Women constitute half of the world population, perform nearly two thirds of its working hours but still receive only one-tenth of income and one-hundredth of world’s property. Gender discrimination is distinct and common in all developing countries in the world. Agricultural wages paid to women are on an average 30-40% less than those of men in India. Women have extensive workloads with dual responsibility for farm in general and livestock and house-hold production in India. Micro finance is a broad term that includes deposits, loans, payment services and insurances to poor people. The poor families with very small loans to help them engage in productive activities or grow their tiny business. The activities vary widely ranging from care of animals, grazing, fodder collection, cleaning of animals and sheds to processing milk and livestock products. In livestock management, indoor jobs like milking, feeding, cleaning is done by women in 90% of families while management of male animals and fodder production are affected by men. The multi-stage random sampling method has been followed to select rural women in Rayalaseema region (Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool districts) of Andhra Pradesh. The objectives are to study the socio- economic conditions of rural women beneficiaries and analyze the feasibility of investment on dairy enterprise. To assess the impact of micro finance on income and employment of rural women through dairy enterprise and constrains faced by rural women and suggest appropriate measures to improve economic conditions of the rural women dairy entrepreneurs.

Industrial sickness acts as great hurdle for economic growth. It is considered as a disease that can change a strong unit into a sick or weak unit with low productivity. It is slow poison which can make an economy paralyzed. Haora district is one of the industriallyoprominent districts of West Bengal since colonial period. It is composed of different types of industries like engineering, jute and cotton textile units. With the march of time many of these have lost their glamour and gradually have become economically sick. After suffering from sickness for a long time some of them became closed. Increasing number of sick units in Haora district has affected the economy of this district as well as economy of West Bengal. The contribution of secondary sector in NDDP is declining and the share of registered manufacturing sector is decreasing while the share of unregistered sector is increasing day by day. This is a symptom of weak economy. To reveal actual scenario this study is based on secondary and primary data with purposive sampling technique. To recover from this situation Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has been established and it takes necessary actions for fruitful results. It is true that without recovery and resurgence of these units and reduction in number of sick units revitalization of the economy is not possible.

Wheat is one of the most popular staple foods in India which compete well with other cereal in nutritive value. Hence based on importance of the crop, the present study examined the performance of wheat production in the country in terms of variability and growth using secondary data for the period of 2000-01 to 2017-18. Variability of wheat in the area, production and productivity was found to be 6.81, 13.87 and 8.10 per cent, respectively for India. The results showed that maximum relative change in area, production and productivity of wheat was noticed in Madhya Pradesh state with 65.97, 226.32 and 96.62 per cent, respectively. Growth in area, production and productivity of wheat crop in India has been increased with positive and highly significant rate of 1.21, 2.46 and 1.23 per cent per annum, respectively. Madhya Pradesh showed highly significant compound growth rates in area, production and productivity with 3.49, 8.21 and 4.56 per cent per annum, respectively. The highest growth in area, production and productivity of wheat in Madhya Pradesh helps in confirming Krishi Karman Award for last five consecutive years. Decomposition analysis indicated that yield contribution in the production of wheat in India was positive and significant with 47.3 per cent followed by area effect of 44.38 per cent whereas interaction effect was found to be 8.31 per cent only revealing that increased productivity is a major factor towards increased production of wheat in India.

Casual labour includes the labour of workers whose normal employment consists of a series of short-term jobs. Casual labour is mainly hired by the hour or day or for the performance of specific tasks. This paper present the comparative analysis of labour ratio and casual labour using secondary data for various NSSO surveys and Periodic Labour Force Survey reports issued by the Government of India. Findings of this study showed that unemployment rate in the rural sector was lower than urban sector for all the gender categories and the low value of LFPR and WPR in both Rajasthan and India which is a concern for the overall development of the economy. The proportion of casual labour was higher in the rural area than an urban area in both national and state-level, which indicates the low level of social security in the rural sector. Rajasthan has higher female earnings than the national level in all four seasons of work. Results also showed that in season April-June, the earnings of the casual labours are higher in all categories due to higher availability of work in that season. Due to excessive rains, the earnings in July- September season was less compare to other seasons. Results of this study showed that average earnings in the rural sector in public works like MGNREGA and others are higher in national level compared to Rajasthan. Average hour work in a week for casual labour in all four seasons was higher in Rajasthan than the national level, which shows labour intensive work condition in the state.

The study has been conducted in five districts of Jammu region to discuss the income and livelihood issues of farmers. The overall household income from agriculture has been estimated to be ` 56034.24 with highest of ` 97876.02 from Kathua district and lowest of `34491.78 earned by the farmers in the Doda district.It has been found that the large farmers earn only 33.04 per cent of income from agriculture followed by 29.26 per cent, 25.30 per cent and 25.24 per cent by medium, small and marginal farmers, respectively. Livestock contributes highest of 11.03 per cent in case of marginal farmers followed by 10.86 per cent, 8.51 per cent and 5.63 per cent in case of small, medium and large farmers. The per day per capita income from agriculture has been found to be ` 15.43, ` 17.77, ` 26.42 and ` 36.12 for marginal, small, medium and large farmers, respectively, with an overall average of ` 20.55. As the poverty line fixed by the government is `22.00 which shows that only medium and large farmers fall above the poverty line whereas marginal and small farmers are below poverty line if they depend exclusively on agricultural income. Service sector has been found the important one as it contributes 34.59 per cent of to the total household income of all the farmers. Therefore the farmers of Jammu region have to develop livelihood strategy for their existence.

Serving the Indian society since 1904; the cooperative credit structure has proved itself to be the life blood of the Indian economy and the mechanism as well as the booster for many a developmental programs especially in agriculture dominated rural sector by playing a pivotal role in triggering the welfare of common individual, financing his business and other personal needs. The paper is an effort to provide an overview of the two tier co-operative credit structure, of Manipur of NEHR in order to reveal its performance with special reference to operation, recovery performance, financial performance and loan delinquency rate for last 12 years (2000-01 to 2011-12). The co-operative structure in the state shown satisfactory its growth but at the same time the loan delinquency of MSCB was observed to be in higher side which shows poor recovery of the loan from the farmers. Further, to strengthen the co-operative system study suggests opening more branches of co-operative for more outreach of loan to the remotely located villages in the state. Campaign of awareness programmes should be initiated to reduce the delinquency of loans in the state.

Cashew is one of the most important dollar earning crops of the country. The quantity of export of cashew kernel had registered a growth of 5.71% per annum. This was made possible both due to increased export to countries of import and changes in composition of India’s cashew kernel exports to various destinations. The paper quantifies the changing structure of cashew kernel exports in order to understand the dynamics of changes and the growth rate analysis. The growth rate analysis reveals that, UAE shows the highest growth rate and the countries like USA, Netherland, UK show the negative growth rates. The markov chain model was used to assess the transition probabilities for the major cashew kernel export from India. The result revealed that, the country USA was the highest probability of reduction (0.87) compare to all other countries. The forecasted values for, the countries UAE and ‘other countries’ show the increasing trend and the countries like USA, UK, Netherland, Japan and France show the decreasing trend.

The present effort undertaken in the Kandi belt of Jammu region aimed to study the different crops grown in the area, the cropping pattern followed and to find out the cropping intensity of the selected area. The results of the study revealed that among the districts selected the Net Cultivable Area was the highest in Jammu district (59.50 ha) and the least was in Rajouri (55.15 ha). However, the Total Cropped Area was highest in district Udhampur (98.70 ha). The cropping intensity was highest in Udhampur 167.57 and the least in Jammu (163.61).

During the last six decades, the information theory has attracted the researchers from worldwide and its literature is growing leaps and bounds. Some of its terminologies even have become part of our daily language. Every probability distribution has some uncertainty associated with it. The concept of ‘entropy’ is introduced here to provide a quantitative measure of this uncertainty. Different approaches for measure of entropy and its development has been made, viz: 1.An axiomatic approach, 2.Measure of entropy via measure of inaccuracy and directed divergence and 3.Information measures and coding theorem. A hypothetical data of agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, in each of nine years were framed. All inputs bought to fisheries and forestry sectors were supplied by other firms of the same sector. It was worked out that the smaller the distance of probability distribution P from Q, the greater will be the uncertainty and greater the entropy. This is always positive and vanishes if and only if P = Q.

An attempt has been made in this study to analyze the growth and impact of rural infrastructure on agricultural land/labour productivity in Jammu and Kashmir employing secondary data. The results indicated that although the road network in the state has significantly expanded but still number of regions are yet to be connected. Similarly 3% of the villages are yet to have electricity facility though the proportion of village electrified has increased since 1980s’. Moreover it is interesting to note that the electricity consumed for agricultural activities constitute only 5% of total electricity consumption in the state. As far as irrigation capacities in the state are concerned, it has shown only a marginal improvement over the years. While cooperative have shown a decline, the branches offices of banks have increased significantly. The estimates of agricultural land/labour productivity models revealed that rural infrastructure variables have significantly contributed to the growth of agricultural productivity and may have significant marginal impact. On the basis of major findings, this study suggests that the pace of growth in development of the agricultural economy has to be accompanied by consistent growth in rural infrastructure. The study also advocated the public-private partnership in building basic rural infrastructure uniformly across the state.

This study was conducted to evaluate the media reach and its effectiveness to disseminate agro-technologies among rural people. One hundred respondents were interviewed randomly with a pre-tested questionnaire. The data were analyzed by one way ANOVA and differences in mean were assessed by using Turkey-b. The study showed that respondents have different degree of accessibility to radio (73%), television (99%, P<0.05) and newspaper (66%). The use of television (17%) was significantly (P<0.05) higher as compared to radio (10%) and newspaper (8%) to listen/read about agriculture. Only 4%, 2% and 2% respondents were used television, radio and newspaper, respectively to learn new agro-technologies where as 10% respondents used interpersonal sources. Therefore, from the present study it may be concluded that in order to enhance the effectiveness of mass media in dissemination of agro-technologies, there is dire need to motivate rural community to use mass media to gain agricultural information.

The present study has been made to work out the cost of cultivation, profitability and production as well as marketing constraints of wheat cultivation faced by farmers. The primary data were collected from 105 sample respondents (40 small, 40 medium and 25 large) through pre-tested interview schedule. The cost of cultivation was found to be highest on large farm (` 29379.88/ha) as compared to medium farm (` 26155.99/ha) and small farm (` 21942.80/ha). The gross income received from wheat cultivation was to be ` 50166.54 per hectare on overall farms, while gross income was found to be maximum in case of large farm (` 55817.55/ha) followed by medium farm (` 50191.20/ha) and small farm (` 44490.87/ha). The net income, farm business income, family labour income and farm investment income were found to be ` 24340.32, ` 35779.93, ` 27969.70 and ` 34498.43 per hectare, respectively on overall farms. The benefit cost ratio was to be highest on small farm (1:2.027) as compared to medium (1:1.918) and large farm (1:1.899). The wheat cultivators reported that potential yield could not be achieved due to various production constraints viz. lack of soil testing facilities, lack of knowledge of plant protection measures, lack of knowledge of recommended package of practices, unavailability of hired human labour, irregularity of electricity supply, lack of capital, lack of proper training, disease problems, unavailability of high yielding variety seed and unavailability of fertilizers at operation period.

The capital investment and land-use pattern in Indian agriculture has traditionally promoted cereal-based cropping systems. However, diversification towards more productive and profitable crops like grape and other higher returns crops has become the new milestone to be achieved in Indian agriculture. A shift in area towards horticulture crops as a more viable and attractive alternative is a part of such diversification drive. In the present study production and financial feasibility of grape cultivation was done using primary data collected pertaining to Vijayapur district of Karnataka. The results of study revealed an annual establishment cost of ` 1,59,889/ ha with a net returns of ` 3,43,987/ ha. The financial feasibility analysis revealed that the investment in grape orchards can be recovered within five years. The net present values (NPV) were positive and high indicating worthiness of investment in grape business. The estimated B.C. ratio (1.42) was also revealed the profitableness of grape enterprise. The internal rate of return (IRR) was found to be (34.10%) found to be much higher than the cost of capital (12.50%), indicating grape cultivation as a highly profitable enterprise.

Alongside making considerable progress in the production of food grains and oilseeds especially during the last three decades, the Indian agriculture has simultaneously been indicative of growing instability in the production front for several reasons. It was in this backdrop, an attempt was made through the present study to examine the growth and instability of sesame over five of the six sesame growing states of North-Eastern Hill Region of the country by way of analyzing the time series data of 20 years. The growth rate of area and production found to be highest in Nagaland state but in terms of productivity it was highest in Manipur state. The instability which was highest observed in case of area and productivity for Manipur was observed lowest in Nagaland state. Hence, the study highly recommends the use and adoption of site specific scientific package of practices of the crop to avoid the prevailed instability.

Phalsa (Grewia asiatica L.) belongs to family Tiliaceae and is native to the Indian sub-continent and South-East Asia. 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 1000 plants through rooting of cuttings was worked out for 15th July, 30th July, 15th August and 30th August planting in combination with IBA (150 ppm, 300 ppm and 450 ppm), NAA (150 ppm, 300 ppm and 450 ppm) and untreated cuttings planted i.e., treatment seven on different dates of planting. The cost incurred on preparation of land (`500.00), labour charges (`515.00), Farm yard manure (`180.00), planting material (` 1500.00), irrigation (`560.00) and depreciation on assets (` 79.80) was found to be same in all the treatments. The cost incurred on the preparation of different solutions of IBA in various treatments was found to be `403.20 for 450 ppm IBA followed by `269.00 for 300 ppm IBA and `134.40 for 150 ppm IBA and in case of preparation of NAA it was found to be `378.00, `252.00 and `126.00, respectively. It was found that 30th July was best date of planting of phalsa cuttings and IBA treatment was best among growth regulators treatment. Also phalsa cuttings treated with IBA 300 ppm and planted on 30th July showed highest survival percentage (71%) and net returns (` 3496.20) Thus, planting of phalsa cuttings on 30th July and treated with IBA 300 ppm was found to be best treatment combination as evidenced by the cost: benefit ratio of 1:1.97.

The present study was conducted in Mahendragarh district of Haryana state. All the five blocks were taken from the selected district and from each block two villages were randomly selected totaling 10 villages. Ten MGNREGS job card holders were randomly selected from each selected village. Thus, the total sample consisted of 100 respondents. Most of the job cards were applied and issued during 2006-07 followed by the year 2010-11 in all the blocks. The proportion of persons doing actual work to the total job cards issued was very low in almost all the selected blocks. Majority of job card holders did not get employment in almost all the years. In the year 2011-12, 63% of workers did not get work for even a single day. The average employment per respondent decreased from about 23 days in 2006-07 to about 14 days in 2011-12. This indicates that participation of workers is very low in MGNREGA in the study area. The root cause of low participation is lack of information/awareness about MGNREGS and job card not handed over to them. The contribution of MGNREGS income was about 9% to the total family income of the working respondents (37%). In the study area, there was a common problem of non-availability of camel carts at low rate fixed by the government. There is a need of further strengthening of the MGNREGS to generate sufficient employment for rural workers.

