The present study was conducted in hot arid region of the Western Rajasthan during 2012 – 2014. Three districts of hot arid region namely; Naguar, Bikaner, Churu district were selected randomly for the study. During the study, there were found several potential landrace vegetables in the hot arid region which play significant role as the leading component crops of the sustainable production system and source of income generation in the study areas/district. Among the evergreen bush/tree type landrace vegetables were khejri, ker, Khimp, moringa, phog, lasoda (Cordia myxa Roxb.), Indian aloe, and cactus (Opuntia ficus indica). Under the group of the seasonal leafy vegetable, fenugreek, amaranth, chinopodium (bathua), mustard (leaves), green onion, were found the major landrace leafy vegetables contributing in sustainable production system and income generation in hot arid region (study areas). In case of cucurbitaceous vegetable group, the kachri, snapmelon, mateera, roundmelon , bottlegourd and kakoda were found the most important landrace cucurbitaceous vegetables which play leading role in sustenance and sustainable production system of the crops in hot arid region (study areas). They are the backbone of the world famous mixed cropping system of the hot arid region which makes the existing cropping system most suitable and sustainable with high economic viability. Other important landrace vegetables were cluster bean, moth bean, cowpea, green gram, brinjal, chilli and local mushroom which play vital roles in sustainable crop production system and generating substantial amount of income in the study areas/districts .Further, it was found that the majority (86.8%) of the farmers of the study areas of the hot arid region mainly follow mixed cropping system and some of them follow intercropping and sole cropping system also. With respect to economic gain from the landrace vegetables, it was found they have high economic value and marketing viability. They are very good source of income and trade specific activities for the farmers/dwellers in the study areas of the hot arid region. The ker (Capparis deciduas Edgew), khejri (Prosopis cineraria L.) Druce and cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonolobus (L.)Taub was found the most economic landrace vegetable among all in the hot arid region/ study areas.

To evaluate the perceived effectiveness of specialized trainings on pig farming, 120 farmers were interviewed with a pre-tested questionnaire before the start and after completion of training. The study revealed that average age of respondents was 30.06 ± 0.90 years and out of which 15% respondents were graduates. Only 3.3% of the farmers belonged to high level knowledge category before training whereas after training 76.75% (P<0.01) of farmers possessed high level knowledge. The awareness perceived by farmers about breeding, feeding and management was significantly (P<0.05) higher after training. About 6.04 ± 0.12 and 19.1 ± 0.10 responses of farmers were found correct pre training and post training, respectively. Age and education also affect knowledge level of farmers about direction and dimensions of shed, feed requirement of lactating sow, common diseases of pigs, vaccination schedule, puberty age of boar where correct responses were significantly higher (P<0.05) for graduate farmers as compared to under matric ones and breeds of pigs, age of gilt at first conception, space requirement and right time for mating a sow where correct responses were significantly higher (P<0.05) for farmers between age group 25-35 years. Therefore, from present study it may be concluded that specialized training is an effective tool to improve the knowledge and understanding of farmers about pig farming.

Potato is one of the most important and widely cultivated vegetable crops of Assam and ranks fourth in terms of acreage under individual crop in the state. A study on Production behaviour of potato across size groups, districts and zones of Assam was conducted using data pertaining to Agricultural year 2013-14. The result of the study revealed that per hectare potato cultivation cost was found to be highest in LBVZ (Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone) ` 70362.08 followed by CBVZ (Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone) ` 70357.07, UBVZ (Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone) ` 70238.78 and NBPZ (North Bank Plain Zone) of Assam ` 69755.20 respectively. It was also observed that with increase in size group of farms area allocation under the crop also increased as a result cost of production of potato also recorded an increasing trend in all the zones of the state. This trend of increased area allocation across size groups the degree of commercialization of potato had also increased and productivity of the crop was found increasing gradually from size group I farmers to size group III farmers. Potato production in all the zones reflected that in LBVZ of Assam, from 1987 to 1997 witnessed sharp decrease in potato production. After 1994 till 2004 potato production was moving in upward direction due to incorporation of latest production technologies in the farmers field. Potato production in the CBVZ of Assam was found to be more or less unchanged during the whole period. In UBVZ it was reflected that from 1993 till 2003 potato production was found to be stagnant. After that it was showing upward movement. Similarly, in NBPZ also the potato production was found to be more or less stationary during the whole period.

