The unique characteristics of goat milk have been rather well studied as regards its nutritional value and health effects. It has been documented as an excellent food source. It has beneficial effects for health maintenance, physiological functions, as well as in the nutrition of children and elderly people. The medicinal value of goat milk has been documented in Nepalese Ayurveda and Indian Ayurveda. Goat milk was recommended as an affective dietary item for patients suffering from certain diseases. In spite of its health benefits, goat milk and goat milk products are not among the widely consumed dairy products in Hungary. Hungarian consumers prefer cow milk and cow milk products over goat milk and goat milk products. The most preferred goat milk products are cheese and cottage cheese. The main reasons for refusing goat milk products are their taste and smell, availability and affordability of these products. The objective of the present research is to investigate the perceived characteristics of goat milk products through blind testing in comparison with cow and sheep milk products (cheese, cottage cheese, plain and fruity yogurt). The research revealed that the perception of goat cheese and cottage regarding its outlook, smell, fatness, taste and colour is rather similar to the tested cow and sheep cheese and cottage cheese. The perception (homogeneity, smell, density, taste, colour, creaminess) of cow and goat plain and fruity yogurts are also rather similar. Considerable negative perception towards the tested goat milk products have not been revealed.

Agriculture is facing a scenario of shifting from subsistence farming to commercial farming. Commercial farming is more capital intensive than the subsistence farming leading to the increased credit requirement for the farmers. The main objective of the study was to investigate the performance of various kinds of credit, adequacy of credit under Kisan Credit Card scheme (KCC), cost involved in availing the credit by the KCC beneficiaries and credit requirement of the respondents. The average amount per farmer sanctioned in SBI under KCC was ` 69,333.33 and in case of Co-operative bank it was found to be ` 52,000. In case of beneficiaries the total amount sanctioned under various loans was found to be ` 9,67,946.93, out of which 74.11 per cent was accounted by housing loans followed by 12.53 per cent under crop loan/KCC loan. Comparing Cost A2 with the scale of finance, credit was found to be adequate for all the crops grown by respondents. While comparing compare Cost C with scale of finance, credit was found to be inadequate in tapioca only with a gap of 2.88 per cent.

This study aim of this is to estimate the relationship between gold and Gold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) and the performance of Gold ETFs in India by using various statistical models. The data for the study covers a period of three years from 2015 to 2018. The data was collected from the National Stock Exchange database and other sources. The outcome of this study was to find out whether there is a relationship between gold and Gold ETFs. It was found out that Gold ETFs has more returns than the physical gold; Axis ETF performed the best among those Gold ETFs selected for the study. This study will be beneficial for the market researchers and investors who find the best opportunities in the Gold ETFs.

Government of India believes boosting exports of agricultural commodities is a sure-shot way to enhance the farmers income in the country. Indian coffee is primarily an export-oriented commodity with over 75% of the annual production being exported to various destinations around the world. Small coffee growers dominates coffee production in the country. The main objective of the study is to estimate the operational cost involved in the production of Robusta coffee and also to estimate the price spread between the coffee growers at farm gate level and at exporters level. The results of the study indicates that, there is a huge price spread (` 34,147 per ton) in coffee value chain due to the inability of the small coffee growers to ship their coffee directly to export destinations which is caused by a number of impediments like low bargaining power associated with fragmented production, lack of trade knowledge, lack of capital and information barriers. Thus, it is important to provide visionary long run sustainable solutions to micro level weakness and threats by considering strengths and opportunities of small coffee growers in the country to move up in the value chain. The results of the study also indicates that, there is huge potential for the coffee growers to enhance their gross income from existing ` 94,900 per acre to ` 1,29,047 per ton by moving up in the value chain. The study also highlighted the initiatives taken by the Coffee Board to support small coffee growers to move up in the value chain.

