Contents March Volume 62 Issue 1

The study examines the economic losses on account of inadequate post-harvest infrastructure facilities for the marine fisheries sector in Gujarat, India. The primary data were collected during month of October 2015 covering three periods spread in the year 2014 & 2015 (October 2014 to September 2015) from three fishing harbours i.e. Veraval, Porbandar and Mangrol of Gujarat. It was observed that the post harvest infrastructure in marine sector in Gujarat seems to have received less attention. It is also true that as the industry has been pre-occupied with the exports, no major initiatives have been made for the development of the domestic market, mainly due to less demand. By and large, fish is sold in the most unhygienic conditions and this area needs considerable intervention in the coming period. Fishing harbours are being developed at both major and minor ports. However, the condition of washing and cleaning facilities available at selected harbours was unsatisfactory at Porbandar and Mangrol while same was very poor at Veraval harbor. Also the facilities like clean landing platform and cold storage/chill plants within the harbour premises and availability of insulated storage boxes on board the fishing vessel need to be ensured. The harbors like Porbandar and Veraval are overcrowded due to less space in harbor region and large number of boats parked there than its capacity. Because of same, fish catch exceeds the capacity of harbor. On an average, the economic loss due to inadequate post-harvest infrastructure facilities was estimated to be ` 18 per kg of fish caught. The major reasons for losses at this stage were physical damage during fishing and spoilage due to improper icing, whereas very minimal share was loss due to fish being eaten away by birds. The motorized trawlers followed by gill netters are major causes for fish losses. Therefore, there is a need of expansion of harbor regions as well as constructions of more number of jetties/landing platforms, along with proper maintenance of those infrastructures for minimizing economic losses.

Low credit participation rate and inadequate access to credit facilities is a common  occurrence in  developing economies. The study examines participation and access to credit in the rural households of Meghalaya using primary data collected in 2016. A total of 401 households were selected from two districts through multistage sampling technique. The paper explores the subject from two perspectives: one relating to factors associated with credit participation and the other relating to factors associated with access to credit. Participation in the rural credit markets is found to be associated with level of education of the spouse, main occupation of the household and income level of households. The study finds that credit is mostly demanded from banks with no evidence of money lenders operating in the surveyed areas. The average amount of loans borrowed from formal sources is found to be significantly larger than loans from informal sources. Although bank loans are of shorter duration, the processing time is actually longer than loans borrowed from informal sources. Uses of loans are found to be associated with sources of loans and loan size.

Organic  farming  is  growing at a faster rate. To undertake the challenges of food grain production and food security, conventional agriculture advocates call for the continuing or higher use of chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. However, the continuous use and higher reliance on these inputs has led to declining Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and unsustainable agriculture. Organic farming offers a solution for sustainable agricultural as well as the reduction in the cost of production during long run. Growing Per Capita Income and health consciousness has provided a new market for differentiated products viz. organic products. The present study was conducted to examine the economics, progress of adoption of organic onion production and potential of organic onion production in increasing income and employment in comparison to conventional farming. Study is based on 60 organic onion producers and 60 non-organic onion producers from Nalanda District of Bihar. The total cost of cultivation of organic and conventional onion per hectare was worked out to be ` 86868 and ` 83516, respectively. The net income per hectare was ` 175392 and ` 156484 respectively. It was found that organic farmers are earning a gross income of 9.2 percent more compared to the conventional farmers of onion. Organic farming is generally more profitable in terms of gross returns than conventional farming, irrespective of the more cost of cultivation of crop. Area under organic onion production is growing at the rate 10 percent on year to year basis and at a compound growth rate of 10 percent. Findings revealed that organic onion production has potential to increase income by 9 percent and employment by 18 percent.