Efforts has been made in this paper to examine the impact of community seed bank on production and improving the livelihood of groundnut growers in Raichur district of Karnataka. The primary data was elicited from the members of GSGA established for introducing few interventions in groundnut production. The time series data on area, production and productivity of groundnut for the period from 1970-71 to 2011-12 was analysed. Similarly, the data pertaining to demand for and supply of seeds for the period 2001-02 to 2011-12 was analysed. Considering the actual SRR, there is no much gap between demand for and supply of seeds but the existing cultivars must be replaced with quality seeds of improved varieties for enhancing productivity followed by production. The interventions in terms of quality seed ICGV-00350, seed treatment with Rhizobium and Trichoderma, maintenance of seed purity and buyback arrangement extended to the members of GSGA enhanced the yield and income of groundnut growers. The enrolling of GSGA members to a website helped the groundnut growers in taking right decision on marketing. Some policy implications have been suggested for enhancing the productivity followed by overall production in groundnut.

The present study was conducted in Thoubal, Bishnupur, Senapati and Churchandpur districts of Manipur. Pineapple cultivation was found to be economically feasible in the state. . In these districts area under pineapple happened to be the major fruit crop having more than 70 per cent of the total pineapple area of the state during 2013-14 (GoM, 2014). The investment in pineapple orchard has been found a profitable business. In overall category, the internal rate of return (IRR) has been found 32.53 and 67.33 per cent during summer and winter season. The net present value, Internal rate of return and Benefit-cost ratio at 8 per cent discount rate have been reported as `24857.80, 32.53 and 1.23, respectively for overall category of orchard during summer season and `10454.44, 67.33 and 1.24, respectively for overall category of orchard during winter season. The economic productive life of pineapple orchard in Manipur has been calculated upto 3 years.

Present study has tried to capture the changes took place in oilseed economy of the country during pre- (1970-71 to 1994-95) and post-WTO (1995-96 to 2012-13) periods. The expansion of acreage under oilseeds ( from 16.6 in 1970-71 to 26.7 Mha in 2012-13), coupled with yield improvement from 519 to 1164 kg/ha, resulted in increased production by more than three and half times from 8.6 to 31.1 Mt in respective periods. The share of area and production of different oilseeds have changed in study period. The groundnut and other oilseeds viz.; safflower, sesamum, niger, castor, and linseed were the major oilseed crops in 1970’s, have been displaced by soyabean and rapeseed & mustard in the recent period. TMOP in 1986 results in higher growth in area and production in pre-WTO than that of post-WTO period in all the oilseeds. Higher instability in production than area and yield was observed in all the oilseeds, except sunflower because more than 70 per cent of oilseeds in the country are grown under rain fed and resource-poor situations. In case of edible oils, production, availability and per capita consumption increased in study period. But the consumption pattern has drastically changed from domestically produced groundnut, rapeseed & mustard oils in pre-WTO period to mostly imported palm, sunflower and soya oils in post-WTO period. India attained almost self sufficiency in edible oils during early 90’s, but import dependence has increased then after which may further like to increase in future. Hence study suggests the need of policy reforms for development of oilseeds sector and to became self-sufficient in edible oils.

This study analysed women’s participation and decision making process in farming activities in Katwa Block- I of Burdwan district, India. Most rural women farmers sampled in this study were young in the age group between 20-35 years; predominantly on nuclear families; and from Hindu SC & ST and Hindu OBC households. WPR in farming activities decreased with the increase of education levels. Large number of women respondents was engaged in agricultural labours. It was observed that decision-making power was positively correlated with the age of the women. Education of farm women was found effective in the participation of farm women in agricultural decision-making process. Respondents of forward castes participated in farming decisions with greater frequencies than SC and ST. Although, the decision-making score was higher among the male farmers, most decisions were taken jointly by both female and male participants indicating the development of social status of the farming women.