The study was carried out to find the profitability and resource use efficiency of two fish production system i.e. wastewater and freshwater in West Bengal, India. The study revealed that though the productivity of freshwater fish production system was higher by 74.5 kg/acre over the other system but the freshwater fish production farmers realized lower net returns of ` 1933.53/acre as compared to the wastewater fish production farmers. This was due to mainly two facts, firstly, higher rent of leased-in freshwater fish ponds and secondly, the locational advantage of wastewater fish ponds (proximity to the megacity Kolkata) which fetched higher price of the produce. The results of the study indicated that under both the system of fish production, fish seeds, area, and labour has greater influence on gross returns. Further, it was found that, fish seeds and labour were under-utilized in freshwater fish production system whereas fish seeds, labour and area were under used in wastewater fish production system. Theft and pilferages, non availability of quality fish seeds, lack of government support, lack of capital, lack of natural feed, labour crisis etc. were some of the major identified problems and constraints encountered during production of fish.

The present investigation was carried out in the breeding and migratory tracts of jamunapari goat in district Mohoba of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. For study, data were collected from 10 villages of belonging to Jaitpur block of the Mohoba district in 2012-2013. The climate of the breeding and migratory tracts was hot, semi-arid and tropical in nature with matching vegetation and cultivated crops. The average migratory flock size was 58 ± 3.71 (range 30-100). In stationary flocks the size ranged between 2 and 35 with an average of 17.The average flock contains 16.0 ± 2.57 individuals (range 8 to 41), of which 0.25% adult males, 8.65% adult females and 7.1% young. It has been observed that Feeding system significantly affected body weights and weight gain at all the growth stages and. In stationery tracts approximately diarrhea 21.7%, pneumonia 7.1%, parasitic disease 5.5%, F.M.D. 4.9%, Nutritional disease 10.6%, Blot 6.7%, P.P.R. 11.5%, enterotoxaemia 8.4% and unknown other diseases 5.9% were found. In Migratory tracts approximately diarrhea 24.5% , Phenomena 9.6% , Parasitic disease 7.8% , F.M.D. 6.6%, Nutritional disease 12.8%, Blot 8.2%, P.P.R. 13.7%, enterotoxaemia 10.1% and unknown other diseases 7.4%, which were found to have more than stationery tracts. The study revealed that jamunapari goat was reared under traditional method of rearing with less scientific management practices.

The various production and marketing constraints faced by the Citrus growers of various districts of Jammu region were studied by selecting a sample of 192 citrus growers from four districts of Jammu region and suggestions were also made to overcome the said constraints. The data revealed that in Jammu region as a whole it was observed that in the cultivation of citrus several constraints such as lack of finance and credit facilities, inadequate irrigation facilities, non availability of good quality seedlings, farmyard manure, educated members of their family go outside and lack of latest technical knowledge were predominant and expressed by most of the farmers. In the process of marketing, lack of processing units and marketing societies was the major constraint as expressed by almost all the respondents. Moreover, not getting remunerative price for the produce, un-organized marketing, low price paid to farmers, less demand of fruits, lack of market information and cheating in marketing by the middlemen in the form of malpractices, high and undue marketing margins and deductions in the market were the other major problems expressed by the farmers. To overcome the constraints the 100 per cent respondents suggested that government should take initiative to establish fruit processing units in rural areas. There were other large number of respondents who demanded the bank loan facility at nominal interest rates and at proper time. The majority of the farmers also expressed that adequate provision for obtaining remunerative prices be made available and market information regarding market prices by opening of information centre at village level should be made available to them were also few suggestions given by them.

ICT based market information services are getting wide importance as a means of empowering farmers by enabling them to take informed decisions, and in removing information asymmetry. This study analyses determinants of adoption as well as barriers to adoption of ICT based market information services (MIS) in Kerala. Logistic regression model revealed that factors like education, family size, and contact with extension agent positively influenced adoption of ICT based market information services by the farmers whereas income from other sources negatively influenced the adoption. Technical barriers and language were found to be the most important barriers for adoption of MIS followed by irrelevancy of contents, lack of reliability, lack of awareness and cost involved. The study suggested that further efforts to create awareness about such interventions among farmers, providing content in local languages in user friendly manner will increase the adoption of MIS and would remove information asymmetry in agricultural marketing.

The present study was carried out in five districts of Haryana during 2011-12. All the 200 farmers selected for the study had heard about privatization of agricultural extension services(PAES), gathered information regarding PAES, knew name and location of PAES and utilized PAES for agricultural purposes. They also knew that PAES provided different kinds of inputs like HYV, seedlings, fertilizers, crop protection, spray pumps, infrastructure facilities and value addition to crop produce. More than three-fourth (82.50%) of farmers had high level of knowledge towards PAES. Extension contact (0.198) and education (0.179) were highly significant and positively associated with the knowledge of farmers towards privatization of agricultural extension services. While other important variables like age, family type, occupation, land holding, cropping intensity, irrigation facilities, social participation, socio-economic status, mass media participation,economic motivation, risk preferenceand scientific orientation were positively associated but found non significant.

The credit is the life blood of agriculture and which was disbursed through KCC Scheme in our country. The number of KCC issued and amount sanctioned in India, Karnataka, North-East Karnataka region and Bellary district was estimated using the compound growth rate analysis. The necessary secondary data about KCC scheme for India were collected from RBI publications since inception of the scheme. The same data for Karnataka, North East Karnataka region and Bellary district were collected for the period 2006-07 to 2011-12. The collected were pertaining to three formal agencies viz., commercial bank, RRBs and co-operatives. At national level, the commercial banks have issued the highest number of KCCs amongst the three formal financial agencies. The commercial banks issued highest KCCs (45.33%) followed by co-operative banks (40.30%) and minimum issued by RRBs (14.37%). The similar pattern was observed for Karnataka state and Bellary district. Whereas in North-East Karnataka region, the highest number of KCCs was issued by RRBs. The highest percent of operational holding covered by KCC was in case of North-East Karnataka region (610.09%) followed by Karnataka (391.82%) and Bellary district (332.87%).

Soybean is one of the most important oilseed crops in Madhya Pradesh where it is grown 5.56 million ha area with the annual production of 6.67 million tones. It cultivation is pre dominantly done in Mandsaur district. The study finds that the total cost increased with the increase in the farm size. All costs increased with increase in farm size. The net income, family labour income, farm business income and farm investment income is increases with increase in farm size. Output input ratio indicates that which indicates that the return to every rupee of investment in soybean cultivation increased with increase in farm size. Manure, chemical fertilizer and machine works have significantly influenced the production of soybean in the study area. The agencies working in this area should plan their future course of action regarding soybean cultivation technology for enhanced production

Soybean is the principle oil seed crop in India. Blanket recommendation of fertilizers for soybean over large area irrespective of soil type has lead to indiscriminate use of costly inputs. This has also resulted in imbalanced use of fertilizers and environment related problems. Hence to economize the fertilizer use soil testing should play important role. Therefore, a study on the soil test for improving soybean productivity was performed as a part of mandatory program of Agriculture Science Center, Rewa in Madhya Pradesh (MP) of India. Soils of study area had pH 6.8 to 7.4, EC 0.17 to 0.23 dSm-1, organic carbon 0.33 to 0.71%, available nitrogen 105 to 214 kg /ha, phosphorus 7.30 to 16.80 kg/ha and potassium 173 to 325 kg/ha. Experiment were conducted in rainy season of 2009-10 with two treatments, farmers practice -T1 (50 kg DAP/ha only) and application of fertilizer on the basis of soil test value -T2. Higher grain yield was observed in T2 (1830 kg/ha) than T1 (1180 kg/ha). The maximum increase in soybean yield was noted due to applied fertilizers on the basis of soil test values in T2. The highest Benefit Cost ratio (B:C ratio) 4.05 was registered in T2.

Among socio-economic, technological and managerial reasons, ineffective transfer of farm technology are important causal factors for poor performance of agriculture. Transfer of technology has been the major obstacle in achieving the targets in past. Present study deals with level of adoption of modern agricultural technology, access and quality of modern technology, outreach of agricultural extension institutions and problems faced by extension officials in transfer of farm technology in Bihar. Study is based on primary data obtained through survey of farm households, agricultural scientists and extension officers in Bihar. Study revealed the coverage of agricultural development programmes limited to few villages, and line departments still dominating technology transfer arena. Institutions like ATMA and KVK were limited to few activities only. Adoption level of artificial insemination is comparatively high due to active participation of co-operatives and private sector, but less than one fourth of farmers could adopt advanced horticulture and modern crop seeds in Bihar. Small size of land holding and fragmented land emerged as main constraint to adoption of modern horticultural technology in Bihar. While analyzing use of modern varieties of principal crops, comparatively high level of adoption on small and medium farms was observed. Dissemination of information about modern agricultural development projects/ schemes is a necessary factor for adoption of modern technology. ATMA and KVK have performed better in dissemination of the information, however, inadequate staff, infrequent supervision and lack of conveyance facility are most important constraints faced in transfer of technology in Bihar.

The total export of agricultural products from India has touched $45 billion during 2013-14 from about $18 billion during 2009-10. In present context non tariff barriers are playing greater role as compared to tariff in the international trade. This study was conducted to analyze the growth of major fruit (Mango, Grapes, Banana) export, changes in the direction of export and various SPS issues related to export of fruits. Mangoes export has showed significant growth rate of 6.5 per cent per annum in terms of quantity. Export value showed significant growth rate of 8.75 per cent per annum while export price showed significant growth rate of 2.25 per cent per annum. Bananas export has also shown significant positive growth rate of 21.91 per cent per annum. At the same time export value and export price showed significant growth of 25.8 per cent per annum and 3.89 per cent per annum respectively. Growth rate in export quantity, value and price of Grapes was found 12.7, 16.77 and 4.08 per cent respectively during 1990-91 to 2011-12. UAE was found more stable market in case of Grapes and in case of mangoes; Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh were more stable market. Bahrain, Iran and UAE were stable market for banana, therefore it was suggested that the attention should be focused on the market requirement and specifications of those stable markets.

Institutional constraints play a significant role in diversification of agriculture in backward regions of the country. The present study was conducted in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh with an objective to examining constraints that affect diversification. Using data from a primary survey in Mirzapur, it was found that lack of skill in modern agriculture, poor access to financial services, and lack of marketing facilities played a decisive role in agricultural diversification. Providing institutional support in the form of access to formal sources of finance and making farmers organizations will help in promoting diversification and reducing livelihood risks.

Kerala state is unique in its agro-climatic variations and cropping pattern as compared to other states of India. Changes in Land Use pattern and cropping pattern in Kerala have been creating a lot of concern from the environmental as well as food security point of view. The present study examines shifts in land use pattern and changing trend of cropping pattern in Kerala from 2001to 2012period. Secondary data on area, production and productivity of major food crops and non food crops were collected from various sources. Compound annual growth rate and Cuddy-Della Valle instability index was computed to examine the growth and instability of the crops over the period (2001-2012). Crop diversification index was also calculated for the state for each year. The study observed that land which is categorized as cultivable waste, fallow other than current fallow and Current fallow recorded a positive growth in area. It is also found that banana(1.53%) and rubber(1.07%) showed maximum positive growth in terms of area. Among food crops rice (4.01%) tapioca (3.83%) and plantain (1.01%) showed a negative growth in area. Rice recorded negative growth in both area and production, which should be considered as an alarming situation as far as food security of Kerala is considered. It can be concluded that in Kerala Total cropped area is decreasing and food crops are more hard hitted by this shift than non food crops. Crop diversification index also point towards the trend of increasing monocropping in the state which favour non food crops.

Spices are an important horticultural crop of India as it adds substantially to the agriculture GDP. It has been seen that there is high fluctuations in the export of spices to other countries. To, this end, we employ the concept of Markov chain (MC) to analyze the dynamics of spices export to different countries of the world. It was observed that the countries which were stable destination for Indian spices export were Canada for black pepper, UK for chilli, Bangladesh for turmeric, UAE for cumin and Malaysia for coriander. The transitional probability matrix obtained using MC indicated that most of the traditional importers have shown low retention probability which may be due to tough competition arising in spices trade and trade related barriers in the developed nations. So, policies may be framed by planners for export towards these countries. Though in most of the spices, India has managed to retain one of its original markets, but it should not have high dependency on one market alone to avoid trade risk in the long-run. New markets also need to be explored and more stress has to be given to the traditional buyers for maintaining present status of export and market share in future.

The technological change in agriculture has made significant impacts on labour absorption, notably since green revolution. In this context the present study analyses the pattern and trend in labour absorption across major states and crops during the period of mid-1970s to 2010. The entire period of analysis has been sub-divided into two, upto mid-90s as first period and post-mid 90s till 2010 as the second period, broadly corresponding to the period of green revolution and market reforms, respectively. The analysis was carried out for rice and wheat, two major food crops and cotton and sugarcane, two major commercial crops. The results indicated that at national level, there is wide variation in the trend in labour absorption among the four crops under study: while a continuous decline has been observed in the case of wheat during the entire period, it has been continuously rising in the case of cotton. On the other hand, paddy and sugarcane depicted varying trends over the time- increasing labour absorption up to mid-1990s, but declining thereafter. This trend at national level corresponds to the spread of technological changes in agriculture.

Some statistical models for pre-harvest forecast of wheat yield based on biometrical characters in situation of normal and late sowing of wheat have been developed in the present paper. In both the situations, linear multiple regression model (model-I), where biometrical characters are used in the original form, has been found to be the best forecasting model as it has consistently smaller percent standard errors for the forecast yield of wheat alongwith maximum value of R2adj.(49 to 51%).

In this investigation an attempt has been made to study the opportunities perceived by farmers, traders and non-traders at bikaner commodity exchange limited, Bikaner Rajasthan. For this purpose primary data were collected for the year 2007- 2008. The required information was collected through personally interviewing the authorized brokers, trading members and farmers associated to the exchange. These data were then analyzed by simple percentage method to obtained objective oriented results. The major opportunities perceived by the traders at Bikaner Commodity Exchange Limited were the futures market are less risky as compared to spot market (92.31), helps traders concentrate on core activity, arbitrage opportunity, price discovery and price risk management, and a good investment option. Taking benefits of prices discovered on platform of commodity exchange (76.32), integrating trade and market support infrastructure, getting benefits indirectly from the use of active futures, using low cost MIS based on various media such as Cell-phone networks, T.V., Radios, Newspapers, and regularly using the market for hedging cash market position at the grass root level were the major opportunities perceived by the farmers at BCEL, Bikaner. Provide long term price signals (89.47), provide facilities for payment and settlement at delivery contract, transparency in prices were the major opportunities perceived by the non-members clients at that exchange.

