The study examined the growth and instability of vegetable products exports from India during 1996-97 to 2019-20. The results indicated positive and significant growth rates of Indian export for all the vegetable products under study for both the periods and also for the overall period. During overall period, onion fresh and cucumber registered positive and significant growth rates both in terms of export quantity and export value. However, export price of all the products declined significantly during the period of study. In terms of export quantity and value of vegetable products, none of the product showed low instability during the entire study period. In case of export price, low to medium instability was observed in majority of the vegetable products. By analyzing the growth and instability parameters during overall period none of the countries reported to have desirable situation of high growth with low instability in case of export quantity, value and price of vegetable products. The trade liberalization after the entry of WTO led to increase in competition between the countries which resulted into higher instability in the export of products.

The study has quantified and compared the effect of laser land levelling technology with conventional land levelling in paddy-wheat and cotton-wheat cropping pattern in Karnal and sirsa district of Haryana state, respectively. Using Bisaliah decomposition model (1977) improved technology and change in input use to enhance productivity under laser land levelling has been assessed. Decomposition of total productivity highlighted that in Karnal district, out of total incremental change in productivity, 8.38 and 5.36 per cent change was contributed only due to change in technology and rest was due to input use in paddy-wheat, respectively. Similarly, in Sirsa district, out of total change in productivity 5.4 and 4.87 per cent change contributed only due to enhancement in technology while rest was due to input use in cotton-wheat cropping pattern, respectively. Further study highlighted that water as well as fertilizer use efficiency was most influenced by use of laser land levelling technology. On the account of results of study, it was concluded that laser land levelling is an effective scale neutral resource conservation technology which has immense potential to cure low water use efficiency and improve fertilizer use in most prevalent cropping patterns (i.e. paddy-wheat as well as cotton) of Haryana state.

Attempts are made in this paper to investigate the trend of pulses in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, as well as their instability and non-linear model. This time series data on pulses pertains to the period 1980-1981 to 2014-15 and includes information on the area, production, and productivity of pulses. Pulses have had negative growth in terms of area, production, and productivity in all three zones of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, namely, the North Eastern plain zone, the Eastern plain zone, and the Vindhyan zone. Since 1980-81, there has been a rise in the area and output of pulses in the Vindhyan zone, as seen by the percentage change. The Eastern plain zone has the most stable pulse crop in terms of instability.

The several policies and initiatives has been taken to cope up the problem of agrarian distress, farmer suicides and to increase the farm employment across the different size classes of farming community The government of India (2016-17 budget) has set a policy target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 by ensuring the food security and income. The present study has explored the trend and pattern of cost of cultivation of paddy and wheat crop across some major producing states over the time period as cost of cultivation is treated one side of the coin while farmers’ income is the other side of the coin. The trend and pattern of different cost, profit, growth rate and efficiency of inputs have estimated across states over time. The descriptive analysis has been done using the CCS data published by CACP. There exists spatio-temporal variation in different costs, profit and growth. Thus a detailed review is needed to identify the state-wise important determinants (inputs) for the cultivation and after identifying the inputs supportive action is required through public policies.

The present study was undertaken to estimate the costs and returns structure of maize cultivation and identifying the prominent production constraints in West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. A sample of 60 farmers was randomly drawn from six villages of Mawthadraishan and Nongstoin block of the selected district. The costs and returns per hectare were calculated on the basis of cost concepts and Garett ranking method was used for employed for determination of constraints in maize production. The overall cost of cultivation was found to be ` 37185.22 per ha and the major cost components were manures (48.25%) and human labour (34.73%). The overall net return was evaluated at ` 19038.20 with small, medium and large farmers having similar returns with the exception of marginal farmers gaining a net return of only ` 13889.83 which was 27.04 per cent lower than the average return among the sample farmers. It may be attributed to their heavy dependence on labour and lack of investment on irrigation, plant protection and better-quality seeds. The realised average yield was found to be 23.65 q/ha which was abysmally low compared to other maize producing states of India. A positive trend between the return over cost ratio and the operational holding was observed with an average of 1.51. The prominent constraints as perceived by the farmers were unfavorable weather conditions, the incidence of pests and diseases and costly fertilizers and manures with the Garrett’s score of 64.70, 62.75 and 54.40 respectively.