This study attempts to review quantitatively on the present scenario of access to farm credit by small and marginal farmers and its performances under the policy of priority sectors lending (PSL) in India from different secondary sources of information w.e.f. 2001. The aim of PSL program is to ensure adequate credit to vulnerable sectors of the economy like agriculture. Farm credit, in India, has increased by 15.78 per cent from FY10 to FY15. Despite various policy attempts at priority lending to poor farmers, very little progress has been made. Nearly, 51.9 per cent of Indian farmers and 85 per cent of marginal and small farmers are under debt but formal credit facilities extended to them is very poor (30%). Only 40 per cent of the total farmers have received Kishan Credit Card. Most of the PSL programmes are related to interest rate subvention. As per RBI policy, 40 per cent of loans should go to PSL sector of which 18 per cent were to go to agriculture. But, it was just 13 per cent in 2015. Due to changes in norms and regulations, scope of PSL has been. The share of direct agricultural loans to marginal farmers has fallen sharply from almost 23 per cent in 2005 to just 4.3 per cent in 2013. They are 85.03 per cent in no. of holdings and 44.5 per cent in area operated. But, the present shares are only 7 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. India’s agricultural production and extent of credit have shown a positive growth rate. But loans to farmers are not driving the rise in agricultural credit but are agri-businesses and corporate sectors involved in agriculture. So, delivery and access of farm credit to poor farmers under PSL is not yet satisfactory. Various experts emphasized Govt.’s proactive role and suggested for appropriate design and innovation in implementation of PSL policy effectively. It is, thus, suggested that more effort can be inter alia alternative livelihood, poverty alleviation, mainstreaming marginalized groups and promotion for appropriate technologies/inputs for higher production, income and quality of lives of small and marginal farmers.

The present investigation was under taken to work out internal cost adjustments in existing farming systems of Southern Rajasthan. A total sample of 120 households consisting of 60 under rainfed and 60 under irrigated situation was selected from two districts- one representing tribal area and the other non-tribal area for the study. Four farming systems (FS) existed in both the rainfed and irrigated areas of Chittorgarh and Banswara districts 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 + Poultry (C+PO). The cost involved in different farming systems were divided into two parts i.e. cost incurred within the farming system and cost incurred from outside the farming system. Internal cost adjustments were more in FS –III in both the districts i.e. 70.21 and 64.35 per cent in Chittorgarh district and 69.83 and 63.38 per cent in Banswara district in rainfed and irrigated conditions, respectively. In Chittorgarh district on per rupee investment basis FS-IV (1.55) in rainfed and FS-I (1.69) in irrigated area were more profitable than other systems. In Banswara district on return per rupee investment basis, FS-IV ((1.57) in rainfed area and FS-I (1.63) in irrigated area were found more profitable than other farming systems. Return per rupee investment (return cost ratio) was more in FS-IV in rainfed condition while FS-I in irrigated condition among the other farming systems in both the districts.

Stakeholder mapping is a collaborative process of research, debate, and discussion that is drawn from multiple perspectives to determine a key list of stakeholders across the entire spectrum. The first step in the mapping process is to identify the stakeholders. After the identification of the stakeholders, further analysis was made to understand their relevance and the perspective they offered to the paddy processing chain. The stakeholders were prioritised based on list of criteria developed by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). The paddy processing chain comprised of different stages and the stakeholders of the chain were identified from sourcing of paddy to delivery of end product (rice). The stakeholder analysis revealed the importance of various stakeholders in the paddy processing chain in Southern Tamil Nadu with respect to their expertise and value contribution. The analysis also captured the nature and degree of relationship among the identified stakeholders.

The present study was undertaken with a view to assessing the impact of soil health card on fertiliser consumption and yield of sugarcane and kharif paddy in South Gujarat region of Gujarat State. The multistage random sampling technique comprised of 224 farmers was taken for the study. The extent of over utilization of nitrogenous fertiliser was less for farmers having soil health card as compare to without soil health card for sugarcane and kharif paddy crops. The extent of under utilisation of phosphatic and potasic fertilizers were less for farmers having soil health card as compared to without soil health card for sugarcane and kharif paddy crops. The paired ‘t’ test analysis showed the positive and significant impact of Soil Health Card on per hectare yield of sugarcane and kharif paddy crops. Generally, with Soil Health Card farmers utilised the fertilisers judiciously as per the recommendation of Soil Health Card.