The study pertains to Jodhpur district of Rajasthan state where cumin is cultivated extensively. The study examined various economic aspects of cumin such as assessment marketable surplus, sale pattern, and channels involved in marketing of cumin. Out of which two tehsils namely looni and falodi were selected on the basis of highest production and area. Six villages were selected randomly from selected tehsils. A sample of sixty cumin growers was selected randomly. Primary data were utilized in the study. The primary data utilized in the study were collected from the respondent farmers by personal by interviewing them with the help of a set of pre tested schedule. The marketable and marketed surplus ranged between 95 to 97% on different sized farms. The sample farmers disposed 85.74% surplus cumin seed in the Mandor regulated market and only 14.26% quantity was disposed in the villages to village traders of the surplus cumin seed, 53% was sold in the first quarter immediately after harvest (March to May) and others 47% was marketed in remaining three quarters of the year (Aug. to Feb.). Small sized farmers disposed off their total surplus cumin seed in one lot as against this medium and large sized farmer disposed off their total surplus in two and more lots. Following two marketing channels were identified in the study area for marketing of cumin. Channel I: Producer – Village trader – Wholesaler- Retailer – Consumer. Channel II: Producer –Wholesaler- Retailer – Consumer. Among these channels, 75% quantity of cumin moved through channel –II and 25% quantity was moved through channel-I.

The study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of television on purchase decision making among rural community of Punjab. One hundred respondents were interviewed randomly with a pre-tested questionnaire. The data were analyzed by one way ANOVA and differences in mean were assessed by using Turkey-b. The study revealed that 59% respondents were under graduates with 51% females. The 99% respondents have television sets and 93% respondents considered the television as medium of education. About 43% respondents devoted 1-2 hours daily to watch television whereas 60% respondents (P<0.05) opined that women watch more television as compared to others. The 36%, 22% and 25% respondents liked news, serials and musical programmes, respectively on television. Among different news channels 31%, 25% and 52% respondents preferred Aaj Tak, DD News and Star news. The 52% respondents felt that advertisement on television impacted their purchase decision making but only 35% rural respondents remembered television advertisements during purchasing. With respect to sex, 60% male and 40% female respondents ignored advertisements seen on television while purchasing the goods whereas only 24% female respondents purchased goods as learnt from television but the differences were statistically non-significant. Therefore, from the present study it may be concluded that as television has no significant effect on purchase decision making among rural community of Punjab, there is need create advertisements brilliantly to persuade them to purchase the advertised products.

This study uses the non parametric data envelopment technique to investigate the impact of economic reforms on Total Factor Productivity Growth in Selected 20 Indian Organised Manufacturing Industries by classifying them into Labour Intensive and Capital Intensive industries; by using non parametric DEA technique to four-digit panel data for the period 1990 to 2011. The study reveals that the Labour Intensive Industries have negative Total Factor Productivity Growth as -6.1% deteriorated mainly due to Technological Change which is -4%. Meanwhile, the Capital Intensive Industries have positive Total Factor Productivity Growth of 6.7%, mainly contributed by Efficiency Change of 1.6% and Technological Change of 5.0%. Eight out of ten Organised Manufacturing Capital Intensive Industries have shown positive Total Factor Productivity Growth during the economic reform period, whereas seven out of ten Organised Manufacturing Labour Intensive Industries showed negative Total Factor Productivity Growth due to lack of technological change.

The study was conducted in the Ghugial village of Hoshiarpur district of Punjab during 2010-11. The main objectives were to study the cropping and crop diversification of the members of FAPRO and to examine the relative advantages of cultivation of turmeric as a high valued crop amongst the members of FAPRO unit. The study was based on primary data collected from 40 member farmers selected proportionately. It was observed that the cropping pattern was more diverse towards high valued horticultural crops, sugarcane and fodder as cash crop from cereals that occupied more than 70.00% of gross cropped area. Cultivation of turmeric was found relatively advantageous over Rice –Wheat cropping system in respect of input use and profitability as an annual crop. Price of turmeric was more assured due to the presence of FAPRO as a buying agent. The crop was also found to be more protective.

Gherkin (Cucumis anguria L.) is popularly known as “pickling cucumber” belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. The present study was conducted to assess the level of inputs use, economics and employment generating potential of gherkin cultivation in Karnataka state. Multi-stage sampling design was followed to collect primary data from Gherkin growers. Descriptive statisticsand Economic indicators like gross return,net return, B:C ratio and breakeven yield were assessed. The results revealed that, there was an inverse relationship between size of the gherkin area and output per acre. The champion farmers realized higher yields and income compared to other farmers and it was mainly due to better soil dressing and adopting appropriate cultural practices(crop rotation and border crop). Champion farmers realized positive and higher gross profit per acre (` 20490), whereas medium farmers realized (` 2076). The Low yield farmer incurred loss to a tune of ` 10427 per acre. The loss among low yield farmers could be attributed to the reduced crop cycle (75.33 days), harvesting days (35.63 days) and low yield (2511.20 kg/ac). The rate of return per rupee of expenditure was highest among champion farmers (1.41), followed by medium (1.03) and low yield low yield farmers (0.67).The employment generation especially for harvesting was highest among champion farmers (274 mandays) followed by medium (110 mandays) and low yield farmers (71 mandays).From the results it could be inferred that, the gherkin cultivation is not profitable always. The crop requires intensive management throughout the year and any divergence in management practices results in the huge loss to the farmers and it is difficult even to recover the variable cost of cultivation. Hence, appropriate training should be imparted to increase yield and income.

An effort has been made in this study to measure the sub-period growth rates of area, production and yield of two major crops i.e. rice and wheat in West Bengal. The study also tries to examine the changes in costs and profitability of these two crops during this period. It has been observed that the agriculture of the state had been able to boost its performance during the decade of eighties, at least in terms of growth rates production of rice and wheat, mainly for tremendous increment in the yield growth rates of the crops along with expansion of area under cultivation. The effective introduction of HYV technology coupled with successful implementation of land reforms programme at the very grass root level set the path of agricultural development in West Bengal. However, this scenario of impressive growth performance did not sustain for a very long period of time. The fall in the yield growth rates of crops reduces the production growth rates during the era of globalisation which have been started in the early nineties. During this period, crops such as boro rice, and total food grain experienced fall in their growth rates to a significant extent with marked deceleration in growth trend. The trend of declining cost of production with higher growth in yields got reversed in the nineties and beyond and they went up at nearly 1.5% per annum for rice and wheat. The returns over paid-out costs also for rice farmers declined at 1.15% per annum in real terms leading to distress for them. This declining profitability seems to have discouraged them in increasing spending on yield augmenting technology as shown by the relatively declining growth rate of cost of cultivation.

Agricultural marketing information is an essential input for 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 to agricultural marketing information(AMI) among the traders 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 of Meghalaya.The sample size consisted of 40tradersfrom 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 the degree of awareness on prices in local markets placed the I Rank (first) followed by arrivals in local markets, arrivals and prices in reference markets (III Rank). It was observed that traders were always relied on contacts in other market (90%) and fellow traders (75%) for market information. Newspaper placed the III rank on degree of awareness of AMI sources among the traders. It was clearly seen that the agricultural market information was utilized by traders in deciding price to be quoted (I Rank), followed by the quantity to be purchased (II Rank) and the quantity to be store (III Rank). It was observed that traders were most benefited by changing time of sale (90%), followed by mode of storage (85%). About 75 per cent of traders expressed that AMI was not available in required form.The expectation aspects of traders on AMI indicated that the prices in other nearby markets (95%), future price projections (87.5%) and quality wise prices (75%) were given more priority by traders in the study area. It is necessary toensured flow of regular and reliable data to producers, traders and consumers to derive maximum benefit of their sales and purchases.Emphasis should be given on delivery mechanism of information, so that market information reaches timely to the end users in the hilly regions of Meghalaya.

Issues relating to linkages of social sector with economic growth have been in much attention by researchers in recent times. A number of academic as well as policy measures have contributed to this phenomenon. At the academic level there has always been felt for relook into the importance of linkages of social sector with economic growth. A question that is frequently raised in connection with human development is whether it has link with economic growth and social development. Therefore, in this study, an attempt is made to study issues relating to linkages of social sector with economic growth.

In this study focus has been given on characterization of farm households in terms of market accessibility and identification of factors determining input purchasing behavior in West Tripura district of Tripura state. It refers to an exhaustive survey covering 100 sample farms during the period 2011-12.The study area has witnessed by low intensity of cropping (119%) though more than 90% of the net area gets irrigation which implies that farmers are lagging much behind the adoption of modern technologies and practices. The factors determining the input purchasing behavior have been examined. The sample farms were classified into two groups namely, market-prone and market-averse groups on the basis of involvement of farmers in output market. The study reveals that 40% of the sample farmers do not have proper market access and remain beyond the orbit of market forces. Characteristics of groups have also been identified by Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) method.

The present study is based on empirical survey (2013-14) on hundred sample onion growers from Nadia and Hooghly districts of West Bengal in an attempt to characterise them into different classes in terms of several indicators covering both categorical and continuous variables and examining the factors discriminating them. The goal of this research article is to advocate intervention measures for augmenting onion production in a deficit state of West Bengal. K-means cluster analysis, Group characterization technique and Linear Discriminant Analysis tools have been used for the study. It has been found that the causes of poor performance among low-yield group emanate from cultural practices, technology adoption and managerial lapses. Institutional linkages, developing and restructuring farmers’ oriented bodies, promoting SHGs and building up Onion Producers Company and providing marketing infrastructure and provision of cold storages may change the status of poor onion growers.

The paper presents a critique of rural poverty alleviation programs especially on major programs like focus of analysis was put on The Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), The Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment, Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) Act and Debt Relief Scheme. Eradicating rural poverty’ as an improvement process, rural society is aspiring to move from lower economic and lower social standard to higher standard in the lives of the rural people. ‘Rural poverty’ is an extremely difficult subject to deal with because of a huge variety of socio-economic and ecological situations in which it takes place. Thus, the policies for the eradication rural poverty have to be targeted at the rural poor, which have been at the receiving end of the ill effects of poverty over the ages. In this gap it explains pros and cons of the programs based on existing literature which has emerged from empirical and exploratory sources.

The present study was undertaken on sixty borrowers of cooperative bank during 2009 to 2012 in Dimapur district of Nagaland to examine the impact of loan on borrowers a resource use efficiency on pooled data as well as on different farm size group were fitted, which was found to be significant. As per the client satisfaction index 48.33% were medium satisfied, followed by 23.67% as low satisfied and remaining 25.00% as highly satisfied with the extension services of banks available presently. It was further observed that on rank based quotient the foremost constraints was of amount of loan, followed by preparation of DPR, lack of technical guidance from bank, time of disbursement, subsidiary / rebate on loan, disbursement of loan, credit facilities and miscellaneous, form issued by the bank, knowledge about type of loan, bank interest rate, filling up of loan forms, repayment period etc at the lower scale.

Over the last three decades the role of export in the process of economic growth has been the subject of debate among economists. The recent policy of liberalization, privatization and globalization and growth process of developed and developing countries further helped fuel this debate. The main questions in this debate are whether an outward oriented trade policy is preferable to an inward oriented trade policy in stimulating economic growth. There are two types of hypothesis that are build up in this debate: Export-led Growth (ELG) hypothesis and Growth-led Export (GLE) hypothesis. This paper investigates the relationship between GDP and exports in India for the period of 1980-2009. To achieve the objective of this study, Granger Causality Test has been applied. The test results support that there is bilateral causality between GDP and exports. This study suggests that export promotion policy is pursued consistently with an emphasis on inclusive and sustainable growth. This study supports the view that export is an engine of growth.

Financial literacy is knowledge about finance. The importance of financial education has improved in recent years due to developments in financial markets as well as demographic, economic and policy changes in India. Financial literacy is an important adjunct for the promotion of financial inclusion and ultimately financial stability. The main objective of the study is to assess the financial literacy in the villages of Kanyakumari district. The study conducted in ten villages belonging to three blocks of Kanyakumari district. Financial literacy relates to educational status, income and frequency of operation (transaction) in positive sense. The overall satisfaction level of financial services of the customers lies in educating rural people clearly about the financial services available, how to use them and its benefits is inevitable. This would improve their usage and satisfaction level on these financial services.

The present study was conducted in six villages from three blocks of three districts (Sangrur,Amritsar and Hoshiarpur of Malwa, Majha and Doaba regions of Punjab respectively) to find the constraints perceived by dairy farmers in availing and repayment of dairy loans).A sample of 150 dairy farmers was selected on the basis of multistage random sampling technique.and categorized as small(less than 10 animals),medium(10 to 20 animals) and large (more than20animals).High rate of interest,too many intermediaries,lengthy complicated loan procedure,problem of financial guarantor and attitude of the loan officer were the main constraints in availing dairy loans. Low price of milk,costly feed and fodder,shortage of quality breed animals,low milk productivity,expensive animals and exploitation by animal traders and milk vendors were the main constraints in repayment of dairy loans.

The study was conducted in Kakdwip block of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Primary data were collected from 56 agricultural households belonging to two villages by the technique of Simple Random Sampling without Replacement. The reference years of the study are 2001-02 and 2011-12 agril years. The study aimed at finding change in income of the agricultural households earned from crop production in a period from 2001-02 and 2011-12 agricultural years owing to changes in price of inputs and agricultural commodities. The study also attempted to find capabilities of agricultural households in maintaining food security with their income earned from crop production at two points in time. Requirement of food commodities of agricultural households was estimated on the basis of dietary guidelines regarding balanced diet for people given by National Institute of Nutrition under the aegis of Indian Council of Medical Research. Results of the study revealed that agricultural land was allocated to a number of crops like aman paddy, lathyrus, vegetables boro paddy and betelvine. Cropping intensity was found to decrease with the higher size classes of farms. Percentage of irrigated land was noted to be the highest in marginal size class. Cost per farm was found to escalate by 139 per cent due to increase in prices of inputs. Gross return per farm went up by 122 per cent. Net income earned from crop production could meet only 26% of expenditure on food materials in 2001-02. In 2011-12 only 21 percent of the food security was insured by this income.

In this paper an attempt has been made to estimate the impact of women labour and its utilization undertaken based on different agro-climatic zones with reference to different farm size group in the state of Assam, study further reveals that out of the total population in the sampled households, 48.27 per cent are female, out of that 23.07 per cent were comprising between the age group of 15-59 years, 16.42 per cent were below 15 years and it was least with 8.78 per cent were above 59 years. The availability of human labour was found to be 763.61 mandays (out of that 733.79 mandays are of family and 29.8 mandays attached labour) per farm of which 50.58 per cent was female labour. On the other hand, per hectare availability was recorded to be 515.8 mandays. The above study brought out the fact that in Assam, women participation was substantial in crop production activities. The utilization of female labour in rice cultivation, especially in HYV rice, is most noteworthy, respectively.

In Indian manufacturing sector cement industry is one of the oldest and established one contributing a large share of total industrial production and employment. Unfortunately however, the industry has long been a victim of various regulatory measures taken by the government on its production and distribution from its time of commencement. These have worsened its competitive structure from the very beginning. The disadvantageous situation of a large number of companies is reflected in the haphazard movement of the industry’s profitability ratio. The industry is overburdened with different types of tax imposed by the government. Burden of unfavourable sales tax and excise duty, uncertainty in supply of raw materials, underutilization of capital and high capital cost added to the aforesaid fluctuation in profitability. The lower base of profitability ratios and the waning financial position of the majority of the companies have left them with little resources to undertake renovation and modernization. It is high time that some fiscal measures imposed by the government, together with a drive to modernization be effective for reconstructing the condition of Indian cement industry.