Rice is the primary stable food crop and serves for more than three billion people in the globe. Thirty rice millers were selected purposively in the study area, to obtain their view on procurement parameters, opinion and preferences on procurement of CO 51. The fineness of rice and keeping quality were the major deciding parameters for procurement by rice millers with a Garrett’s score of 31.38. Fineness of rice fetches a premium price in the consumer market besides the keeping quality facilitates the miller to stock the produce for a long time till getting highest price in the market. The preference of the variety CO 51 is due to high milling (68.00 per cent), fineness, resistance to blast and BPH when compared to other varieties. The share of CO 51 was relatively higher in both the districts when compared to other varieties. This would enable the stake holders, University, extension agencies, seed companies and millers to design suitable strategies to motivate and influence the farmers towards desired direction. This message may be taken to farmers to decide the variety for getting premium price. This helps the policy makers in planning the policies related to procurement for the traders.

This study was conducted to identify and analyse factors affecting marketing of vegetables among small-scale farmers in West Bengal. Data collected with structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and regression analysis. Data collected from 80 vegetable growers selected from Cooch Behar using structured interview schedule and analyzed through econometric techniques. Regression analysis showed that the factors like price, production, farm size, extension contact, competition, transportation, etc. determine the arrival of vegetable crops in the market. Correlation analysis among the variables from demand-side showed that population growth, per capita income and production level had positive correlations with market arrival (demand) of vegetable crops. The study recommended higher investment, favourable government policy, quality of produce, post-harvest facilities, etc. for improving overall marketing efficiency.

Horticulture has been increasingly significant in supplying key elements to Punjabis’ diets. From 2010-11 to 2018-2019, the study examines the trends and variations in area, production, and yield of fruit crops in Punjab. The state’s trends in fruit area, production, and yield tend to be good for key fruits (citrus, mango, guava, and pear) in practically all areas. The decline in production of guava during the year 2016-17 and in production of pear during the year 2015-16 & 2016-17 was due to downward growth in area in during these years. Results of Cuddy-Della Valle Index indicates that fluctuations in production of major fruits i.e. constantly increasing over time (from 2010-2019); however, instability in their area mounted and reached to the highest levels for guava, mango and pear again in 2017-18 and 2018-19. While, disparity in pear production were the highest in 2015-16 followed by 2016-17. On the basis of growth rate data these can be ascribed to expansion in area to a great extent and remarkably in productivity improvement. During the study period, fruit production differs due to area in guava and pear, though productivity is not changed greatly. The results of decomposition analysis specify comparably intense stimulus of area expansion in production of guava and pear. Due to the scarcity of agricultural land, there are few opportunities to expand the area of fruit crops. As a result, improvements in fruit crop output levels are essential to maintain healthy growth in fruit output.

This paper estimated the growth of fertilizer consumption in India and forecasted it upto the year 2030 and both supply side and demand side factors which influences it. The results indicated that consumption of fertilizers had been increased at the rate of 4.16 per cent. The demand side determinants like area under irrigation reflected at the rate of 1.42 per cent growth, average minimum support prices showed a growth rate of 7 per cent and a short term institutional credit registered a growth rate of 17 per cent. Area under irrigation and sum of average MSP encourages the fertilizer consumption substantially. The supply side factors viz., production, import and subsidy were influencing the fertilizer consumption significantly. The total fertilizer demand is expected to reach at 57 million tons by 2030 and at the same time, rate of consumption might enhanced to 277 kg per hectare. It is concluded that import is unavoidable to meet the gap between domestic production and total demand.

This study was carried out to estimate the economic losses caused by land degradation in different agroclimatic zones of Rajasthan. The economic losses were calculated by using an estimation model based on the amount of degraded land in each zone multiplied by the total value of output per hectare. Economic losses due to land degradation in the state as a whole ` 55.24 billion per year at 2017-18 prices. The highest losses were reported in the flood-prone eastern plain (` 10.67 billion) and the lowest in the Luni basin transitional plain (` 1.37 billion). The magnitude of economic losses in Rajasthan varied according to the severity of degradation, climatic factors, farming activities (including the number of crops cultivated and crop productivity) across agro-climatic zones.