The present study analyses the growth performance of production and export of fish products and its trade direction. The results of the study revealed that fish production of India has registered a annual growth rate of 3.8 per cent. Among the major fish producing states, Chhattisgarh has witnessed highest compound growth rate of 15 per cent per annum. The vast production base offers India has tremendous opportunities for enhancing surplus exportable quality fish products. During 2014, India exported about 983.756 million tonnes of fish products to South East Asian countries. Frozen shrimp is the major export value item accounting to the value of 19368.3 crore rupees. It can be observed that among the fish products, dried fish has registered a highest growth rate of 21 and 26 per cent per annum in terms of quantity and value respectively. It can be further noticed that South East Asia has been the most stable market among the major importers of Indian fish products as reflected by the higher probability of retention of 0.85 whereas Japan has shown the least retention probability of 0.36 which has only retained 36 per cent of its share in export.

The present study was undertaken to find out the cost and returns of milk production. Milk production in India is mainly concentrated on small farms in rural areas as a subsidiary occupation to agriculture. In addition to this, there are a number of organized dairy farms under the cooperatives milk producers’ union. In this country, the low genetic potential of the animals results in the high cost and low milk production. The profit margin can be increased, by decreasing the cost of production. The average cost of production per litre milk was ` 14.27 and the average net return per litre of milk was ` 8.28. The input-output ratio was worked out 1.58 at overall level. The cost C was ` 1867599.61 per dairy farm and 333449.99 per milch animal and the net income was ` 1053011.60 per dairy farm and `18803.77 per animal. The average dairy milk yield of local cow was 8.20litre. It was 10.50 litres, 11.53 and 15.80 litres for buffalo, Jersey cow and Holstein-Friesian cow, respectively

Efforts have been made in this paper to critically review the women’s empowerment endeavours in India. Empowerment is midway in the change processes that benefit women at individual, household, community and broader levels. At the most basic level, innovations can benefit women simply by improving their well-being in terms of health, nutrition, income, life span etc. There is a bidirectional relationship between economic development and women’s empowerment defined as improving the ability of women to access the constituents of development in particular to health, education, earning opportunities, rights, and political participation. The rural women are having basic indigenous knowledge, skill, potential and resources to establish and manage enterprise. Women entrepreneur networks are major sources of knowledge about women’s entrepreneurship and they are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool for its development and promotion. Therefore, formation and strengthening of rural women entrepreneur network must be encouraged.

Reducing knowledge gaps and sharing agricultural marketing information to farmer is an essential input for increasing productivity and boosting agricultural growth in rural areas. An attempt has been made to identify the various pattern of awareness, sources, utilization and its benefits, constraint and expectations of agricultural marketing information (AMI) among different categories of farmers in the study area of two regulated markets namely, Mawiong Regulated Market in Mylliem Block of East Khasi Hills and Garobadha Regulated Market in Selsella Block of West Garo Hills district. The sample size consisted of 120 farmers from both selected regulated market areas were selected for the study based on purposive and random sampling technique. From the findings of the research study, it was revealed that that in case of large category of sample farmers, the extent of awareness on arrivals, prices in local markets and other markets, quality / grade of produce required, post harvest handling of agricultural produce was found to be higher than small and medium size farmers. The extent of utilization of agricultural market information by different categories of sample farmers were in decision making on production, selling and post harvest handling. It was observed that the sources of agricultural market information at household level were radio, newspaper and television for small farmers. At the market level, commission agents were most predominant sources of AMI for all categories of farmers. It revealed that the market information on prices prevailed in other nearby market placed high expectations among all the categories of farmers followed by future price projections and quality wise price information. Proper integration of various agencies for adequate and efficient dissemination of vital agricultural marketing information, so that it will act as an ‘one stop solution’ for the needs of the farming community in hilly regions of Meghalaya. There is need of proper dissemination of market intelligence and information through all possible means of communication for improving the marketing efficiency.