Rural aquaculture as a weapon to fight poverty and reduce inequality has received renewed attention in recent years. It contributes to poverty alleviation and provides employment to millions of people, both in the sector itself as well as in support services. Rural aquaculture pertains to the farming of aquatic organisms by small-scale farming household or communities, usually by extensive or semi-intensive low-cost production technology appropriate to their resource base. In rural aquaculture there is low level of fish production for household use and family income. Its production and income potential has largely remained undocumented. Development of rural aquaculture can be accomplished in two ways - by increasing the area devoted to aquaculture and by intensifying production in existing aquaculture areas. Recent discourses on small-scale rural aquaculture concluded that aquaculture should not be viewed as an isolated technology but be considered as one aspect of rural development and form part of a holistic approach to development. The institutional mechanisms by which the rural poor can access and benefit from aquaculture are being duly emphasized. Researchers in India and elsewhere have demonstrated the impact of rural aquaculture on the lives of poor. In terms of providing nutritious food (fish being the cheapest animal protein) and creating employment opportunities aquaculture interventions have proved to be quite useful. Changing perspectives of rural aquaculture; shift in focus from productivity to profitability; aqua farmers turning into aqua innovators and several other aspects are discussed in the paper.

Kupwara district lies in the extreme Northern of  Jammu and Kashmir valley and is situated at an average altitude of 5300 feet from the mean sea level.   The geographical area of the district is 2379 km2 which comprises of367 villages and 11 community blocks. The district is divided into three agro- ecological situations, based on soil and topography i.e., high altitude 2000m: mid altitude 1800-2000m and low altitude1500-1800m above mean sea level (amsl). Krishi Vigyan Kendra Kupwara formulated technical action plan based on the priories of the farmers.The study entillted:Technological interventions for improving livelihood security was conductedin KVK Kupwara the two villages of block langatewere selected for its activities like Front Line Demonstration; ON–Farm Testing and trainings. .In this back drop SKUAST-K released varieties with high yield potential were introduced and performed better in terms of quantity as well as quality. Paddy variety Shalimar rice-1 resulted in 36% increase in the yield over the local varieties. Maize particularly composites tried in hilly areas also recorded double yield than the land races. Seeing the performance of variety KS-101, the cultivation of the crop in the district had increased besides improving the cropping intensity.

Keeping this in view, a study has been conducted to analyse the economics of gladiolus cultivation for the years 2011-12 and 2012-2013 in Jammu district of J&K state. Primary data on costs and returns of the crop were collected by interviewing the farmers through personal visits with the help of an especially structured and pre-tested schedule. The per acre cost of cultivation (C2) of gladiolus were estimated to be ` 210140.00 in the first year and ` 70140.00 in second year on sampled farms. The ‘Cost A1’ constituted the whole direct cost were ` 159116.80 and ` 19116.80/acre, ‘Cost A2’ were ` 170316.80 and ` 30316.80 per acre, ‘Cost B1’ were ` 164815 and ` 24815.00 per acre, ‘Cost B2’ were ` 208580.00 and ` 68580.00 per acre and ‘Cost C1’ was ` 166375.00 and ` 26375.00 per acre for first year and second year respectively on sampled farms. The gross return was ` 300000.00 per acre in both years on sampled farms. The net return was highest in case of second year i.e. ` 229860.00 per acre compared to the net return in first year i.e. ` 89860.00/acre. The Cost-Benefit ratio was highest in case of second year (4.28) compared to that of first year (1.43).

Benchmark survey of Rajapanichandra in Rani Block of Kamrup district was undertaken during the month of August and September, 2013 with the purpose of adopting as a KVK village with emphases on popularizing poultry enterprise (Vanraja breed). To fulfill the objectives of the study, primary data was collected by personally interviewing the households along with a general survey of the entire village. The findings of the survey revealed that the farming system prevailing in the area was crop based with livestock and homestead as secondary activities. Moreover, the farming system practices were traditional and on subsistence basis and thus the output mostly fulfilled the domestic needs. About 98 percent of the households belonged to the Bodo (tribal) community and as a part of their socio-cultural and religious tradition were interested for rearing of poultry on a commercial basis.

In, this study current trend in pulse crops production has been emphasised. The study was based on secondary data from 1950-51 to 2012-13. The data is based on several governmental documents and web sites. The linear, quadratic and exponential functions were fitted in order to analyse the trends in area, production and productivity of pulse crops in India. Quadratic functional form was employed to fit the trend due to its higher R2 value as compared to other two forms. Besides these, compound growth rate (CGR), co-efficient of variation (CV) and instability index (II) were also computed. In the present study the effects on area, productivity as well as their interactions towards increasing trend towards the production were estimated. Further study reveals that in the present fitted linear quadratic form the ‘c’ value have positive and statistically significant on overall time period of pulse production in the country more particularly during Phase I and Phase II. The growing of pulse crops was not risky as revealed by the lower CV. The CV of area, production and productivity of pulse crops were less than 0.08%. The instability indices for area, production and productivity for pulse crops were positive and thereby indicating no risk for growing pulse crops in coming days. The increase in production is due to increase in area as well as interaction of area and productivity of pulse crops in the study periods.

The present paper focuses on the work environment, which is the core of employment relationship, faced by the migrant labourers that work in the industrial units of Ludhiana, also known as ‘Manchester of India’. Despite their unquestionable vital role in the economic growth of the city, especially the secondary sector, many of the migrant labourersinhospitable work environment as they are made to work for more than the stipulated time, not paid for the overtime work, not provided with safe work environment, face health issues due hazardous work, do not get work according to choice, employed as temporary labour, and discriminated during the routine work and at the time of payment of wages. Though dissatisfied with the workplace, these labourers are change averse for they put up with the existing work conditions and prefer to get employed again at the same place of work. This clearly points to the fact that these labourers are helpless, neglected, exploited and discriminated to which they wilfully accept for being financially depressed. There is a dire need to preserve the interests of the migrants to ensure aflourishing homogeneoussocial and economic environment.

A study was conducted in Rajouri and Kishtwar districts of Jammu region of J&K to assess the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) towards farmers’ economy in North-Western Himalayas. Anardana and Kalazeera were the important forest NTFPs collected by the farmers of Rajouri and Kishtwar districts, respectively for commercial purpose. Four major blocks of Rajouri namely Doongi, Rajouri, Kalakote and Manjakote and two major blocks of Kishtwar namely Nagseni and Paddar were selected purposively, as the areas earmarked maximum extraction of mentioned NTFPs. Fifteen farmers were selected randomly from each block constituting a sample of 60 farmers from district Rajouri and 30 farmers from district Kishtwar. The average cost of collection of Anardana & Kalazeera was ` 414.16 and ` 1106.67, respectively. The overall gross and net income from Anardana was ` 7,588.33 and ` 5,228.33 per kg with cost benefit ratio of 3.34. The overall gross and net income from Kalazeera was ` 20,566.67 and ` 17,863.33 per kg with cost benefit ratio of 7.94. The percentage share of Anardana to total farm income in Rajouri district was 8.99 per cent, whereas it was 49.45 per cent for Kalazeera in Kishtwar district. The overall share of NTFPs to farm income was 24.11 per cent. The farmer’s income from NTFPs was significantly determined by total annual household income of the family, total time spent on gathering NTFPs and farm income at 5 per cent level of significance. Non-availability of labour was the major problem reported in collection of Anardana, whereas in case of Kalazeera, difficulty in harvesting the seeds was the major problem. The marketing system and market intelligence for NTFPs is urgently required for optimal use of natural resources and enhancing the income of farmers in North-Western Himalayas.

An attempt has been made to examine the changes in tenurial contracts in consequential to the changes in agricultural production technology in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal where a dramatic change in agricultural production scenario has been witnessed over last one and half decade. The study has been made with the help of primary data collected by suitably designed schedule and questionnaire. A trend of surrendering land by the bargadars in exchange of getting ownership for a part of land thereof and thereby possibility of increasing earning as owner operator after getting ownership in foreseeable future has been elicited as a prime factor for the long sustenance of lease cultivation. From the entire analysis it comes out that with the advancement of technology, the bargaining position of the landowners vis-à-vis tenants in land lease market has been gradually favorable to the landowners and the security of tenure ensuring of getting ownership for a part of leased-in land and thereby possibility of increasing income by the tenants seems to be a compromising settlement between tenants and landowners.

The study has been conducted in Nadia district of West Bengal. Two villages have been purposively selected for the study. Out of 50 marginal farmers 17 (34% of the total) have reported to have taken loan from various sources like nationalised banks, moneylenders and churches. The marginal farmers have been grouped into three on the basis of level of annual income. Tabular method of analysis has been extensively employed in this study. Simple correlation analysis has been exercised between use of credit in productive purpose and each of the variables like size of operational holding, income from off farm sources, gross cropped area under non-cereal crops, per capita income and number of crops grown. No significant correlation has been found in any case. The study also reveals that the highest percentage of the borrowing households exist in medium income group. As a whole percentage ofborrowing marginal agricultural households (farm) taking loan from non-institutional sources is considerably higher than the percentage of households taking loan from institutional sources. Nationalised banks are the only institutional source of credit. No wide difference has been found in the amount of loan taking from institutional and non-institutional sources. No agricultural household in high income group has taken loan from non-institutional sources. Amount of credit per household is the largest in high income group and smallest in low income group. In low and high income groups of borrowing marginal households, amounts of loan in productive purposes are higher than those used in non-productive purposes. But use of higher amount of loan has been recorded for non-productive purposes in medium income group. Irrespective of income groups amount of loan used in non-productive purposes has been recorded to be higher than in productive purposes. Concerned to the productive activities, loan has been used only in crop production across all the income groups of borrowing agricultural households. In case of non-productive activities majority of loan has been used in building houses. The other uses of loan in non-productive purposes are related to ceremony, consumption and health

The choice by students in higher education has assumed importance due to the forced intrusion of neo-liberal principles. In a market economy consumers are sovereign and thus, students should have freedom to choose their life path (the courses and institutes). But, financial constraints hinder them to get that liberty. In a pro-market economy, the proliferation of private higher education institutions to meet the growing demand for higher education and their higher fee structures put an impact on access by the underprivileged. They end up with higher education institutions not of their choice.

Globalization has many meanings depending on the context and on the person who is talking about. The term globalization refers to the integration of economies of the world through uninhibited trade and financial flows, as also through mutual exchange of technology and knowledge. Ideally, it also contains free inter-country movement of labour. Globalization has played a major role in export- led growth, leading to the enlargement of the job market in India. Indian economy had experienced major policy changes in early 1990s. The new economic reform, popularly known as, Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG model) aimed at making the Indian economy as fastest growing economy and globally competitive. With the onset of reforms to liberalize the Indian economy in July of 1991, a new chapter has dawned for India and her billion plus population. This period of economic transition has had a tremendous impact on the overall economic development of almost all major sectors of the economy, and its globalization on India. Throughout this paper, there is an underlying focus on the impact of globalization on India’s foreign trade and Indian economy.

Chickpea is one of the important crop among pulses. It is important proteinaceous diet especially for vegetarian people. The total sample comprising of 120 chickpea growers as respondents from four villages in Tosham and Siwani block of Bhiwani district were selected. The data shows that majority of respondents used HC-3 variety (47 %) followed by C-235 (41.67 %) and HC-5 (33.33%). Maximum respondents (98 %) had high level of adoption followed by 68.00 per cent respondents had low level of adoption in seed rate. Majority of respondents (96.66 %) had high level of adoption followed by 95.00 per cent had medium level of adoption and 91.66 per cent had low level of adoption regarding field preparation. Maximum respondents (97 %) had high level of adoption followed by 92.33 per cent had medium level of adoption and 33.33 per cent had low level of adoption in case of sowing time. Most of the respondents (69.33 %) applied Di-ammonium phosphate as fertilizer followed by urea (66.66 %), single super phosphate (36%) and zinc sulphate (33.33 %), respectively. Majority of respondents (67.33 %) applied irrigation before flowering (45-60 days after sowing) followed by (33.33 %) respondents applied irrigation at pod formation stage and 33.33 per cent adopted seed treatment with Bavistin or Trichodermma viridae for wilt control. Similarly, 33.33 per cent respondents adopted cultural control of diseases (Ascochyta blight, Alternaria blight and Grey mold).

The study has assessed the impact of rural-urban migration by comparing migrant and non-migrant households in the Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. In this connection, a purposive sampling technique was used to select 80 migrant and 80 non-migrant respondents from the study region. Moreover, the study was employed decomposition analysis to understand the income difference between two groups with respect to migration. The estimated result shows that 65.35 percent of the income difference between migrant and non-migrant households due to migration. Also, noticed that comparatively migrants experience a better standard of living along with savings due to higher income and they did not have an idea of returning to agriculture. However, migration is an indication of unequal development of rural and urban which could be minimized by improvising rural living standards by creating employment opportunities, motivating entrepreneurship activities, supporting farming community with special reference to small and marginal farmers.

The present study examined marketed surplus, disposal pattern of milk and constraints faced by smallholder dairy farmers in Punjab. For the purpose Amritsar district was selected and a sample of 80 dairy farmers consisting of 20 dairy farmers each from landless (LL), marginal (MR), small (SM) and others (OT) categories were selected from two blocks and four villages of Amritsar district. It was found that milk production, consumption and marketed surplus has direct relationship with farm size. The average production of milk was 27.55, 37.05, 40.95 and 45.2 litres/day for LL, MR, SM and OT dairy farm and per capita availability of milk was 690, 843, 869 and 935 gm/day which was quiet above the national average of 290 gm/day and minimum recommendation of ICMR of 250 gm/day. On an overall basis 11.26, 6.40, 7.40 and 18.12 litres of milk/day was sold by sample households through dairy cooperatives, private milk processors, milk vendors, consumers and halwaiis. Except MR farmers rest all of the selected dairy farmers sold their produce through modern milk marketing channels which includes milk cooperatives and private milk processor in the study area. Thus SM holder dairy farmers have equal access to modern milk marketing channel in the study area. Various constraints ranked by dairy farmers as costly feed and fodder ranked first followed by lack of A.I. and veterinary facilities in village. The lack of organized milk marketing was at the bottom of the constraints identified by dairy households. The sample dairy farmers faced all the constraints with almost equal intensity irrespective of the size categories.