The study was undertaken to examine the relative economics of menthol mint production with existing competitive crop combinations in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve area of Uttar Pradesh. Data were obtained through administrating of a pre-tested, well-designed survey schedule and questionnaire from 400 farmers during the agriculture year 2018-19. To accomplish the objectives of the study both descriptive analysis and project appraisal technique have been applied to study the socio-economic status of farmers along with the profile of their farm and analyze the cost, return behavior and relative profitability. The study unveiled that about 62.50 per cent farmers were having the educational qualification level of primary to postgraduate and remaining of 37.50 per cent farmers were deprived of schooling. More than three fourths 384 of the sample farmers (96.00%) have perceived the agriculture as their main occupation, whereas only (4.00%) of them (16 families) have selected the agriculture as their secondary occupation. The average landholding size of the respondents has been found to be 2.39 acres, which are slightly less than the national average landholding size of a household. The larger area (38.50%) is covered under the combination of paddy-mentha-maize (42.50) followed by paddy-mustard-mentha (32.60%), sugarcane (22.65%) and paddy-wheat-maize (6.25%).The majority of the respondents had the medium level of mass media exposure, extension contact and having a high level of social participation. As the annual rate of returns from investment were affected by adoption cropping pattern, method of production and prices of input and output. It is observed that some competing crops performed better in terms of total and net returns over the cost of cultivation. It is also observed that the benefit-cost ratio mentha performed better and found noticeably higher than that of other existing competitive crop combinations. Moreover, among the three major cropping patterns,the maximum net return was obtained from Paddy-Mustard-Mentha accounted for ` 69.81K and B-C ratio was 1:1.62, it implies that farmers invest single rupee on deployed resources has been received 1.62 rupees additional as profit, it is also implied that marginal efficiency of recourses used and allocation considered as satisfactory level.

This study explores growth dimensions, instability, sources of growth and variability of mango and mango pulp exports to major importing countries. The secondary data on volume and value of mango and mango pulp exports from India collected for 30 years from the year 1987-2016 were analyzed using Markov Chain and accordingly the future exports were forecasted. UAE and Kuwait for fresh mango and Saudi Arabia, UAE and Netherland for mango pulp were the most stable markets. It was predicted that quantum of mango export to countries Viz; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UK are expected to increase while quantity exported to UAE, Bangladesh and other countries are expected to decline from the year 2016-17. On the other hand, for mango pulp, forecasting revealed that in terms of quantity its export to UK, UAE, Netherland and USA would rise and quantity exported to Saudi Arabia, YAR and other countries would decline. A need for more concentration on export promotion to tap the potential and strengthening of existing processing units by providing access to information on modern technology, packaging, markets, food laws and hygiene requirements of different market are suggestions emerged from the study.

The present study has been designed to investigate cost of cultivation and returns per hectare of guava fruit. A sample of thirty guava farmers was taken purposively from various villages in Rai block of Sonepat district of Haryana. On the basis of the nature of data, various statistical and economic tools were used for estimation of cost and returns of guava production. The average first year establishment costs per hectare for guava has been worked out to be ` 77527. The per hectare per year returns from guava orchards have been worked out to be ` 223308. The economic viability of the guava, mainly net present value, internal rate of return, benefit-cost ratio and payback period have been computed as ` 599313.66, 26.11 per cent, 1:3.09 and 7 years, respectively. The findings of study shows that guava growing is a step towards the diversification and commercialization of agriculture in the state and it also helps in doubling the farmers’ income. Keeping in view all the facts, there is need to develop early fruit bearing varieties of guava, timely supply of necessary inputs to make guava cultivation more profitable.

Cotton is an important commercial crop in India. The present study focuses on measurement of variability pattern of cotton yield and use of principal component analysis for developing cotton yield forecast model for Hisar district of Haryana (India). Instability index has been observed to study the variability behavior of cotton yield in the district. Time series data on cotton yield and fortnightly data of five weather variables for the crop season for 38 years (1980-91 to 2017-18) have been used. In all, three models have been developed by using direct weather variables, PC scores and components with higher loading as regressors and developed models have been used to forecast yield for four subsequent years 2014-15 to 2017-18 (which were not included in model development). The model with PC scores was found to be most appropriate to provide reliable yield forecast.

Livestock sector plays a prominent role in rural economy for supplementing the income of rural households particularly for landless labourers, small and marginal farmers. The study was conducted to understand the growth and trends of livestock population in India, Karnataka and North-eastern Karnataka. The secondary data pertained to livestock population was collected from various sources. The study revealed that, In India, the growth in total livestock during 1982-2012 indicated that it had grown at an annual growth rate (AGR) of 0.69 per cent. Among livestock, cattle registered an AGR of 0.21 per cent, while buffalo, sheep and goat registered an AGR of 2.31, 1.95 and 1.31 per cent respectively. Whereas in Karnataka, the growth in total livestock was reported at an AGR of 1.13 per cent during 1982-2012. The growth in total livestock of North-Eastern Karnataka (1982-2012) showed with an AGR of 1.68 per cent. Whereas, cattle population growth rate was registered with a negative AGR of -0.21 per cent, but buffalo, sheep and goat registered an AGR of 1.95, 4.35 and 2.17 per cent respectively.