Human capital is considered as one of the determinants of economic growth. The stock of human capital increases through better education, higher levels of health and new learning and training procedures. A country may not be able to maintain a state of continuous growth without having labor force with the minimum levels of education and health. Underdeveloped countries like India have lower levels of human capital and therefore face difficulties in competing with developed countries. There is a two way relationship between better health and economic growth. Better health increases workforce productivity and in this way supplements economic growth and development. On the other hand, improving the health and longevity of the poor is an important goal of economic development. Though there has been a significant improvement in health indicators in the last two centuries yet the country still lags behind on these indicators from that of developed countries. This paper shows how health plays an important role in the economic development of a country. While good health enhances productivity and hence improves earnings, higher income also exerts a positive influence on health. The paper also discusses the impact of several health programmes implemented by the policy makers on India’s health indicators. The challenges faced by this sector have also been discussed in this paper. The paper suggests that underdeveloped countries can reduce poverty and inequality by investing more in the Health sector.

Reducing wastage of produces and increasing income of farmers are two important areas which invited more emphasis by any agrarian economy for its sustainability and development. In the changing scenario of life pattern and food habits people generally prefer, ready to take or ready to cook type of food products like milk, processed vegetables, fish and meat. In order to address these, value addition and processing plays a key role. Fish processing sector in India, especially fresh water aquaculture is an emerging area in this. In this study an attempt was done to know about the various constraints faced by the fish processors and their level of severity. Reliability and validity tested Likert-like scale was used for this purpose. Significant differences of different dimensions of constraints were compared using Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA (Chi-Square = 19.450, df = 3, p < 0.05). Each set of constraints contains subcategories and they were tested by using Friedman’s two-way ANOVA. Multiple pair wise comparisons using Nemenyi’s procedure / Two-tailed test was also conducted to place them in homogenous groups. Infrastructure related constraints due to lack cold chain management, storage facility etc. with mean rank 33.80 were identified as the major constraint to existing post-harvest management mechanism in fishery.

The study was conducted in Narwal Mandi, Jammu situated in the southern area of Jammu city. This is one among the three fruit and vegetable terminal markets in Jammu and Kashmir. The other two are Parimpora of Srinagar and Nowpora of Sopore distrcts. The study based on both the primary and secondary data. In the study 26 carrying and forwarding agents were selected through purposive sampling for the collection of primary information with the help of structured and tested schedule and the secondary information was collected from Directorate of Horticulture (Planning and Marketing), Jammu and APMC Narwal, Jammu. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistical tools, seasonal variations and 95% confidence interval technique. The study also revealed that the arrival (in MT) was more in vegetables as compared to fruits, whereas turnover (in `) was more for fruits than vegetables. The reason for the same was higher average rates per quintal in fruits than vegetables. The study analyzed and depicted that the decadal highest arrival 407625 MT was received in fruits and vegetables for the year 2011-12 and decadal highest turnover ` 11875 lakh was received in the year 2013-14.

Crop diversification is a risk management strategy for the farming community and an important step for poverty alleviation and transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture. The paper aims to recognize those factors which influence household decision to crop diversification and further attempts to identify what factors influence the degree to which this diversification takes place. The study adopts, Heckman’s Two Stage Model to estimate separately the determinants of household diversification decision and intensity of diversification by the households’. The results of the study found that education of the household head is found to have a positive association with the level of crop diversification. The farming experience of the farmer is found to have positive influence only while taking the decision to diversify crops. Access to plough has positively affected both the household’s decision to diversify crop as well as the level of crop diversification. Access to fertilizer and availability of irrigation has an effect on propensity to diversify crops. Exposure to farming information by the households significantly affected level of diversification. Farmers who attend farming training regularly are more likely to diversify crop. The distance to the nearest market from homestead also positively affected crop diversification level.