The existence of large yield and technological gaps in different crops is a major problem faced by Indian agriculture. Potato being the most important vegetable of the country, also faces similar problem where actual yields are far below the potential yield. This study was attempted to analyze the yield and technological gap in potato production in Bihar. Data was collected from 90 farmers of Vaishali and Saran districts of Bihar using a structured interview schedule. The results revealed that the overall yield gap of 43.4 per cent existed in potato production in sampled area, which was largely due to the wide scale adoption of a local red skinned potato variety, Bhura aloo. The yield gap was maximum for marginal farmers (48.57%) followed by small farmers. Intensity of adoption was highest for this local variety i.e. Bhura aloo (33.01%) followed by Kufri Sindhuri (27.7%), Kufri Pukhraj (12.64%), Kufri Jyoti (6.83%) and Lal Gulab (5.53%). Large technological gap was observed with respect to the use of recommended dose of NPK fertilizers and pesticides by the farmers. Overall gap in input use per unit area was highest in case of potassium fertilizer (35.4%) followed by nitrogenous fertilizers (27.6%). This yield and technological gaps can be bridged by motivating and supporting farmers to adopt high yielding improved varieties and provision of effective extension services to enable farmers to use recommended level of fertilizers and pesticides.

Worldwide sugar is being produced in over 100 countries for the past several years. Larger proportion of world sugar production is consumed domestically and internationally small proportion only traded. Due to the small trading proportion leads to changes in production and government policies. As only a small proportion of world sugar production is traded freely, sugar price is unstable in the global market. Government control over quantum distribution of free sale sugar in the open market in turn affected the price of the sugar and minimum support price for sugarcane. The study would help the decision makers of sugar companies to focus on the major activities that may improve the overall market performance. Forty sugar companies which are listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange were selected based on the extent of market capitalization and annual volume of sales. The data were collected from the PROWESS database Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Mumbai for the period from 2007 to 2012. The data collected were consolidated and subjected to market structure, conduct and performance analysis (SCP) to draw meaningful inferences. In order to study the market structure and power of the sugar companies Herfindahl Hirschman index and Lerner index was used. The market structure of the companies in North and West zone was highly competitive and these companies had little control over pricing implying lesser market power.

The present study was carried out to estimate the production and utilization of biomass along with the energy potential from surplus biomass in Punjab. It was found that paddy crop was harvested mechanically; cotton was harvested manually while basmati and wheat are harvested by using both mechanical and manual harvesting methods. Average yield of biomass was estimated to be 2.51, 7.59, 6.78, 1.96 and 6.20 tonnes per hectare in the case of wheat, basmati, paddy, paddy husk and cotton sticks respectively. It was estimated that 100, 93.86 and 43.18% of the area was put on fire to burn the stubble in the case of paddy, wheat and basmati respectively. The total production of the biomass was estimated to be 48.26 million tonnes in 2009-10 in Punjab. After meeting the farming consumption needs, the surplus biomass was estimated to be 35.96 million tonnes. Assuming the combustion efficiency being 30%, the energy equivalent of surplus biomass has a potential to run as many as 904 power plants of 5 MW capacities for 365 days 20 hours a day. The findings of the study showed that there exists a vast scope for using biomass in the electricity production and other useful purposes.

Agriculture occupies the most prominent position in Himachal Pradesh, as it is the mainstay of more than 69 per cent of the state’s population. Since the state is exposed to constraints such as shrinking land holdings coupled with perceptible changes in weather and climate, protected cultivation has emerged as the best alternative for using land and other resources efficiently. The main aim of this technology is to enhance the socio-economic conditions of the farmers. Therefore, the present study was conducted to analyse the cropping pattern, production and productivity of major crops being cultivated under protected conditions and to study its impact in crop productivity, employment and income (farm income and total household income) generation and income variability. In order to have a better insight, the factors under consideration were compared to the open-field conditions. The study is based on primary data collected through survey method for the agricultural year 2015-16. The data had been collected from 60 tomato (30 open-field and 30 polyhouse) growers, selected through proportional allocation method from Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. The study revealed that protected cultivation had a significant impact in enhancing the crop productivity and was approximately three times higher in comparison to the open-field conditions. The labour utilization pattern on protected cultivation was found to be almost four times higher than that of the open- field cultivation indicating a significant contribution in enhancing the employment opportunities. The average farm and household income of the protected growers was observed to be increased by about 25 and 11 per cent, respectively with the adoption of protected technology in the study area. The income variability of the protected growers was also found to be less in comparison to the open-field growers indicating lesser risk and higher stability of income generated by the protected growers in the study area. Therefore, it can be concluded that protected cultivation has a significantly positive impact in improving the socio-economic conditions of the farmers in the study area and suits well to the agro-climatic conditions prevailing in the hilly areas like Himachal Pradesh.

An economic analysis of marketing was done in Jammu region to analyze the efficiency of exchange of flowers from production to consumption side. Primary data were collected from farmers selected through multistage sampling technique and wholesalers and retailers selected randomly from subtropical area of Jammu and Kathua districts in 2017-18. Five marketing channels were found in the study area which were farmer-retailer-consumer, farmer-wholesaler-retailer-consumer, farmer- retailer (pre harvest contract)-consumer, farmer-retailer (farm marketing)-consumer, farmer-consumer in which first 3 were followed by farmers of Jammu district and all 5 were followed in Kathua district. In Jammu district, the most efficient marketing channel was channel III followed by I and II while in Kathua district, channel V was found most efficient followed by channel IV, III, I and II. Major marketing constraints faced by farmers were distant markets followed by lack of regulated markets, lack of market information and high transportation cost.

The present study was undertaken to analyze the trends in area, production and productivity of major food grain crops for the period 1995-96 to 2015-16 obtaining data from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. Foodgrains are cultivated in India in an area of 123.22 million hectares with a production of 251.57 million tonnes. The results of the study revealed that the food grains production in the country has increased at a rate of 1.73 per cent per annum which was contributed by negligible increase in area and productivity during the study period. The production-wise scenario of foodgrains has indicated that, major cereals like rice, wheat and maize showed consistent improvement, but pulses production was not consistent. As a coarse cereal, maize stands in an important position next to rice and wheat, due to its multiple uses with yield increases from about 1595 Kg per ha during 1995-96 to 2563 Kg per ha during 20015-16. The computed growth trend for total food grains in India was positive (0.008) and significant (P<0.01) for production and growth for productivity was positive (0.006) and significant (P<0.01).

Increasing consumption of synthetic chemical fertilizers played a great role in alleviating hunger but has also resulted in some adverse effects on natural resources like disaster in soil quality and conceivable outcomes of water pollution. Due to these unfavorable effects, emphasis is being laid on alternate forms of agriculture that are more sustainable. The development of  bioinoculant  with multi-crop growth promoting activities is most important for  sustenance of agriculture. Instead of being financially viable and eco-accommodating in nature, a few imperatives incorporate temperamental supplies and non-appearance of appropriate quality control limit the application or execution of the innovation. In the present review status, use and major manufacturer /industries involved for production of bioinoculants in India has been presented. The total number of units including public, private and cooperatives estimated to be 297. Maharashtra is having the highest number of private companies (68) followed by Gujarat (56) while Tamil Nadu have the highest number public sector units (7) and Delhi is having highest number of co-operatives units (3). Production data (carrier base in MT) revealed that Gujarat (6575 MT) topped the list first followed by Madhya Pradesh and Karnatka (2589.9 MT) during 2016-17. Zone wise bio-fertilizer production in India during the same period is highest in Karnatka both in carrier based formulation (31553.06 MT) and liquid based formulation (993.443 KL).

The Indian Cashew industry provides employment to more than 5 lakh people both directly and indirectly, particularly in the rural areas and it thus plays a very vital role in the economy. Today nuts constitute an important part of diet in several countries of the world. In Indian cashew processing factories, over 95% of the workers are women. The total export earnings from export of cashew kernel and cashew nut shell liquid has increased from ` 447.80 crores in 1990-91 to ` 4390.68 crores in 2011-12. India is facing tough competition from Vietnam and Brazil in the exports of Cashew Kernels. The NPC for the period 2004 under exportable hypothesis was 0.98, which also revealed that the domestic prices received by the farmers were lower than the international prices, which also implied that the domestic producers were disprotected or rather taxed compared to a situation prevailing under free trade condition. USA was one of the most stable countries among major importers of Indian cashew kernel as indicated by the high retention probability of 70.49%. India could not retain the previous export share to Singapore.The major competitors for India in the world market are Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and Tanzania. A dependency on one or two export market would increase the trade risk in the near future. Hence, appropriate export promotion strategies are to be evolved to diversify the geographical concentration.

Supply response studies in the past were based on traditional econometric techniques (classic linear regression) and the nerlovian framework. Results of traditional econometric techniques are reliable when the time series data are stationary. However, there can be a possibility of some macroeconomic time series data are non-stationary, thereby results and conclusion drawn from using those techniques are having the risk of invalidity. This paper specifically attempted to quantify the relationship between pulses production and price and non price factors viz., land productivity, annual rainfall, irrigated area and revenue difference between cereals and pulses, when the variables in the data expressed in levels are neither stationary [I(0)] nor non-stationary [I(1)], and do not have the same order of integration.Finding of this study suggests rainfall and revenue difference between the cereals and pulses are major determinants of pulses production.

This study aims to quantify the gap between current and potential yields of major crops namely wheat, rice and sugarcane in eastern region of Uttar Pradesh, and the constraints that contribute to this yield gap. In the study area, yield gaps exist in different crops ranging up to 53%. In Uttar Pradesh, yield gap varied from 20.01 to 53.85 %, 15.56 t0 30.10% and 5.8 to 28.89% with the average gap of 28.26 %, 20.93% and 17.5% for rice, wheat and sugarcane crops respectively in the irrigated region of Uttar Pradesh. The yield gaps are mainly caused by socio-economic, credit institutional/policy related factors, extension services and lack of improved technology. Different strategies, such as integrated crop management (1CM) practices, timely supply of inputs including credit to farmers, research and extension collaboration to transfer the new technologies have been discussed as strategies to minimize yield gaps. Suggestions have been made to make credit available to resource-poor small farmers to buy necessary inputs. Efforts should be made to update farmers’ knowledge on the causes of yield gaps in crops and measures to narrow the gaps through training, demonstrations, field visits and monitoring by extension agencies to achieve high yield. The government should realize that yield gaps exist in different crops of Uttar Pradesh and therefore, explore the scope to increase production as well as productivity of crops by narrowing the yield gap and thereby ensure food security.

TQM has assumed a great importance in today’s highly competitive education industry. TQM has been widely implemented throughout the world. Many institutes have arrived at the conclusion that effective TQM implementation can improve their competitive abilities and provide strategic advantages in the marketplace. There are many approaches used for implementation of TQM in education sector. These approaches are based on number of National Quality Awards (NQA’s) developed by governments of various countries. Further each National Quality Award has its own different set of critical success factors (CSFs). It therefore creates a lot of confusion for the educational institutes, as to, which critical success factors to choose and which not, so as to implement the concept of TQM for achieving excellence. This paper aims to develop a new framework for TQM implementation by doing a comparative study of 21 major National Quality Awards. The comparative study will be beneficial for the institutes to find out comprehensive list of CSFs for TQM implementation and thus helps in achieving excellence in the educational field.

Custard apple is one of the wildly found perishable crop of forest areas. Rajasthan is one of the top ten custard apple growing states in our country. In Rajasthan, custard apple is mainly found in southern districts of Rajasthan. The present study was carried out to analyze prospects of value chain development in custard apple marketing in Rajasthan. The secondary data has been obtained and analyzed from Directorate of Horticulture, Government of Rajasthan for the year, 2017-18. The perishable nature of custard apple makes difficult to transport it to distant places thereby tribals are forced to sell the fruit at throwaway prices i.e. approx. ` 10/Kg on roadsides. It was observed that interventions involving improved cultivation practices and reduction in post harvest losses would increase the production level by 50 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, whereas value addition activities through processing would give better returns to the processors as well as to the tribal harvesters The study further highlighted compound annual growth rate of custard apple area and production along with the need of investments in research & development to ensure improved cultural practice to establish custard apple orchards to increase yield per hectare, introduction of improved varieties, processing technology and overhauling of the value chain.

Lower productivity (7.28%) of organic jute associated with higher prime cost of cultivation (11.27%) has made organic growers to earn a net return 20.42 below conventional average. Higher premium prices for organic is not enough to cover the dual set back in yield loss and larger prime cost of organic jute production. But the yield of jute produced by this eco-friendly farming system is marginally greater (1.37%) than that of inorganic managed farms. Higher premium prices along with increased productivity has helped the farmers to realise 9.30% more total return which has not only compensated the 19.76% more prime cost of cultivation, but also held them to obtain a net return of 1.55% above inorganically produced jute. Development of dedicated marketing channel and extensive programme for promotion of products produced from organic jute will ensure higher premium prices is required to incentivise growers to continue and expand area under this sustainable crop production system.

The present study was conducted during 2011-2012 in purposively selected sub-divisions of Jammu province, Jammu and Kashmir covering 15 villages and a sample of 225 potato growers was selected through proportionate random sampling method. The study revealed that the major constraints for the adoption of crop production technologies faced by the potato growers were complicated seed treatment technique (100.00%), non-availability of fertilizers at proper time (76%), financial problem (72.89%), non-availability of insecticides/ pesticides at proper time (64.64%), high cost of fertilizers (61.77%), high cost of seed (60.04%), high cost of fungicides (57.78%) and labour problem (54.66%).

To achieve a satisfactory level of human development, it is imperative for all individuals to enjoy a sense of security. Self-help Groups (SHGs), besides being a microfinance mechanism are a method to implement developmental schemes at the grass root level and also help the marginalized community come together to solve their problems through participatory approach. In this study, an attempt has been made to assess the effectiveness of self-help groups in their developmental influences on the livelihood security and gender empowerment. In all 80 SHG members were selected through purposive and random sampling methods. The present study purposively included both women and men, successful and non successful self help groups so as to analyze the effectiveness of SHGs for genders empowerment. Data were collected through personal interview using pre-tested structured interview schedule and focused group discussions. In successful SHGs the upper age was 45 years, in non-successful SHG majority of respondents were in age group of 46 years and above. Among women’s successful group majority of the members (45per cent) were educated up to secondary level and 90% of respondents were educated up to secondary level in men SHGs. In case of non-successful women SHG forty 5% respondents were illiterate while 55% were educated up to primary level. There was a definite improvement on all aspects related to empowerment and livelihood security after joining the SHGs as compared to before joining the SHG as there was positive impact in all types of groups. This may be due to the fact that the group processes improve the human capability of its members to deal with life conditions with confidence in a better way

The present study find out the was impact of backward integration on chilli farmers in terms of input use pattern and profitability in Andhra Pradesh. Multistage random sampling was selected adopted for the sample selection. A total of 128 sample were taken. Two major Agribusiness firms, i.e., ITC and Synthite that are following backward integration in chilli farming in Prakasam district were purposively selected for the study. The decomposition analysis showed that the per hectare returns of integrated farming was 13.28 per cent higher than that of non-integrated farming. The integrated technology component was contributing 3.7 per cent to the total increase in output. The total contribution of changes in the levels of input use to the outcome differences between the two groups was 9.58 per cent.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the performance of palm industry in Karnataka. The total establishment cost of coconut orchard estimated at ` 1,58,842.82 per acre. The annual cost of cultivation of coconut was ` 55,933.91 per acre. The total cost incurred in copra making from 5,777.65 nuts (a unit from one acre) estimated at ` 69,400.33 and obtained 8.86 quintals of copra. Gross returns obtained from copra making were ` 1,17,265.05. Copra making in the study area is a profitable venture as indicated by B:C ratio (1.68). The study of marketing of copra identified three marketing channels. Producer’s share in consumer’s rupee was highest (75.02%) in channel III (Copra makers - Wholesaler - Retailer –Consumers) than channel I and II and considered as efficient marketing channel in the study area. Majority of the copra makers expressed that drastic climate change lead to decrease in production, fluctuation in price of coconut oil was the major marketing problem. The other problem faced by wholesalers was lack of consistent demand and in case of retailers high cost of transportation was the major problems. The copra manufactured in the study area was of good quality. Hence, efforts should made to export the copra. Government can promote artificial dryer unit under cooperative sector and it can provide financial help to construct proper infrastructure for copra making unit. Creating awareness to encourage online trading for better price realization for producers and better quality is the need of the hour.