This study was undertaken to assess the impact of the scheme on change in the income, savings pattern and extent of employment after the implementation of the scheme in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka state. Kalaburagi district was covered during the third phase of implementation of MGNREGA which was selected for the study with the pre set objective of analyzing the impact of MGNREGA on the participant households. For evaluating the specific objectives designed for the study, required primary data was collected from the participants for the agriculture year 2013-14. MGNREGA fully implemented village farmers (` 18718/year) were earning significantly higher income (74.48%) than that of partially implemented MGNREGA village farmers (` 4775/year). The average amount of savings made in SHGs was ` 2,380, in fully implemented MGNREGA villages, whereas in partially implemented MGNREGA villages it was ` 1,543. The savings was made in banks ` 12, 000 by the participants in fully implemented MGNREGA villages. Whereas, in case of partially implemented MGNREGA villages the savings was made by participants ` 8,120 it was less compared to fully implemented MGNREGA villages.

The theory of microcredit is not new a concept, but its applicability in the field of poverty alleviation was made publicly acceptable by the renowned professor Mohammed Yunus whose noble effort has given micro credit its due recognition. The noble prize to Professor Yunus along with the UN recognition of the year 2005 as the year of micro credit bears testimony of the fact that micro credit has taken the centre stage. The evolution of microcredit to microfinance was due to the need of the market. The quantum of money following into the sector and the significant business opportunity has motivated many business models to step in into the sector. The advent of Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) in this regard under various legal entities as Non Banking Finance Corporation (NBFC), Societies, Trust, Cooperatives, and Section 25 companies ushered in a new era into the microfinance sector. Investors as well as the common people are provided with choices. All MFI claims to be the best. The availability of more choices makes the process of selection even complicated. Thus it becomes very arduous task to select from the array of choices. Decision making process thus becomes a complicated phenomenon. The people are uncertain about their choices. Many factors are involved in choosing a MFI thus selection of best MFI falls into the category of Multi-criteria Analysis (MA) problem. It is difficult to map human perception to particular number or a ratio due to vagueness in the decision making process. To solve such problems, the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) was developed. Moreover, if an individual is supposed to take any decision, he specifies his preferences using linguistic variables instead of assigning any crisp score to the preference. These linguistic terms are nothing but imprecise and dubious values. To deal with such fuzziness, several researchers extended AHP by incorporating fuzzy characteristics into it and developed a new process known as Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP). FAHP thus helps the decision makers to deal with imprecision and subjective-ness in pair-wise comparison process. The reason to include fuzzy is to reflect the pessimistic, more likely and optimistic decision making environment. This paper has been developed based upon the views of various experts in the field of banking and microfinance along with real time data gathered from MIX Market. The various criteria for selection process are based on the criteria as used in SIDBI’s SMERA rating methodology. Then the generation of criteria weight using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) is done. Finally the alternative MFIs are prioritized taking all the criteria into account.

Rajasthan is the largest state of India constituting 10.4 per cent of total geographical area and 5.67 per cent of total population of India. The present investigation was under taken to work out the income and employment under existing farming systems in tribal dominant Banswara district of Southern Rajasthan during 2012-13. A sample of 60 households consisting of 30 each under rainfed and irrigated situation was selected for the study. Four farming systems were existed in both the rainfed and irrigated situations of Banswara district viz. FS-I: Crop+ Vegetables (C+V), FS-II: Crop + Dairy (C+D), FS-III: Crop + Dairy +Goat (C+D+G) and FS-IV: Crop + Goat +Poultry +Orchard (C+G +Po+O). The total cost in rainfed farming system was the lowest in FS-I (` 59707.15) and the highest in FS-III (` 166716.75). The total costs in irrigated farming system were the lowest in FS-I (` 232289.97) and highest in FS-III (` 292409.27). On the basis of net return per household, the most profitable farming system adopted under the rainfed situation was FS-III (Crop+Goat+Dairy) with ` 57600.95 per farm while on the basis of returns per rupee investment; it was FS-IV (Crop+Goat+Poultry) i.e. ` 1.57. While under irrigated situation, FS-I (Crop+Vegetable) was the most profitable farming system on net return basis (` 147287) and returns per rupee investment i.e. ` 1.63. On per farm basis employment generated in rainfed and irrigated conditions were found maximum in FS-II (197.76 man days) and FS-IV (626.60 man days) in the district, respectively. In irrigated condition the employment generation was more in the district as crop,poultry and orchard activities were included in FS-IV which utilized more of family labour resulted to maximum employment.