The study used farm level data collected from rain-fed and irrigated castor seed cultivators from three purposively selected districts namely Rewari, Sirsa and Hisar of Haryana on the basis of highest acreage under castor crop. From each selected district, two villages were selected purposively having large number of castor cultivators. Sixty castor cultivators were interacted to extract relevant information related to various energy utilized in castor seed production using survey method. The aim of this research is to determine the energy input and output involved in castor production in the Haryana. The average energy consumption of the farms investigated in this study is 11064.18 MJha-1 of the total energy, 23.67 per cent is direct and 56.56 per centwas indirect. Renewable energy accounts for 3.49% and energy usage efficiency is found to be 5.92. The total energy input into the production of one kilogram of average castor was estimated to be 8.55 MJ. The dominant contribution to input is energy in the form of nitrogen fertiliser (32.86%), followed by water for diesel- oil (20.61%) and irrigation (19.77%). The cost of castor production per hectare is found to be ` 97412ha-1 in the region, with 52.70% of this beingfixed costs. It can be concluded that intensive castor farms are being operated in the area since the fixed cost was quite high. As a result of benefit-cost ratio (1.48) analysis, castor production was found to be economically efficient.

Over a fourth of India’s population suffers acute poverty and deprivation. A critical part of concern must go to the process of extending welfare benefits to the poor, as public service delivery of these programs frequently suffers from technical flaws and administrative inefficiencies. Whereas India’s major programme for food security– the Public Distribution System – is largely criticised for erroneous inclusion and exclusion of beneficiaries, and diversion of food subsidies that accentuate the inability of people to access food, Cash Transfer as an alternative service delivery mechanism seeks to eliminate inefficiency and corruption by giving money directly to the poor. This paper compares the implementation of PDS and Cash Transfer in Delhi to look into the necessity of formulating public policy that defines appropriate and effective mechanisms to ensure food security. The objective of the study is to evaluate the possible outcome of CT as a dependable solution for ensuring food security while drawing attention to the implementation of the most popular in-kind transfer program in the country, that is, PDS, to attain food security. An empirical investigation using questionnaires-based survey covering 80 households and eight Focus Groups Discussions with beneficiaries, and interviews with concerned implementing agencies showed that both schemes formed an important basis in sustaining households’ basic needs, and had spill over effect on gender equation at the household level. Yet, exclusion and corruption continued to a larger extent in PDS compared to CT, and both lacked effective responsiveness and accountability in governance mechanisms.

The aim of this study is to examine the cropping pattern in Kheri District, Uttar Pradesh, India. This paper also estimated the changing cropping pattern at the block level between 2009-10 and 2014-15, how the choices of the farmers are changing for the alteration of crops with the time motivated by modern technologies, land disintegration, frequent flash floods, deforestation, fluctuation on the market, etc. Kheri district has been considered as the study area for this research paper. The study has been carried out at the block level. The data has been derived from the district statistical handbooks. Field visits and personal interviews have been done to fathom the real situations and motivating factors for the changing crop pattern. The findings demonstrate that there is a net loss in the cropped area in the district during 2010 and 2015. The crop pattern changed in these five years. The area under cereal crops declined and sugarcane cultivation accelerated. Market and flash floods were the main factors to affect the acreage of the crops.

The paper has demonstrated slow growth rate of agricultural output, escalating input cost, declining profit margin, fragmentation of land, and unemployment are the symptoms of the Punjab’s economy. In such a situation, it become imperative to study how the tenant farmers survive in farming. To keep in mind the above facts, the present study was undertaken to examine the nature of tenancy system and constraints faced by tenant farmers in the state. The study was based on the primary data, collected from 120 farmers, for all the three agro-climatic zones of Punjab pertaining to the crop year 2017-18. Descriptive tools were used to study the nature of tenancy and mean score was used for constraints analysis. The study highlighted that to make them self employed or fulfill the need of family, tenant farmers took land on leased from cultivator who switched to another sector and migrated in large number outside the country. From the study it was perceived that with the increase of size of holding and majority of tenant farmers adopted land holding to improve the scale of farming and to be economically viable.