US wine sales approached $60 billion in 2016, of which, an estimated $39.8 billion was generated from domestic wine sales and the remainder from imports. On average, 120 million Americans, age 21 and older, drink wine, which is approximately 36% of total population (330 million). Wine consumer demographic characteristics play a significant role in the wine consumption decisions. Results from a logit regression show that the following groups more likely to buy local wine than their counterparts for example: New York residents; consumers between 45 and 64 years of age old; males; those with annual household incomes between $76,000 and $200,000; participants with a bachelor’s degree or higher; those who drink wine once a week or two to three times a week; those who purchase wine to consume during different occasions; those who purchase wine for everyday purposes to be consumed in their home; those who purchase wine to be added to their collections or to be consumed at a later time are more likely to buy local wine; those who often drink wine with food, when at a social gathering with family and friends, or at the end of the day to relax, are more likely to purchase local wine. The assessment of consumers’ willingness to buy locally produced wine will help producers, wholesalers, and retailers target likely buyers based on segments.

Productivity growth in agriculture is both a necessary and sufficient condition for its development. Total factor productivity (TFP) is an important measure to evaluate the performance of any production system and sustainability of a growth process. There are several reports that total factor productivity growth is declining over the years in many parts of India even with the application of increased inorganic fertilisers. The cropping system is sustainable if it can maintain total factor productivity growth over time. The TFP growth rate showed stagnation in the crop sector (negative and very low TFP growth rate Annum-1) in Kerala and a similar pattern was observed in all districts. A perspective of the TFP changes across the districts and state and the percentage share of total factor productivity in output growth of the crop sector in Kerala showed clear signs of unsustainability of the crop sector. The study revealed that all the districts (except Kollam, Idukki, Wayanad and Palakkad) and the state as a whole, the share of TFP in the output growth was negative during the time period 1980-81 to 2009-10. The period wise analysis also derived deceleration in the total factor productivity growth.

Jute being crop is an important source of income of growers of West Bengal. In jute cultivation requires a considerable amount of cash investment, an average grown has to face a number of socio-economic and technological problems. A study was conducted on adoption of jute production technology in West Bengal. The objective of this study is to measure the knowledge level adoption index to some important jute production technologies and to find out nature of influence of some of the socio-personal characteristics of the jute growers on their knowledge and adoption of modern jute technologies. Villages were selected as progressive and non-progressive with regard to agro-technological criteria of jute cultivation. The members were selected randomly and total numbers of respondents were 112. The data were processed into mean, median, standard deviation and correlation co-efficient. The factors like mass media exposure, personal cosmopolite sources, age, education and extra village contact are found to have influenced to significant extent the knowledge where the investigation was carried out.

India and Nepal are the neighboring countries which have strong trade ties among themselves. More than 43% of total agricultural import of Nepal comes from India. The present study was undertaken to examine the present status and composition of agricultural trade between India and Nepal and impact of treaty on trade. The competitiveness and trade intensities were also analyzed. Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) was measured to find out the comparative advantage of India and Nepal in global market. It was found that after signing the treaty in 1996 India has emerged as a major trading partner of Nepal.The share of India in Nepal’s total export of agricultural commodities went up from 21% in TE 1995 to about 56% in TE 2011 . Comparative advantage was calculated for six agricultural commodities (jute, pulses, spices, wheat, tea and fresh vegetables). Over the years, the comparative advantage of jute exports of Nepal decreased and India outsmarted Nepal. Nepal had high comparative advantage than India in pulses export. Compound annual growth rate of pulse production in Nepal was found negative (-3%). Therefore, the comparative advantage in pulse export was because of export of processed pulses. The agro climatic conditions of Nepal favor tea production which was apparent from the compound growth rate of production (13.7%) and increasing positive values of comparative advantage It was concluded that the treaty has boosted the trade between India and Nepal. Therefore, it was suggested to maintain the treaty in the interest of both countries.

Livestock is an integral part of the agricultural economy of Assam and its role is particularly significant in the social, economical and environmental system of the tribal society in the state. In recognition of its importance and potential, the development of livestock was viewed as a key strategy for overall development of the tribal economy.

This paper is a reflection of the recent status of livestock and poultry sector in the state of Assam. Assam has copious livestock and poultry population in the country, accounting for 3.25% and 8.36% of the country’s total livestock and poultry population. Assam’s pig population is highest in the country (17.96% of the country’s total). In case of cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat Assam stood at 11th, 19th, 15th and 13th rank respectively. District wise Nagaon and Dibrugarh district has the largest livestock and poultry population with 3076004 and 2890161 numbers respectively. Livestock and poultry population reveal a good growth trend in terms of all the species except buffalo (-7.33%) during the inter census period; 2003-2007. Despite large population, production, productivity and per capita availability of milk, meat, eggs are minimal in Assam. The total milk, meat and egg production of the state for the year 2008-09 were 827 million litres, 30 thousand tonnes and 4664 lakh number respectively. Assam contributes only 0.67%, 0.8% and 0.78% to the country’s total milk, meat and egg production respectively during 2009-10. There is a decline in production of milk and egg in the state during recent years and growth rate in production of meat is also not satisfactory.

This study analyses the changes in Terms of Trade (TOT) in cotton production in major cotton growing states of India during the period 1996-97 to 2010-11. The results revealed that during the initial years of analysis TOT was in favour of the cotton producers, but during the later period it turned against them due to unfavourable price terms. Though the quantity terms were favourable, they showed declining trend during last three years. TOT should be made favourable through improving price received by the cotton farmers and controlling the input prices. Similarly cotton productivity should be improved through proper technological as well as policy interventions to make the terms favourable to the cotton producers.

Rice is regarded as the first cultivated crop in Asia as well as important food crop of India. The cost and return structure and technical efficiency in rice production has been reported in different regions as well as in the state of Manipur to show different regions have adopted the latest technology. Primary data have been collected from the sample rice farms with the help of pre-tested scheduled through personal interview with respondent farmers. Technical efficiency of individual farms has been estimated through stochastic production function analysis. The total cost of cultivation on small farms was much higher than the large farms. Imputed rental value for owned land was the major cost items for all the farms. On an average majority (40%) of the rice growing farmers were operating at the technical efficiency level of (99-100)% in relation to frontier output level. Gross return as well as net return per hectare have been observed to be highest for category I followed by category II. Most of the farms have been observed to be potential to expand production and productivity, increasing technical efficiency as majority has been performing with increasing returns to scale.

The study was conducted in Karnal and Kaithal districts of Haryana in 2017-18. Total forty (40) farmers were selected randomly from Karnal and Kaithal districts of Haryana. The major constraint in the study area for conventional technique of Karnal were problem of weed infestation, less effective Weedicides, non adoption of seed treatment, non adoption of recommended doses of fertilizers and high cost of potashic fertilizers. Same problems were observed under conventional technique in Kaithal district with slight more in percentage. Major problems of zero tillage technique in Karnal district includes problem of poor effective Weedicides, weed infestation, problem of less germination, limited availability of zero tillage machine at the time of sowing, non adoption of seed treatment and high cost of potashic fertilizers. Same problem were noticed under zero tillage technique in Kaithal district with slightly more in percentage. Major problems of turbo happy seeder technique noted in Karnal district were the problem of less effective Weedicides, weed infestation, limited availability of zero tillage machine at the time of sowing, high cost of potashic fertilizers, non adoption of seed treatment and problem of poor germination. Identical problems were observed under turbo happy seeder technique in Kaithal district with slightly more percentage.

Potato is an integral part of the global food system and the world’s number one non food grain commodity. During 2018-19 potato acreage in India was 21.84 lakh ha with a production of 52.58 million tonnes. Major potato growing states are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Prices of potato exhibit both inter-year and intra-year variations. This price fluctuation in potato is a major concern among farmers, consumers and policy makers. The current study is an attempt to analyze the behavior of prices and arrivals of potato in the major markets of India. The time series data on the price and arrivals of potato in the major markets of leading producing states were collected from Agmarknet. The data corresponding to the potato prices in future market were collected from MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.) where it has been traded till 2014. The prices of potato significantly increased over the last ten years compounded annually in all the selected markets. Significant positive growth rate of arrivals was found in Agra and Ahmadabad markets and negative growth rate was found in Jalandhar market. The price and arrivals series have shown significant negative correlation in all the markets. Seasonal indices depict that prices of potato are usually high during the months of October to December and starts declining till April which is in par with the post harvest period of the crop. Price discovery of potato is a complex process and is affected by a number of factors like production, total arrivals, lagged price, future prices, which have been quantified here and other factors like transportation, storage, weather uncertainties and pests and disease attack.

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.

The present study was undertaken to analyze the incidence and effects of diseases in Sheep. The prevalence of specific diseases (42.0%) (FMD 11.7% and HS 30.30%) were more prominent followed by parasitic diseases (18%) digestive diseases (18%) and respiratory diseases (18.0%). while reproductive and other diseases (enterotoxaemia, skin infections) were also prevalent at lower morbidity rate (2.0%) in the study area. Lambs were highly affected by parasitic diseases (41.67%). In young stocks the highest proportional morbidity rate was observed due to digestive diseases (26.32%) while in adults other diseases (4.0%) had high morbidity. Males were affected more by specific diseases (48.72%) followed by parasitic diseases (23.08%). But in females, highest proportional morbidity rate was observed due to respiratory diseases (22.95%).The highest mortality was due to specific diseases (41.86%) followed by parasitic diseases (20.93%) and digestive diseases (20.93%). The analysis of the data on the effect of disease on wool yield in sheep did not reveal any significant difference in wool reduction due to pasturellosis and circling diseases. Overall wool reduction due to both diseases was (44.88%) but pasturellosis had higher effect (44.94%) than circling disease (44.76%) on wool production in sheep.

India is second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in world. India produces about 14% of world’s vegetables from 15% world’s area. The vegetable productivity in India is less than the world average productivity. Nearly 30-40% vegetables were wastage during the supply chain i.e. reaching from producer to consumer. Most of the marketing of vegetables in India is done in unorganised sector and very little quantity is marketed through organised sector. Present study was an attempt to study the marketing channels and to examine the marketing efficiency of organized retail chain. The Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh was selected purposively for the present study.Spencer retail Bhelupur was selected purposively. A total of 45 farmers, 4 intermediaries, one retailer and 60 consumers were selected. Vegetables viz tomato, cabbage, pea, okra and brinjal were selected for the study. Among the organized supply chain i.e. channel II, the cost incurred per kg of vegetables was much lower than the cost incurred in the traditional supply chain i.e. channel I. In channel – I, the net return and marketing efficiency was higher for channel II than channel I for all the vegetables under study. At the same time organized supply chain was found to be smallest price spread. Hence organized supply chain (channel – I) was found more efficient as compared to unorganized supply chain (Channel – II). Hence it is advisable to the farmers to sell their produce through modern supply chain i.e. channel II as it is more efficient because the commodity was purchased directly from the producer. However due to APMC Act Spencer retail was not permitted to procure commodities directly from the farmers. Therefore it was suggested that policy reform should be done to facilitate direct marketing.

The existence of the wide range of natural endowment is very much favorable for growing a large array of horticultural crops throughout the country. The country observed a sharper increase in the area of horticultural crops compared to food grains. In the fruit industry, mango stands top in position. Due to perennial nature, the cost and return behavior has been estimated @ 10 percent opportunity cost of capital as like investment appraisal for the interest of development of mango entrepreneurs. The per hectare net present value (NPV), for the entire life period (55 years) of the mango orchard has been found to be ` 600237.34. Benefit-cost ratio is 1.76. The adjusted IRR is also worked out as 19.80 percent, which is sufficiently higher than the opportunity cost of the capital or the rate of interest charged by the financial institutions. The payback period was about 8.2 years. Thus, the evidence reveals that investments in mango orchard are highly profitable, economically feasible and financially viable. To overcome the question of risk and uncertainty in investment over a longer period the usual technique is how sensitive the investment if the cost or return increase/decrease due to economic or other change in the market. Some competing crop performed better in term of benefit-cost ratio, but in terms of average annual net return of ` 36030.60 ha-1 which was evidently higher than that of alternative crops. The mango cultivation is low input intensive as compared to food grain that means fewer requirements of resources for its production. So, we can say mango production is more profitable venture for resource-poor farmers.

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) income plays an important role in the household economy in the rural forest dwelling communities. The study utilised both the primary data and secondary data. Primary data were collected from 30 sample households from two villages in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya to analysis the significant of NTFPs income in the rural household economy with the objectives, (i) To study the determinants of income generation through NTFP (ii) To estimate the extent of employment generation through NTFP (iii) Price behaviour of selected NTFP in Mawiong regulated market. Econometric model and Box-Jenkins Autoregressive moving average (ARIMA) methodology were applied for the study. The study found that income from business was the major income sources (45.74 % share to the total household income). Income from NTFPs collection has the second largest share with 22.05 per cent followed by crop production with 14.61 per cent, labour with 9.16 per cent and livestock with 8.44 per cent. The lin-log model was selected as best model based on the value of R² value (0.89). Years of experience, total hours spent in NTFPs collection and average land holding have positive and significant relationship with the NTFPs income while age and distance travelled has a negative and significant association with it. Broom grass and Tezpatta contribute 2 and 1 manday/qtl/year to the total NTFPs employment. ARIMA (0, 1, 1) was the best fitted model as it has the lowest Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC). The price of Broom grass was forecasted for five weeks from 4th week of November to 4th week of December 2018 using ARIMA (0, 1, 1). The forecast Broom grass price for 4th week of November to be ` 2891.66 /qtl which will decrease to ` 2687.46 in 4th week of December.