In view of this the present study was undertaken by collecting monthly wholesale prices of wheat in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan .This study was based on the secondary data on arrival and prices of wheat in A.P.M.C., Sriganganagar, Sadulsahar, Gharsana, Anupgarh, Vijaynagar, Suratgarh,Gajsinghpur,Karanpur and Raisinghnagar for the period of 10 years i.e. from 2005 upto 2014. In the analysis all the selected markets showed positive trend in prices. The seasonal price index pro ides a measure of the month to month variation in wheat prices. Price of wheat was found to be highest during off season and lowest during harvest season. Since wheat is a rabi crop, the arrivals were high during March to May. The higher seasonal indices of prices were observed during December to February during which the arrivals were found to be low.

Food and nutritional security has been increasingly narrowing down to a few crops. More than 50 per cent of the Global requirement of proteins and calories are being met by just three crops namely, maize, wheat and rice. Only 150 crops are being commercially cultivated at the Global level, while mankind had used more than 7000 edible plant species over time. The narrowing base of Global food security crops and also the climate change is limiting livelihood options for the rural poor particularly those dwelling in the marginal areas. There is an urgent need to shift the focus of agricultural research and development to include a wider range of crop species by including the neglected crops as one of the options. Neglected and Underutilized crop Species (NUS) are emerging as one such option as they have higher nutrition content and also climate resilient.

Fruit and vegetable processing sector is one of the core segments under food processing in West Bengal. Development of this sector is critically important to the expansion and diversification of state’s agricultural sector. It provides vital linkages and harnesses synergies between the two pillars of our economy, industry and agriculture. Several policies have been undertaken over time by union and state government to promote the activities of food processing in general and fruit and vegetable processing in particular in the state. In this paper we have made a brief review on the nature of the policy changes towards this sector and also analyze its impacts. And, it has been observed that the policy interventions at various levels, especially in late 90’s, have created number of positive impacts on its performance at varying levels like investment, income, employment generation, level of processing etc. The government policies in a new liberal regime have primarily benefited the large scale units which have emerged as the group of new dominant players in the state’s processing sector. This sector would gain further strength as the state government very recently has introduced a specific policy package towards this particular sector. Despite of significant growth in this sector in the state, the proportion of production processed commercially has not increased adequately. The main constraint lies behind this with infrastructure, technology, quality measurement and lack of farm-firm linkages. Hence, the government should come forward to look after such problems and take appropriate policies according to the needs.

This paper analyses the effectiveness of the public agricultural extension services of the department of agriculture in Tripura state. Extension effectiveness was measured in three levels (input, process and outcome) by using 20 indicators. Information on organizational variables was collected from all the four District Head Offices (Office of the Deputy Director of Agriculture) of the Department of Agriculture in Tripura state. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data from the randomly selected 80 clienteles (farmers) and 80 extension personnel. The result shows that the total expenditure intensity was ` 3831.13(USD 68.11)/ha/year and expenditure intensity on extension activity was ` 2260.46 (USD 40.18)/ha/year, the technical manpower: cultivator ratio was very high i.e. 1: 1218 and clientele contact intensity was only 1 hr. 45 min./clientele/year. Whereas, extension service commitment and client accountability of the extension personnel was also higher but organizational commitment, job satisfaction, job performance, job competence index of the extension personnel was low. All the clientele were willing to pay nominally for extension services and the overall clientele satisfaction was 72.45. Based on the results of the study it is recommended to increase the technical manpower in the department and also increase collaboration with Non-Government Organizations NGOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs) and private organizations for extension programme implementation.

A decreasing trend in groundnut acreage in India and major groundnut growing states has been observed which is more pronounced during the period 1990-91 to 1999-2000. The overall acreage and yield trend during the period 2000-01 to 2008-09 for the country is positive but marked with wide fluctuations. Comparing Eastern Indian states, West Bengal has shown brilliant performance in terms of area, production and yield growths though this state was witnessed of high level of instability during 1979 to 1990. It is revealed from the study that area change is the major component of change in groundnut production in Eastern Indian states.