The efficiency with which farmers use available resources is very important for agricultural production. This study examines the comparative resource use efficiency (RUE) between aerobic and conventional rice farms in Eastern Dry Zone (Zone-5) of Karnataka. Cross-sectional data were collected from 100 rice cultivating farmers (50 in Aerobic farms and 50 in Conventional farms) using snow ball sampling technique. Cobb-Douglas production function, Marginal analysis of resource utilization, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) were some of the analytical tools used in the study. The mean aerobic farm size was 0.43 ha while in Conventional rice, it was 0.63 ha. The physical water use efficiency (WUE) in aerobic farms (3.84 q/ acre inch) was higher than conventional farms (1.64 q/acre inch). Also, the economic WUE was higher in aerobic farms (1643.54 `/acre inch) compared to conventional farms (269.41 `/acre inch). RUE indicated that, resources were not optimally utilized in both Aerobic Rice Cultivation (ARC) and Conventional Rice Cultivation (CRC). Bullock labour, machine labour, seeds and irrigation were underutilized in ARC, whereas, FYM was underutilized in CRC indicating that usage of additional amount of these inputs leads to increase in the returns. The DEA revealed that aerobic rice cultivating farms were more technically and economically efficient compared to conventional rice cultivating farms. Effective policies to promote and create awareness about aerobic rice can boost the rice production and productivity sustainably. The focus should be given to optimal allocation of resources which enhances the farm productivity and returns.

Mentha (Mentha arvensis) is an important crop cultivated in India. Uttar Pradesh is the leading producer state in the country. The present study has been carried out in order to access the export potential of Indian Mentha oil. The export potential and performance of Mentha oil was examined. Apart from this total export, export growth rate and stability or instability of trade for India was also examined. Growth rate analysis and Markov chain analysis were the analytical tools used to assess growth and transition probabilities matrix for the major Mentha oil markets. Data were collected from various published sources from the year 2010-11 to 2019-2020 to calculate the compound growth rate and export potential of Mentha oil. The result of the study revealed that U.S.A. is the most stable importer of Indian Mentha oil because it retain 79 per cnt share in last ten years among all the countries. France reported as second most stable importer of India’s Mentha oil had 0.49 transition probability. Japan, Brazil, Netherland, Spain reported zero transition probability, indicating instability in India’s exports to these countries.

Rotary weeder cum fertilizer drill accomplishes both the operations of weeding and fertilizer application simultaneously in a single operation. Performance of developed machine was evaluated in castor crop. Cost has been worked out as per the standard procedure and comparison made in terms of labour saving to determine the economic feasibility of the machines. It had been estimated that the break-even point (BEP) calculated on time and area basis for rotary weeder cum fertilizer drill was 273 h and 53.50 ha, respectively. The payback period calculated on time basis for the rotary weeder- cum- fertilizer drill was found to be a little over 3 years. Cost of weeding and fertilizer drilling through rotary weeder- cumfertilizer drill can save cost up to 34.22 per cent as compared to the combined cost of existing methods of weeding and fertilizer application methods.

The present study was conducted to analyze the growth rate and source of output growth in area, production and productivity of rabi pulse crops viz., gram and lentil crops in Rajasthan. The study was solely based on secondary time series data. The study period (1988-89 to 2017-18) has been divided into four periods namely period-I (1988-89 to 1997-98), period-II (1998-99 to 2007-08), period- III (2008-09 to 2017-18) and overall period (1988-89 to 2017-18). Exponential growth and principal decomposition models were used to measure the growth rates and relative contribution of factors in production of gram and lentil crops. The area, production and productivity of gram showed mixed pattern of growth at the rate of -0.46, 1.86 and 2.33 per cent, respectively during overall period. However, the area, production and productivity of lentil were reported positive growth with the magnitude of 11.94, 12.72 and 0.93 per cent, respectively in the state. The study revealed that the mixed growth rate was observed in area, production and productivity of gram while increasing growth was observed in area, production and productivity of lentil. During all the study periods, the expansion in area was effective to increase the production of lentil in Rajasthan. During period-I and II, the production of gram was mainly contributed by expansion in area while in the case of period-III and overall, the interaction effect was more dominant.