The present investigation was carried out in three districts of Andhra Pradesh viz., Chittoor (from Rayalaseema region), East Godavari (from Coastal region) and Srikakulam (from North Coastal region) during 2016-18. About 63 types of enterprises being run by 240 entrepreneurs depending upon availability of natural resources and demand in the local area coming to a total of 286 enterprises. Provision shop (16.08%) was the main choice of the respondents, followed by Tailoring (13.29%), Dairy (6.99%), equal (4.55%) percentage with Small hotel/Tiffin centre and Sarees and dress materials/ Cloth business and Fancy shop (4.20%). One-third (33.22%) of the SHG members running the enterprise with an income range of ` 50,001-1,00,000. Only 0.70 per cent of the SHG members running the enterprise with an income range of ` 5,00,001 and above. More than half (56.99%) of the enterprises being run by the SHG women entrepreneurs were the primary sources of income for their family. There was a significant association between the types of enterprises and scale of enterprise.

The study was conducted in eastern and western zones of Haryana in 2017-18. From eastern zone Kurukshetra and Panipat and from western zone Hisar district were selected on basis of acreage under summer mungbean. The outcomes of production function analysis reveal that there is scope for reorganization of resources used in cultivation of summer mungbean to optimize their use to enhance returns in the study area. In all the districts, the usage of resources which are showing negative production elasticity should be decreased to achieve the resource optimality and the use of resources viewing more than unity production elasticity should be encouraged to enhance the profitability condition. The analysis of constraints in cultivation of summer mungbean as opined by the sampled farmers recite that non-availability of suitable machine for harvesting, non-procurement of produce by Govt. agencies, harvest price less than MSP were recorded as the major constraints in the study area. Keeping in view the findings of the study, it is suggested that there is need to re-orient the usage of resources for attaining higher returns from summer mungbean cultivation, multiplication of short duration varieties seed, need to develop suitable and low cost harvesting machinery and procurement arrangement of produce at MSP.

To study the economic evaluation of organic of inorganic plant nutrient sources on sweet basil. The results revealed that the maximum fresh herbage yield (3237.25 kg/ha), essential oil percentage (0.44%) and oil yield (14.25 kg/ha) were found in treatment combination T8 (100% NPK i.e. recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers) at 60 DAP i.e. first cutting. Net monetary returns from the crop treated with 100% recommended dose of NPK fertilizer fetched maximum net income of ` 36160/ha whereas the minimum net income recorded (` 7950/ha) in treatment T9 i.e. (control).

The present study was conducted in Assandh and Karnal Blocks of Karnal district, Haryana which was selected purposively on the basis of maximum production under basmati rice crop. Further, four regulated markets in Karnal district, i.e., Karnal, Gharunda, Assandh and Taraori markets were purposively selected for the market study. The results showed that average prices forecast for the year 2017 to be about Rs. 1567 per quintal with upper and lower limit ` 1567 to 1329 per quintal in Karnal market, ` 1652 per quintal with upper and lower limit ` 1652 to 1259 per quintal in Gharunda market, ` 1667 per quintal with upper and lower limit ` 1667 and 1515 per quintal in Assandh market and ` 1701 per quintal with upper and lower limit ` 1701 to 1680 per quintal in Taraori market, respectively.

The present study aims at examining the level of efficiency of Pomegranate growers in Solapur district of Maharashtra which happens to be the leading district in terms of production and area under cultivation of this crop. The variation in the level of efficiency is estimated by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. There is a wide variation in the level of efficiency among the sample farmers for both of orchard age group-II (3rd year to 5th year) and group-III (6th year to 12th year) with mean technical efficiency scores estimated as 69.89 per cent and 85.03 per cent respectively. Thus, there is an opportunity of augmenting production with the available resources in both groups. Pomegranate growers in both groups have been clustered by using K-means cluster analysis in four categories on the basis of their technical efficiency scores as efficient, semi efficient, moderately efficient and poor. An attempt has been made to estimate the excessive amount of inputs used by the Pomegranate growers over the targeted level in the study area. The cost on their excessive inputs can be minimized without affecting output level of particular farms.

Jammu and Kashmir is a hill state having majority of farmers falling under marginal and small holding categories. Diffusion of modern agricultural techniques and practices to the farmers by way of strengthening and activating the extension machinery can go a long way in improving the situation. This adoption of new technologies depends largely on the state of infrastructure and resources available with the farmers. Therefore credit is an important input for maintaining resources to improve agriculture at local level. However, both the Government and the financial institutions are taking several steps to enhance the credit flow to agriculture. During the past few years significant progressive changes have taken place in banking and financial structure of Jammu and Kashmir. The growth of commercial banks and co-operative credit societies has been really spectacular. The Banks have played a crucial role in the mobilization of savings and Investment. Bank credit to productive sectors of the economy has a critical role in sustaining the growth process. Banking structure in J&K consists of Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks. At the end of December 2008, the state was served by 944 bank branches of all Scheduled Commercial Banks.

The present study aimed to analyze the impact of Agricultural Price Policy on major food crops in Haryana. The Secondary data on Farm Harvest Prices (FHP) and Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of major food crops were collected from Statistical Abstract of Haryana, Directorate of Marketing and Inspection and Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices for the period 2007-08 to 2017-18. The effectiveness of the price policy during the harvest periods was examined by the deviations of FHP from MSP and classified into positive and negative deviations (to examine whether market prices ruled higher or lower than the minimum support prices). Gap between FHP and MSP resulted that in mostly cases FHP is higher than MSP because higher demand due to more procurement for central part than supplies does not allow the market prices to fall below MSP. In recent years, market prices ruled higher than MSP. The impact of MSP on area is higher but there is non-significant impact of MSP on productivity of food crops. The study revealed that there is significant variation in areas of food crops due to previous year’s minimum support prices of the food crops but there is non-significant variation in productivity of food crops.

Human resources in an economy constitute a significant input in the production process of goods and services. The study of human resources, their quality and problems is of immense use in manpower planning in both developing as well as developed economies. Due to low employment potential in other sectors; most of the population is forced to be dependent on agriculture. Employment in agriculture is mostly seasonal and intermittent in character. The labourers suffer with seasonal unemployment. During the periods of peak agricultural activity, the demand for labour is high and during the off season they have to face acute unemployment problem. In the areas where multiple cropping is practiced, the labourers get employment throughout the year with minimum period of unemployment. The low wages are responsible for their sub human standard of living. It is highly difficult for an agricultural labourer to make their both ends meet with these low wages. The chronic imbalance between labour supply and complementary resource in agriculture is normally expected to result in fixing up of wages subsistence levels over large parts of the country. Female labour use will be high in case of paddy than male labourers. The intensive and difficult nature of operation in case of sugarcane requires mostly male labour. Since, agricultural sector experiences excessive dependence of population eking out their livelihood. In the absence of alternative work, they joined the ranks of agricultural labour to earn their living. Their low standard of living permits them to be satisfied with subsistence and low wage.

A field experiments was conducted during winter seasons of 2010-11 and 2011-12 at Agricultural Research Farm, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi to study the effect of herbicide mixtures and differential rate of nitrogen application of economics of wheat under Indo-Gangetic Plains of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design and replicated thrice, having three factors. First factor comprised of three herbicides viz. weedy check, sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron [32 g ha-1] and carfentrazone [10 g ha-1] + fenoxaprop-p-ethyl [100 g ha-1], whereas, second and third factors comprised of two nitrogen rates (120 kg N ha-1 and 160 kg N ha-1) and three times of nitrogen application ( 50% basal + 50% CRI, 50% basal + 25% CRI + 25% flowering and 33.3% basal + 33.3% CRI + 33.3% flowering), respectively. Significantly highest grass return, net return and benefit cost ratio were observed with application of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron [32 g ha-1]. Increasing nitrogen level from 120 to 160 kg ha-1 significantly increased the economic return. Application of nitrogen in three split (50% basal + 25% CRI + 25% flowering) proved significantly in term of grass return, net return and benefit cost ratio over other split application of nitrogen.

Millets have high nutritional qualities and produce well under marginal conditions but they are not used to the extent that is possible. It is a number of small-grained cereal grasses and based on the grain size, millets classified as major millets and small grain millets. Major millets include sorghum and pearl millet whereas small grain millet includes finger millet, foxtail millet, kodo millet, proso millet, barnyard millet and little millet. Millets are rich in minerals and vitamins compared to rice and wheat; millets have the huge potential to provide security of food, nutrition, fodder, fiber, health, livelihood and ecology. In view of all these qualities those they so amazingly combine, millets only be called as Miracle Grains/ Nutria-Cereals. Inclusion of millet crops in a concerted way in cropping systems and also particularly in fragile ecosystems, is a virtuous move towards sustainability. Also, importance in marketing and value addition improves the millet cultivation. In this connection, the present study was carried out to examine the scenario of millets in India from 1950-51 to 2018-19 and data were collected from ministry of economics and statistics, seasonal and crop report and analysed by using compound growth rate. The growth rate of millet area and production registered negative growth i.e., area and production declining at the rate of 16.31 per cent and 13.58 per cent per year respectively. In the same way productivity was declining up to 2005 after that, it showed positive growth (3.23 per cent). Also, studied the economics of crops and observed that cost of cultivation for millet crops (sorghum and maize) compared to other important crops was lower i.e. Maize - ` 85915/ha, Sorghum - ` 47830/ha. In the same way, gross income realized by millet farmer was also low except maize crop. In India, the cost of cultivation was high in Tamil Nadu for most of the millet crop across the states due to the high human labour cost. Hence, there is a need to formulate suitable strategies considering the economic value of the crops. Therefore, the study came out with conclusion of proper cultivation practices, marketing and processing should be given to improve the millet production in India.

The North East India comprising of eight states namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura has a total geographical area of 262180 km2 which is about 8% of the country’s total area with a population of about 45 million (2011 census). Agriculture and allied sector is the major source of livelihood for the majority of the workforce (around 50-70% across the states). By and large, the region is characterized by frazility, marginality, inaccessibility, cultural heterogeneity, ethnicity and rich in biodiversity. Rural population (82%) is agrarian and depends on agriculture and allied sector for livelihood in the absence of industries, except in the state of Assam. Around 56% of the area is under low altitude, 33% mid altitude and 11% under high altitude. The agricultural production system is characterized by and large CDR (Complex diverse risk prone) type, low cropping intensity, subsistence farming, undulating topography and faulty land use pattern. Under this low investment-low-income farming situation, probably horticulture sector has desirable attributes to accelerate the agricultural growth process in the region. Agriculture and allied sector particularly horticulture sector plays very important role towards sustainable rural livelihoods in all farming system in general and in rainfed and hilly farming system in particular like the north east region. Increase in production can be induced by research, development/extension and infrastructural facilities to take prudent public investment decision through understanding the relative importance of productivity enhancing factors (Thorat et al., 2006).

In a country like India where most of the farming communities have low access to the right information sources, extension has so much scope to enter into new vistas like e-learning which can be utilized for virtual education, training and dissemination of information. e- Learning and its promotion carry a number of barriers too along with the favourable factors. In the study undertaken among sixty e-learner farmers of Malappuram district of Kerala state to analyze the various constraints coming in the way of e-learning of agricultural technologies, the most important constraint observed was: technological constraints out of the four groups of constraints. Lack of prompt reply to online queries and information, high cost of establishment, lack of time and relevant information in the website was found to be affecting the e- learner farmers.

The concept of farm efficiency has important implications for size productivity relationship and the extent to which farms have adopted the current technology. Using farm level input output data on paddy cultivation of a set of farmers in West Bengal, we have tried to ascertain the pattern of efficiency. The study reveals that there is an over-utilisation of available resources as well as considerable scope for expanding output in West Bengal agriculture. The paper also deals with the efficiency differential among different categories of farmers in respect of agro-climatic zone in West Bengal. JEL Classification Number: O130, O400, O160, I310.

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 was conducted in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh because of its significant contribution to the area and production of Litchi in the state. The current study was an attempt to find out marketing cost, market margins, price spread, and marketing efficiency of litchi growers in the selected area. The interview schedule was use to collect primary data from 60 growers of the Kangra district and from 5 wholesalers, 5 retailers and 5 pre-harvest contractors in the market. The findings indicated that most of the farmers sold their produce through the pre-harvest contractor. Also, three main marketing channels were found prevalent in the study area for the marketing of Litchi crops. The channel-C (Producer → Pre-harvest contractor → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer) was found to be the most preferred channel as 50.28 percent of the produce was traded through this marketing channel. The price spread found to be maximum in channel-C which, was ` 3372.81. The marketing efficiency which was, estimated using Acharya’s method, discovered highest in channel-A followed by channels D, B, and C, respectively.

The new farm technology has created avenues for contractual arrangements in labour and land markets. Contractual agricultural wage labourers have an incentive for better earnings but it is necessary to supervise them closely which involves cost. Recently, the group contract is emerging in different regions for various agricultural activities. Keeping in view these facts in mind, the present paper is an attempts to study the organization, functioning, pattern of employment and earning of Agricultural Labour under Contractual arrangements in Tarai regions of U.P. and Uttaranchal. Two districts have been selected purposively to represent the whole Tarai belt, namely Udham singh Nagar (Uttaranchal) and Sidharth Nagar (Uttar pradesh). Out of these two selected districts one block from each district has been selected randomly. From these two blocks, three villages from each block have been selected randomly subject to the availability of sufficient numbers of labour households. Thus, 150 labour households have been selected randomly from the lists of labour households prepared from six villages. To study the organisation and functioning of contractual labour, engaged in various activities have been identified .The data is collected from the labour house hold involves in contractual arrangements for the year 1999-2000. The findings of the study reveals that due to more earning in all the agricultural operations performed on contractual basis, the labourers formed a group consisting male and female workers of a family and neighbourers family workers. The group leader usually bargains the terms, conditions and amount of payments for certain activities. However, the wage rates are fixed for most of the piece rate jobs and on that basis, the group of labour is getting employment opportunity. Thus, due to no time limit of work, they have the opportunity to get more employment and earnings by way of engaging themselves in various agricultural activities. It was also observed that they are tempted to engage themselves in contractual arrangements so that they may able to get more employment and income. The possibilities of increasing income of workers are much brighter if they get the employment under contractual arrangements.

The study had assessed the impact assessment of production technology of paddy cultivation in Nasik region of Maharashtra for the year 2016-17, based on the data of costs and returns. Analytical techniques like benefit-cost ratio (BCR), technology adoption index, yield gap, were exercised to have the extent of economic impact of improved paddy technology. High adopter group earned the net profit of ` 2298.09/ha (BCR=1.32) compared to ` 3629.3/ha ( BCR= 1.06) for low adopter group. Average technology adoption index was 71.57 per cent indicating that the farmers adopting recommended production technology of paddy could get yield of 41.63q/ha. Factor share analysis showed that contribution of Char-sutri method to the total yield was the highest yield (i.e. 32.84 per cent) which was followed by urea (19.76 per cent), doses of manures (12.02 per cent), intercultural operation, planting distance, transplanting time contributes about 8.09 per cent etc. respectively. Estimates of yield gap analysis proved existence of yield gap in all level which ranged from 41 percent (low adopter) to 23 percent (high adopter). So, reduction or bridging up the yield gap may be utmost priority to increase the overall production and income of the farmers.