Globally, maize occupies a prominent place among cereals and ranks first in terms of productivity and third in total area and production after rice and wheat, respectively. But there is hardly any work which has analysed its costs and returns. In order to evaluate the most profitable treatment, economic analysis of treatments was worked out in terms of net returns and benefit cost (B:C) ratio. The cost and analysis structure of production of green cobs and green fodder ha-1 on hectare bases worked out for three fertility levels F1, F2 and F3 in combination with three plant population P1, P2 and P3 along with three sulphur levels S0, S1 and S2. the cost incurred on field preparation (` 2000), lay-out (` 1040), sowing (` 1040), irrigation charges (` 2032), thinning and earthing up (` 832), insecticide application (` 568), watching and scaring of birds (` 2080), land revenue (` 60), weeding (` 4680) and harvesting (` 2080) was found to be same in all the treatments. The variability in cost of cultivation arised due to different seed rates and application of secondary nutrient i.e. sulphur. It was found that economic returns of the crop are directly related to its yield also, inadequate supply of nutrients and without proper plant geometry, sweet corn plants are undernourished and give poor yield. Thus, for obtaining a higher yield and economically sustained sweet corn should be supplied with sufficient amount of nutrients, while, maintaining proper plant geometry.

Hierarchical time-series, which are multiple time-series that are hierarchically organised and can be aggregated at several different levels in groups based on geographical locations or some other features, has much practical importance. There are certain specialised strategies, viz. top-down, bottom-up, middle-out and optimal approaches which take care of predicting future values for such multi-level data. The top-down approach at first provides forecasting for the aggregated series at the topmost level of the hierarchy, then disaggregating the forecasts in the lower levels based on historical and forecasted proportions. The bottom-up method provides forecasting for the most disaggregated series at the bottom level of the hierarchy and then aggregates these forecasts to obtain the forecasts at the top level of the hierarchy. The middle-out approach is a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches. The optimal combination approach involves forecasting all series at all levels in the hierarchy, and then using a regression model to obtain the optimally combined forecasts. As an example, forecasting of oilseeds, as well as pulses production in India, is attempted using hierarchical time-series models.

The present study was undertaken with a view to study the costs and returns of strawberry orchard in Meghalaya state. Three categories of strawberry orchard was selected for the investigation. The costs of cultivation of strawberry revealed to be higher with the size of the orchard, i.e., the total cost of cultivation in large category was found to be higher as compared to both of the small and medium category of strawberry cultivation. Similarly, the returns from the strawberry orchard was also revealed to be higher with higher of the strawberry orchard. Further, the benefit cost ratio of the categories proven that large categories are more beneficial irrespective to its investment. The pay-back period of strawberry cultivation indicate that large category takes minimum time to meet their expenditure as compared to the other categories of strawberry orchard. However, the constraints regarding the adaptation of strawberry cultivation shows that the unavailability of runners was the major problem for the farmers to adopt the crop. Whereas, the economics study of the crop indicated that strawberry fruit is very much profitable for the farmers and it is suggested that initiative through various channels from the line of government or organisation to encourage the farmers for strawberry cultivation which ultimate help to improve the economic condition of the state as a whole.

Pearl millet (Pennisetumglaucum) is one of the most extensively cultivated cereals in the world, ranking fourth after rice, wheat and sorghum. In Gujarat, for last 20 years, it has been noticed that the area under pearl millet production has been decreased gradually although productivity increase. The importance of pearl millet productivity forecasting is more relevant in semi-arid state like Gujarat where the precipitation is confirmed to short period of four months. In this paper, we have applied ARIMA model for forecasting of productivity of pearl millet of Gujarat. In the present study, time series data of pearl millet productivity (Kg./ha)of Gujarat for 52 years from 1960-61 to 2011-12 were collected from Directorate of Agriculture, Gandhinagar, Gujarat and partially from Directorate of Economics and Statistics. The ARIMA model is validated on the basis of relative mean absolute prediction error (RMAPE), Mean absolute deviation (MAD) and root mean square error(RMSE) values. It may be noted that ARIMA (0, 1, 1) model performs quite satisfactorily as the RMAPE value is less than 6 percent.