A vigilant study of the resource endowment conditions of farmers is a precondition for the appropriate design and successful implementation of the government’s programs. The study was conducted in Hamirpur district of Bundelkhand during 2019-20 to investigate the resource endowments and socioeconomic status of mustard grower farmers. Maudaha block of Hamirpur was selected, randomly. Primary data was collected from a sample of 120 respondents through structured questionnaire using a multistage sampling. The data indicated that out total respondent’s maximum were found illiterate, majority of farmers were having Pakka house. Agriculture was found to be the major source of income for the farmers of Maudaha block and also provided a source of the dietary needs of the family. Average size holding per farm was found highest under large farms followed by medium and small farms. The cropping intensity of Hamirpur was found less than that of whole Bundelkhand region. Buffalo population was found to be increasing in the region over the period.

This study assessed the growth trends and instability in area, production and productivity of rice in major rice growing states during the period 2001-02 to 2018-19. The study revealed that compound growth rate of area under rice was almost constant in the country during last two decades, while it was

fluctuating across the states. However, growth rates of production and productivity was found positive and significant. Instability in area under rice was less as compared to production and productivity. Although production of rice has increased due to innovations and adoption of new farm technologies, but a greater instability in production, indicated the influence of irregular monsoon on production during the study period. Many of the States registered negative profitability in rice cultivation and farmers get handful returns only when the farm business income was calculated. To provide better protection to the farmers through restriction on purchasing rice below MSP or government may adopt proper mechanism to stop distress sale of farm produces particularly rice.

This study on ‘Value Chain Analysis of Fish in Meghalaya: A case study in East Khasi Hills district’ has been conducted in 2020-21 with specific objectives (1) To map the actors involved in the value chain of fish business. (2) To estimate the value addition in fish marketing by the value chain actors. The value chain actors were identified and the structure of the value chains was mapped. The study revealed that the most commonly followed method of value addition of fish in the study area are fermenting, drying and smoking. The cost incurred for making fermented fish was observed to be ` 21.50/kg, ` 16.50/kg for dry fish and ` 37.50/kg for smoked fish. Additionally, net profit was found to be highest in value-added fish than compared to fresh ones. Therefore, value addition should be encouraged among fish farmers to increase net profit.

In view of the goal of achieving ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030 set in the United Nations Summit, 2015, the present study makes an attempt to identify the determinants of food accessibility of rural households in six selected villages of two blocks of the district of Birbhum, West Bengal. Food accessibility implies ability to acquire food through various means. The study is based on primary data collected from field survey in the selected villages. The total sample size is 500. Food accessibility of the households is analysed in terms of their monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) on food. This calculated MPCE has been compared with the MPCE on food as per the minimum food basket for rural India set by the Planning Commission in 2014. The households have been classified into two groups, viz, households lying above the specified threshold of food accessibility are considered to be those having food accessibility and households below that cut off of food accessibility are taken to be those not having that accessibility. Logit regression, applied for finding out the determinants, reveals that number of years of education of the heads of the households, female literacy rate, monthly income of the households, work force participation rate positively influences food accessibility, while monthly expenses on intoxicants have a deterring effect on food accessibility of the households. The study suggests that access to sustainable employment opportunities for the poor can be the most important solution for achieving ‘Zero Hunger’.

The study attempted to critically review the status and scope of rice fallows in India, specifically to the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. Technological progress and capital-intensive cultivation through conversion of marginal lands mitigated the ever-increasing demand of food production for burgeoning population to some extent but a continuous expansion of fallow lands brought serious concern on policy dynamics. The changes in temporal and spatial distribution of fallow lands are mostly documented due to increasing variability in the precipitation and irrigation water, and low level of mechanization. However, this is not true in case of flood and drought prone areas, and state like Bihar, where farmers are financially weak and technological expansion is very limited. The results revealed that, the most important constraint for rice fallows was rainfed ecology, low soil moisture content after the harvest of paddy and lack of irrigation facilities. The farmers also identified lack of short duration and high yielding varieties, poor plant stand, no use of fertilizers and chemicals and severe weed infestation in the field as the other major constraints. The size of land holding was found positively significant with rice fallows area indicating that the income penalty of keeping land fallow could not be tolerated by marginal small farmers.