One of the crucial issues in the development of an economy is to see that all the regions are equally developed but it so happens that due to natural and man-made factors not all regions can be equally developed. Regions endowed with rich natural resources generally progress faster than those with little or no natural resources and at the same time man too has contributed a lot in creating inequalities or disparities among the regions. Nagaland, even after 52 years of statehood, continues to lack behind other states in all development front and worst of all the economic disparity among the districts has been vividly growing over the years. This paper examines the level of development in Nagaland and the regional disparity among the districts using seven variables. The variables were analysed using principal component analysis for regional identification according to their level of development and examine the disparities among them. The combined component score which shows the overall development index indicates that the district of Dimapur, Kohima, Zunheboto and Mokokchung are placed under developed districts while the less developed districts are Longleng, Mon, Kiphire and Tuensang. The districts of Wokha, Phek and Peren fall under the moderately developed districts.

Investigation was carried out during the year 2013-14. In all 48 orchard farms were randomly selected from sixteen villages of two tehsils in South-Goa district of Goa State. Data  were  related  to cropping pattern and livestock pattern as well as socio-economic determinants.   The results revealed that land holding showed highly significant on orchard farm with regression  coefficient  of  20182.43. It means that addition of one hectare could cause to increase gross income of ` 20182.43. Regression  coefficient of livestock was 5841.99. It means that addition of one livestock could cause to increase gross income of ` 5841.99. On the contrary, family size showed regression  coefficient  of -1170.62 which was negatively significant. There could be reduction of gross income by ` 1170.62 if addition of one member in family. In next order, distance of farm from village showed negative regression coefficient of -2519.15, it could adversely affect gross income of ` 2519.15. Thus, the farmers have to give more importance to land holding, livestock, family size and distance of farm from village in order to increase gross income on orchard farm

Natural rubber is a major economic plant in the plantation sector in terms of providing income to the growers for a long-time and also it serves as raw materials for various industrial products. Over 20 million families are dependent on rubber cultivation for their livelihood in the world natural rubber market. Natural rubber price is influenced by many factors such as weather, currency exchange rates, oil prices, policy changes in major rubber producing and consuming countries. The specific objective of the study was to identify the factor responsible for price formation and supply response of natural rubber. The result shows that the price formation of natural rubber revealed that the futures price, international price, and synthetic rubber price were statistically significant where as crude oil price and exchange rate were non-significant. From supply response analysis, it was inferred that price was a significant factor explaining output growth. The analysis confirmed that lagged price exerted a positive influence on natural rubber area.

India is the second largest producer of vegetables in the world next only to China. The Onion is the major vegetable crop of Rajasthan. The present investigation was carried out to study the price spread and efficiency in marketing of Onion. The study was conducted in Jodhpur and Nagaur which were selected on the basis of highest area and production of Onion. A sample of 50 Onion growing farmers from different land size categories was selected by probability proportion to number of farmers in each size group. Five intermediaries each, from the commission agents, wholesalers and retailers were selected randomly. 19585 quintal of onion was produced by the sample households, of which 19061 quintal was the marketable surplus. There was no difference in marketable and marketed surplus of onion as farmers were hard pressed by cash needs. The marketable surplus was higher on medium farms (9747 quintals) followed by small (6021 quintals) and large (3293 quintals). In channel – I producer’s share was 46.67 per cent. Total marketing cost accounted for 17.47 per cent and marketing margins accounted for 35.86 per cent of consumer’s rupee in Jodhpur mandi. In Nagaur, the producer’s share was 47.50 per cent. Total marketing cost accounted for 18.33 per cent and marketing margins accounted for 34.17 per cent of consumer’s rupee. In channel –II, producer’s share was 42.22 per cent. Total marketing cost accounted for 17.64 per cent and marketing margins accounted for 40.14 per cent of price paid by the consumer in Jodhpur Mandi. In Nagaur, producer’s share was 40.0 per cent. Total marketing cost accounted for 18.73 per cent and marketing margins accounted for 41.27 per cent of price paid by the consumer. Marketing efficiency was 0.88 and 0.73 in Jodhpur mandi and 0.90 and 0.67 in Nagaur mandi for channel –I and channel –II respectively. Hence, channel –I was more efficient for onion marketing.