Fruit quality is the major determinant of grower returns without bringing additional land under cultivation and consequently has been studied widely. There are many components of fruit quality such as size, colour, firmness, soluble solids and acidity. In addition there are many factors which may influence fruit quality, some of which are outside of control such as weather, site suitability and varietal genetic potential. But now a days we can improve the fruit quality through modern management practices such as use of dwarf rootstocks, site specific nutrient management, drip irrigation etc. The use of clonal rootstocks regulate the tree size, induce early bearing and high cropping, and helps in adaptation of root system to existing soil and climatic conditions. Fruit Calcium is important in apple fruit quality by delaying cell wall breakdown, maintain firmness, retarding ethylene production and alleviates internal break down. Boron is important in pollen germination and pollen tube growth resulting in successful fruit setting. Bioregulators can have impact on apple fruit quality regardless of the cultivar. Foliar application of gibbberllins have been reported to reduce russeting on Golden Delicious apple and Bartlett pear. The saving of soil water content and improvement of adaptability of plants to periodical insufficient water and use of deficit irrigation technology become more important because of the occurrence of frequently dry periods. Deficit irrigation minimizes water use, decreases vegetative growth and pruning cost may improve fruit quality. The application of different types of mulches conserve the soil moisture during the peak period of plant growth and development and improve quality.

The importance of micronutrients has been realized widespread. Micronutrient deficiencies were observed in most of the Indian soils, where intensive agriculture is practiced. Micronutrients may be minor in terms of the amounts needed by the crop, but they can be major in terms of their impact on crop growth. Micronutrients often act as co-factors in enzyme systems and participate in vital functions in plants. Studies of the roles of nutrients in plants have involved several diagnostic criteria that address the accumulation of nutrients and their roles in plants. These criteria include visual diagnosis, plant analysis, biochemical tests, and soil tests. Factors such as soil pH, organic matter, temperature, moisture & texture are important in determining the availability of micronutrient. Scientific methods involving for correcting micronutrient deficiencies and toxicity in soils and in field crops. Foliar application combined with nano-biotechnology are efficient methods applying nutrients directly to the plants without farming any intermediate complexes and may result in rapid and significant progress in the areas of fertilizer micronutrient development for their efficient delivery and production of abundant nutritious food

For conducting this study two villages from Haringhata and Chakdah blocks in Nadia district of West Bengal were selected purposively. Out of 122 marginal agricultural households 50 (fifty) were selected by the technique of Simple Random Sampling Without Replacement. Data were collected from sample agricultural households by survey method on size of operational holding, size of family, area of land under various crops, amount of credit taken from various sources and its uses, source wise income earned, etc. Objectives of the study were to find allocation of land to various crops by borrowing and non-borrowing agricultural households, to compare costs and returns in crop production, income earned from various sources in these two categories of agricultural households. The results of the study revealed that the agricultural households in borrowing category recorded higher percentages of land allocation than those in non-borrowing category for oilseeds, vegetables and fruits. On the other hand percentage areas under cereals, pulses, fibre crops, potato and spices were found to be higher in non-borrowing category than in borrowing category. Level of input use, gross return and net return were noted to be higher in non borrowing category than in borrowing category. Average annual level of income earned from various sources was higher in agricultural households in non-borrowing category than that of agricultural households in borrowing category. In spite of use of a portion of credit in crop production, level of input use was recorded to be lower in the category of borrowing households than in the category of non-borrowing households. Availability of higher amount of credit to the borrowing agricultural households could enable them in using inputs in larger quantity.

This paper investigates the trends in the area, production and yield of onion in Rajasthan state of India by using component analysis model. The study data period has been divided into three periods: period one, 1984-95, 1996-2005 and 2006-2015. The comparison of area, production and yield growth rates in all periods revealed that cotton show better performance in state as well as national level. The decomposition analysis of growth suggests that for onion yield effect is the major source of growth in period 1984-95 and 1996-2005 except for period 2006-2015 for which area effect was the major source in Rajasthan. At the national level, the source of output growth for onion was the yield effect. The sources of output for the overall study period revealed that in the case of onion crops, the main output source was the yield effect for the respective crop. The results of decomposition analysis have important policy implications because each growth component alone has a limited scope to expand over time. For example, land’s growth potential (the acreage effect) is limited due to the scarce supply of water resources in Rajasthan As such, efforts have to be directed toward further increasing the productivity of crops. The future government policy should focus on developing new high-yielding with drought-resistant varieties in Rajasthan.