The present study was carried out in Nawapara APMC in Chhattisgarh to examine the changes brought about by the e-NAM intervention in the arrivals and prices of paddy. To identify the factors that influence farmers’ participation in the e-NAM platform, several 75 farmers were selected and interviewed. F test and t-test were adopted to analyze the equality of variances and means of the market arrivals and prices of paddy before and after e-NAM adoption. The study results show that both the monthly arrivals and modal prices of paddy were higher post-e-NAM integration than before it was integrated. The percentage changes before and after e-NAM in the arrivals and prices were 29.28 percent and 24.21 percent, respectively. There is no significant ratio in variances, whereas there is a significant difference in the means of both the arrivals and prices, as shown by F and t t-test results. The factors that motivated the farmers to do trading on the e-NAM platform were found to be influenced mainly by remunerative price followed by better price than the open auction, more transparency, and absence of middlemen. This indicated that the implementation of the e-NAM platform has a positive impact on arrivals and prices. The impact may be more visible once it is implemented in the true sense of conceptualized.

Coffee, the favorite beverage of the civilized world, plays a more significant role in India’s trade-dependent agriculture. More than 70 percent (3,08,148 tonnes) of coffee produced in the country was exported in the year 2020. The majority of Indian coffee plantations are in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The present study overviews the growth trends in the area, production, productivity, and export of Indian coffee from 1980-81 to 2019-20 by employing CAGR estimates. Indian coffee exhibited an overall growth of 1.98, 2.96, 0.98, 4.42, and 10.37 percent in area, production, productivity, quantity, and value of export, respectively, over the last 40 years. Even with significant positive growth in all the components, the Indian coffee sector is experiencing difficulties due to climatic aberrations, bottlenecks in the export business, including quality issues, and heavy competition from traditional and emerging coffee growers and traders in the international market.

An investigation on the resource use efficiency of pig farming was carried out in the Mylliem and Mawphlang blocks of the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. A multistage purposive and random sampling procedure was used for the study. Primary data were collected from a sample of 66 pig farmers. Analysis of resource use efficiency has shown that the sum of elasticities of production is 33.79, which indicated an increasing return to scale operating in the pig farms under study. Among the various resources selected for the study price of piglet and concentrated feed were found to be significant for returns per pig, and other factors of production like fodder, total human labor, veterinary aid, and medicine were found to be insignificant. Resource use efficiency ratio (r) for piglet price and concentrated feed was greater unity showing that these resources were underutilized and increment in their usage would lead to maximization of profit. The results revealed further scope to invest in quality breed piglets and feed to enhance the pig farmers’ profit in the state.

Productivity growth in agriculture is of paramount importance as higher yields are associated with declining rural poverty, suggesting that impact of growth in agricultural production on poverty remains high (Himanshu et al. 2010). The oilseed crops play an important role in agricultural development of India, sharing 14 per cent of the country’s gross cropped area and accounting for about 3 per cent of the gross domestic product and nearly 6 per cent of the value of all agricultural products (ICAR-IIOR, 2015). Present study was aimed to Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in three oilseed crops in the state of Rajasthan during the period 2000-01 to 2015-16. In the present study, the Tornqvist Theil Index used to compute the total input index, total output index and total factor productivity index (TFPI). The Tornqvist Index is particular for the homogenous translog production function that can carry a second order approximation to an subjective twice differentiable standardized production function. The results of this study have indicated low TFP in rapeseed & mustard4 (1.14 per cent per annum) despite a 66.38 per cent share in the total oilseed output of the state. The annual compound growth rate of TFP of soybean decreased at the rate of 0.067 per cent per annum (Negative growth). Whereas, the compound growth rate of TFP of annual green soybean crop increased at the 2.71 per cent per annum (high growth) while its TFP to output growth was about 73.26 per cent. The real cost of production of rapeseed & mustard and soybean increased by 0.77 and 2.98 per cent per annum, respectively while 0.02% decreased in sesamum crop.