crop has an productivity of 70 tonnes/ha and an area of 4.2 mha. It plays a pivotal role in the state and national economy. Sugarcane is considered as one of the best cash crops in Orissa. It is grown in all the 30 districts of Orissa. The selected district Dhenkanal occupied 10th position in area (1.19 thousand ha), 9th position in production (81.46 thousand MTs) and 14th position in yield (68510 kg/ha) in 2004-05.

The establishment of a sugar factory in Dhenkanal district has increased the prospect of this crop in the surrounding area. On contract farms the important constraints experienced by the sugarcane contract growers in its order of importance were (i) delay in payment of produce, (ii) lack of credit

for crop production, (iii) scarcity of water for irrigation, (iv) difficulty in meeting quality requirements and (v) lower prices of crop produce. The constraints expressed by the sugar industry were (i) violation of terms and conditions by farms, (ii) lack of proper management by company, (iii)

frequent price fluctuations in international market, (iv) scarcity of transport vechicle during peak periods, (v) inability to provide proper transport facilities to farms and (vi) families negligence in maintaining quality. Among different benefits from contract farming, contract farmers felt that lack of

initial investment was the prime factor to prefer contract farming as the firms provided the inputs such as seeds, fertilizers etc. to the farmers without cash from the farmers and these costs were deducted at the time of final payment.

The present study was conducted on two villages of one block of Amritsar District of Majha region of Punjab to find constraints perceived by dairy farmers in adoption and repayment of dairy loans. Majority of dairy farmers belongs to different categories according to herd size. Most of dairy farmers considered, high rate of interest, too many intermediates, lengthy complicated loan procedure, problem of financial guarantor, attitude of the loan officer, low price of milk, high cost of feed & fodder, low milk production, failure of milk animal to conceive every year, exploitation by milk vendors and animal trader as the serious problems.

State budgetary support to agriculture plays an important role in its development. The nature and magnitude of budgetary support influences the technical progress to a large extent. Needless to say, that the higher level of expenditure lays the foundation for higher rate of growth. Given the critical importance of agriculture to the Indian economy, capital assumes added importance. As the potential for further increases in crop area is nearly exhausted, the future growth of agriculture need to be yield based. The latter requires large investment in creating and maintaining productive assets like irrigation and rural infrastructure as well as in promoting growth agents like agricultural research, education and extension.

Our present study aims to find out the impact of literacy status of tribal women on knowledge, attitude and method about family planning programme of Sandeshkhali block of Sundarban area. The effect of different age group of tribal women is also taken into consideration. The statistical analysis reflect generally, higher the literacy status higher will be the acceptance of family planning programme, age will not be a factor regarding non-acceptance of the programme.

Assam has enormous potential for development of integrated fish farming to make the state self sufficient on table fish requirement and also for employment generation. The present study is an attempt to analyses the impediments faced by the farmers practicing integrated fish farming in Jorhat

district of Assam. The study revealed that integrated fish farming as a system generated sizeable income and employment in the area. On the whole, four major integrated fish farming systems were adopted by the sample farmers, e.g. integrated pig fish farming, integrated poultry- fish farming,

integrated horti-fish farming and integrated horti-pig-fish farming. High cost of input, lack of finance, non-availability of fish seed, inadequate training facility, poaching, lack of transportation facility were found to be the major problems faced by the sample farmers hindering the adoption of integrated fish farming in the study area.

Jute is one of the cheapest, strongest and most versatile of all natural fibres and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses. Assam is the largest producer of raw jute amongst the North Eastern states and is the third largest producer in the country. The state has produced

625575 bales during 2010-11. Assam registered the highest growth rate of production (2.18 per cent) during 1951-60 and highest productivity (1.86 per cent) during the year 1961-1970. The highest significant growth rate of area (10.60 per cent) was observed in Kokrajahar district while the highest

production (14.36 per cent) and productivity (9.80 per cent) was observed in Goalpara district during the year 2001-2010. The most stable district for area under Jute was Kamrup (5.08 per cent), for production N.C. Hills (12.80 per cent) and for productivity Bongaigaon district (17.57 per cent), respectively.

Child labour, protection of child rights and development of children has been a significant issue among the policy makers and all social scientists at national and international levels. Child labour is a socio-economic problem alive in every country of the world, but it varies in nature and scale depending on the existing socio-economic structure of society. Though, it is difficult to estimate

accurately the overall magnitude of child labour in India, it is important to study its trends, issues and policies in India. At present there are 215 million child labourers in the world, out of which 23.08 million are working in south Asian countries. India continues to host the largest number of child labour in the world but there is a large variation of child labour both state-wise and sector-wise. Agriculture and allied activities in India and the rest of the world report for largest child labour. The most child labour concentrated state in India is Uttar Pradesh. It is observed that the main reason of child labour is poverty, and the relationship between these two create a circle. This circle shows that child labour is a cause as well as result of poverty. The other reasons which give rise to child labour are unemployment, underemployment, and population explosion, lack of educational facilities, illiteracy and ignorance of parents. The government of India have been taking a variety of steps from

time to time for development of children and elimination of child labour from the country. Child education is a very effective instrument for the elimination of child labour.

India is agrarian country, since 72 per cent of the area is rural area and more than 60 per cent of the people depend on this sector. But, the contribution of this sector to the nation’s GDP is less than 17 per cent. Agricultural sector has had low production due to a number of factors such as illiteracy,

insufficient finance, and inadequate marketing of agricultural produces. Also the growth rate of the agricultural sector in India the GDP has declined due to the fact that the sector has not adopted modern technology and agricultural practices and insufficient irrigation facilities. The time is come to

safe guard the agricultural sector and to stop the farmers’ suicides in the country. A special package is necessary to provide input subsidy and development of animal husbandry, horticulture and poultry sector and it is more help to the agrarian economy. The government may arrange a package

of financial assistance to meet agricultural inputs and to meet expenditures of the social obligations.