The study was undertaken to analyse marketed surplus and price spread for Cauliflower in S. Chotanagpur of Jharkhand. Cluster sampling techniques were used to select the sample villages and respondents. Primary data were collected by personal interview of respondents. Simple statistical tools were employed to accomplish different objectives of the study. The marketed surplus of the medium category of farms have slightly higher surplus than marginal, large and small categories of farms. Their relative proportion was 94.84 per cent, 94.51 per cent, 94.49 per cent and 94.48 per cent respectively of the total production. The share of the producer in consumer rupee is high in the channel were there are less number of intermediaries. The marketing cost incurred by the wholesaler in different channels were estimated 5.01 per cent, 6.39 per cent and 7.88 per cent of the consumer price respectively and their corresponding net margins were 9.68 per cent, 9.61 per cent and 10.23 per cent of the price paid by the consumer.

The present study was conducted during 2015-16 in two districts namely, Kaithal and Karnal in Haryana with the objective to analyse the economic impact of direct-seeded rice (DSR) technology over the traditional method of sowing in rice. The study was conducted with the help of a questionnaire, interviewed over 240 farmers (120 farmers per district). The cost of preparatory tillage was reduced by 57.45 percent in direct seeded rice over traditional method of sowing. The various costs like pre-sowing irrigation, sowing, fertilizer cost, fertilizer application, irrigation, plant protection, miscellaneous, total working capital and total cost were reduced by 22.71, 158.64, 15.87, 7.38, 64.47, 4.84, 8.59, 25.08 and 11.27 per cent in direct seeded rice over traditional method of sowing, respectively. However, DSR technology resulted in a reduction in yield by 9.40 per cent per hectare (38.3 q/ha) as compared to transplanted rice (41.9 q/ha). In DSR technology, the cost of seed and weed management were increased by 89.48 and 95.83 percent, respectively, as compared to traditional method of sowing. A net return of ` 87.28 per hectare was estimated in transplanted rice. A net return of ` 1803.27 per hectare was estimated in DSR. The cost of production per quintal of paddy was found ` 2557.45 and ` 2515.38 in transplanted and DSR technology, respectively. The BC ratio in DSR was 1.02. The benefit-cost ratio of TPR was 1.00, resulting in no profit any loss.

The green revolution is one of the greatest successes that the country has observed and resultantly achieved self-sufficiency and a good degree of stability in food grain production. However, the country still faces the challenges of comprehensive food security and malnutrition, Thus, vegetables will play an important role by contributing adequate vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals, fibres etc. but it is a known fact that horticulture sector in India is constrained by low crop productivity, limited irrigation facilities and underdeveloped infrastructure support like cold storages, markets, roads, transportation facilities etc. There are heavy post-harvest and handling losses, resulting in low productivity per unit area and the high cost of production. Analysis shows, there is an inverse relation between the farm size of the respondents and their overall problems of marketing vegetables in farmers’ market. It could be noted that higher their farm size, lower their overall problems of marketing vegetables in farmers’ market and the vice versa. It is noted that there is an inverse relationship between the caste status of the respondents and their overall problems of marketing vegetables in farmers’ market.

Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity (according to World Bank). But according to a recent survey by an Indian government committee constituted to estimate poverty, nearly 38% of India’s population (380 million) is poor. This report is based on new methodology and the figure is 10% higher than the present poverty estimate of 28.5%. The committee headed by S.D. Tendulkar has used a different methodology to reach at the current figure. Such a high incidence of poverty is a matter of concern in view of the fact that poverty eradication has been one of the major objectives of the development planning process. The MNREGA is undoubtedly an innovative piece of legislation that has no parallel programme anywhere in the world. But there are some issues which need emphasis so that the real purpose of the wage employment schemes could be identified. This paper discusses the impact of MNREGA on society in terms of poverty reduction, agricultural production and how MNREGA is affecting the agricultural wage rate as well as cost of cultivation of field crops over the year. This study also tries to prove that there is a relationship between the agricultural crisis (labour crisis) and MNREGA Scheme.