This study is aimed at designing the sustainable regional crop planning for North-Eastern Dry Zone (NEDZ) of Karnataka. The extent of efficiency in resource use and allocation as reflected in the costs incurred and net returns realized by valuing inputs at market prices, economic prices, natural resource valuation technique (NRVT) are quantified for Manvi and Raichur taluks of Raichur district in NEDZ of Karnataka. A random sample of 30 farmers each under rainfed condition, borewell irrigation and canal irrigation are studied. The study shows that optimal crop plan under market prices, it is not profitable to cultivate cotton under both canal and borewell irrigation. The area allocated to cotton under borewell condition instead of paddy when economic pricing was considered. This is due to less water requirement in cotton (49.4 acre inches per ha) than paddy (98.8 acre inches per ha).The area allocated for rainfed Redgram is higher in NRVT (69956 ha) than at economic price and market prices (31072 ha). This is due to higher net returns realized due to nitrogen fixation. Sustainable optimal crop plan for the region developed using linear programming technique indicated that, 168293 ha is to be allocated in canal, 457328 ha for rainfed, but no area allocated for borewell irrigated condition. Total optimum area allocated was 625621 ha which maximized net return to ` 1185 crores for Raichur District in the NEDZ of Karnataka. Crops cultivated under borewell condition were not profitable and sustainable because of higher cost of groundwater and also environmentally unproductive by looking into NRVT with water cost.

Instability in agricultural production has attracted renewed attention due to change in factors that affect instability positively as well as negatively. There is considerable concern about effect of climate change on production trend. Studies on instability found in the literature have not gone beyond mid 2000s after which Indian agriculture witnessed a structural change in growth. In this paper instability analysis is extended to year 2010-11 to capture recent developments. The study covers entire post-Independence period since 1950-51. The analysis is undertaken at the national and state levels. The analysis reveals that the instability in foodgrains production in India has undergone substantial decline whereas oilseeds production showed significant increase over time. The states which are well endowed with irrigation facility are showing more stability in foodgrains production. The increase in crop yield has been a major factor for accelerating production in the country. The better irrigation facilities, use of modern seed varieties, and improved fertilizer consumption helped to improve foodgrains output in the country.

The Toto is one of the smallest and primitive tribe of our country. Due to isolation these people are able to preserve their primitive culture. They had settled only in a small village situated on the western bank of the river Torsha. This area located on the border area between India and Bhutan. Its distance from Jalpaiguri district town is 100 k.m. North –East and 67 km North“West from Alipurduar sub divisional town and 21 km North only from Madarihat. In the old days the Totos were exclusively dependent on the forest products. Hunting and gathering of timber, fruits and forest nuts constituted their main source of living. But in course of time they have brought changes in their style of living, since their initial sources of income gradually became harder. Later they worked as porters and carried oranges from Bhutan to the sellers of plain area for their subsistence and livelihood. Recently government has taken many steps to facilitate the living hood of Totos , primary school, high school and health centers are there in Toto para. In this paper an attempt has been taken to measure the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index of Toto community. Poverty was measured in Human Development Reports through the Human Poverty Index (HPI) from 1997-2009. In 2010, the MPI replaced the HPI. The MPI addresses the imperfections of HPI by allowing comparisons across countries or regions of the world, as well as within-country comparisons between regions, ethnic groups, rural and urban areas. The MPI reveals the combination of deprivation that strike a household at the same time. A household is considered as multidimentionally poor if it is deprived in some combination of indicators whose weight sum is 30% or more of the dimension.

The present study has been undertaken in three agro-economic zones of Punjab to examine the linkages between the credit source and marketing pattern of farm produce. Multistage random sampling technique was used for the selection of 90 farmers. Inter-linkages between the source of credit and marketing pattern refer to the inter-linkage between farmers and moneylender indulged in trading activities. Majority of the sampled farmers i.e. 65 per cent were found trapped in linked transactions. Participation of medium farmers in linked credit contracts was found to be higher i.e. 72.22 per cent as compared to large (57.14%) and small farmers (51.72%). Credit-input-product inter-linkage emerged as dominant type in the study area i.e. 33.33 per cent followed by credit-product type (31.11 per cent).

The Government of India have introduced the innovative schemes of crop insurance however; most of the farmers are unaware of it. Therefore, it is necessary to check the awareness and performance of farmers about crop insurance and agricultural development schemes in Hisar and Fatehabad districts of Haryana state. Data was collected via interview schedule from 100 farmers selected randomly from these two districts. The study revealed that 86 per cent of the farmers were found aware about the crops included under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana (PMFBY) followed by premium paid for insurance of the crops (72 %). The data regarding awareness of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) showed that more than half of the respondents had aware about PMKSY. However, majority of respondents (above 64 %) were found not aware about subsidy pattern under scheme and additional benefits for small farmers. Performance of agricultural development schemes predicts that majority of the respondent (87 %) viewed that is performing well. Only 13 per cent of the respondents viewed that the scheme is performing not so good. In case of PMKSY, majority of the respondents (72 %) had opinion that the scheme is performing good. About half of the respondents (52 %) viewed that Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Crop Residue Management is performing good. The awareness regarding promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Crop Residue Management (CRM) indicated that two-third respondents had awareness about the scheme and 62 per cent of them agreed that custom hiring centre established under the scheme.

The present study attempts to assess child multidimensional poverty in rural farm households and find out its determinants. The study was conducted in six randomly selected villages of Tura and Ampati sub divisions of Garo Hills, Meghalaya. From each household child aged between of 5-14 years were considered either one or two children from each household was selected for the study, A total 80 children from 60 households were selected as subjects of the study. Six dimensions and seventeen indicators of child poverty were used for the study. Average child deprivation score of the study area was worked out to be 34 percent. The indicators in which the majority of the children were deprived were safe drinking water (87.50%), cooking fuel (81.80%), housing (71.25%), and child labour (66.25%). Parents’ education, parents’ age, family income, land holding and livelihood diversification were found be important determinants of child poverty.

The research empirically determined the efficiency of the productive resources used in rice production among IFAD beneficiaries in Niger State of Nigeria using field survey data of 2018 production season elicited from 111 farmers through structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule and the representative sample size was arrived at through multi-stage sampling design. The multiple regression model which adopted ordinary least square (OLS) estimation technique was used to analyze the data collected. The empirical findings showed that the farmers were operating within the economic region of production but were not at the economic optimum point owing to inefficiency in the utilization of the available recommended technologies at their disposal coupled with market imperfections. Thus, sequel to this, the study recommends the need for capacity building for the farmers on the recommended technologies viz. efficient extension services delivery (e.g. farmers field school) and adoption of neo-classical extension approach (farmer to farmer extension approach). In addition, provisions of consumption credit apart from the advanced production credit for the productivity of the latter and agro-inputs subsidies due to the farmers’ poor economic status and the prevailing market imperfections are suggested in the studied area.

Of recent, the government of Nigeria has been keen in changing the narrative of rice production viz. striving to make the country self-sufficient in rice production. To achieve this, various efforts viz. import ban, credit support programmes etc were embarked upon to boost domestic production in order to meet its demand and possibly engage in exportation soonest. It is in view of this that this research was conceptualized to see whether this goal is feasible or the country would remain a net importer. Time series data which spanned for a period of 58 years (1961-2018) and covered production, area, yield and producer prices were used. The data source was FAO data bank and the collected data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The empirical evidence showed that growth rate in the production of rice through the economic reform periods was driven majorly by area expansion with technological effect been marginal. In addition, the current acreage allocation was governed by price, area and institutional factors. Furthermore, rice production has been marked by virulent instability across all the reform periods, thus the country’s rice production has not been in the comfort zone. In addition, the empirical evidence showed area risk and uncertainty-climate change to be the major factors responsible for production variability across the reform periods. Besides, area effect predominates in determining the production growth of rice throughout the economic periods. The future food security of rice in the decade ahead is not promising given that the production trend of rice would be fluctuating, thus a threat to the country’s economic viz. rice food security and foreign reserve. Therefore, realistic and holistic policies are needed to change the future narrative of the country’s rice food security; otherwise the country will remained a net importer.

Efficient development with proper management of the scarce water resources is the key determinants for achieving food security not only for India, but for the entire world. Drip method of irrigation act as the facilitating factors in achieving water saving in irrigation, better quality products, increased water use efficiency, decreased tillage requirement, increased yield of the crop with higher fertilizer use efficiency and investment in drip technologies are also cost effective, with short payback periods. This paper has analyzed and assessed the costs and returns associated with adoption of drip irrigation system under drip irrigation system. The result reveals that cropping intensity is highest among marginal farmers (183.7%) followed by small (164%) and others (116.7%) with an overall cropping intensity of 127.9 per cent. The average gross cropped area was high for large farmers (5.56 ha) followed by small (2.76 ha) and marginal holdings (1.43 ha) as per the expectation. Cropping intensity of non-drip farmers was found to be higher than drip farmers (145%). For both the crops, water consumption was higher in flooding than in drip and yield realization was more in drip method of irrigation. Water consumption in sugarcane was 2339 m3/ha under drip and 3780 m3/ha under flood irrigation. On the other hand, yield realization was 1186 q/ha under drip and only 811 q/ha under flood irrigation. Banana crop also consumed less water and produced more yield under drip irrigation over flood irrigation. Adoption of drip saved 26.43 per cent of water used under flood irrigation and increased yield by 46.3 per cent in sugarcane. Similarly, in banana cultivation, 46.4 per cent of water was saved and yield was increased by 16.75 per cent due to use of drip irrigation.

The present study measured the energy efficiency at various sizes of farms in relation to their energy use pattern with special reference to wheat and paddy crops in relevance to electricity and fertilizer efficiency, identified the factors responsible for levels of efficiency on Punjab Farms and given the implications for future energy demand scenario and usage pattern in Punjab agriculture. A significant decline in per hectare use of commercial and non- commercial energy with the rise in the level of efficiency was observed. Per hectare use of commercial and non-commercial energy was comparatively low in zone III to zone I and zone II. Per hectare use of both commercial and non-commercial energy was more in paddy crop as expected in comparison to wheat crop. Paddy alone consumes three-fourth of total electricity consumption in agriculture. Only 20 per cent decrease in area under rice cultivation would decrease the energy use to a great extent. So, there is also a need of shifting from present wheat-paddy cropping system to less energy intensive cropping system.

Approximately 80 % of the world total coriander seed is produced in India. This country is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of the spices. Among these coriander seed is one of the most important spices. Of which, more than 80 % is produced in southeast Rajasthan. Even after introduction of advance production technologies for coriander still it is controlled by soil factors. The study was conducted in southeast Rajasthan for evaluation of soil capability to support coriander seed. The limitations considered for assessment of soil are climatic, topographic, wetness, salinity and alkalinity, soil fertility and physical limitation. The criteria of soil slope, erosion, depth, texture, available water content and length of growing period (LGP) were used for final assessment of soil suitability. Keeping these criteria, it was recorded that agroecological environment of this region and soil system environment of Baran, Bundi, Jhalawar and Kota is most suitable for cultivation of coriander seeds. The total geographical area of above four districts of Rajasthan is 2435 thousand hectares. Out of this 49 per cent is the net sown area. Considering the soil texture as one of the limiting factors, 453 thousand hectare area is suitable for coriander cultivation whereas considering the soil slope as second limiting factor 1322 thousand hectare area is suitable for coriander cultivation in above four districts of Rajasthan. The data from year the 2006-07 to 2010-11 indicated that about 200 (+ 50) thousand hectare area is being kept under coriander seed cultivation in Rajasthan out of this 99 per cent area is situated in southeast Rajasthan i.e. Baran, Bundi, Jhalawar and Kota.

The present study was conducted to estimate the growth & instability of major edible oilseeds production across major states in India. The time series secondary data on area, production and productivity of soybean, rapeseed, mustard and groundnut were collected for all the major states from the period 1995-96 to 2017-18. Statistical tools like compound growth rate for calculating annual growth rate and Cuddy-Della Valle Index for instability index were used. Results showed that the area and production of soybean in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra increased at a highly significant rate annually. Instability of area in both these states was found low. Production and productivity of rapeseed and mustard in Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh were found to be increased at highly significant annual growth rate but the area in Uttar Pradesh was declined at a highly significant rate per annum (-2.93%). Instability of area in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh was low and production instability was moderate in all four states whereas except Haryana, all three states showed low instability in productivity. In groundnut Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka showed a highly significant decline in the annual growth rate of area and production. Except for Rajasthan, all other five states showed low instability in the area under groundnut during the study period. Therefore, the study recommends adoption of site-specific scientific package of practices of the crop to avoid the prevailed instability.

Musrshidabad can well be labelled as one of the most backward districts [Human Development Index (HDI) of Murshidabad is 0.46] in West Bengal. There are a host of factors which have contributed to such a poor reflection of the district’s HDI. Absence of any major industries, lack of employment opportunities, rapid growth in number joining the workforce and so many other factors have led to low per capita income of this district, making it literally a seedbed for out-migration of regular and casual labourers- skilled/un-skilled/ or low-skilled. People in huge numbers from here have, for the recent last few decades, been migrating not only to different parts of the country but abroad as well. This paper studies the migration from various angles. It has been observed that migrants from here have been using fixed routes connecting the places of origin and the destinations- thus establishing certain migration corridors. Focus has specially been attached to explore categorically these migration corridors and the contacts or intermediaries associated with the operation of these channels perennially. The issue of remittances has been carefully examined. On the whole, this paper investigates different distinctive facets of out-migration from Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

The objective of present study was to analyse the behaviour of onion prices in Kurnool market and forecasting the prices for the future. Based on secondary data from January 2003 to December 2017, the future prices were predicted for the months of January to June, 2018 by employing the Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) technique. The annual increase in prices of onion in Kurnool market was observed to be ` 6.22 per quintal per annum. The highest seasonal index was observed in the month of August and lowest seasonal index was recorded in May. Price cycles were not identified in onion prices. Maximum R-Square (62.34), minimum Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) (34.96), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) (454.71) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) (263.19) was used as a criteria to select the best model for price forecasting. Based on the above criteria the model (1,1,1) (1,1,1) was found to fit the time series to predict future prices. The forecasted price of onion would be ranging from ` 2956 to ` 1651 per quintal for the months from January to June 2018 respectively.

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 paper is an attempted to analyzed the trend in area, production and productivity and change in consumption pattern of fruits and vegetables across different socio-economic groups. Further, the future needs of vegetables and fruits as well as constraints faced by the farmer in production and marketing in the selected districts of state were also assessed. Trend analysis of area and, production of major fruits in Bihar indicated that area under major fruits shown an increasing trend. Production and productivity of litchi and banana also showed an increasing trend. Except mango whose production and productivity over period i.e. 2005-2012 had been declined. Whereas growth in area under major vegetable had been stagnated except for potato whose area had been declined over 2005-2012. Data of five major round i.e. 38th, 43t, 50th, 95th and 66th pertaining to the periods of 1983-84, 1988, 1993-94, 1999-2000, 2005-06 and 2009-10 respectively, shown a positive growth in annual per capita expenditure on fruits and vegetables and found to be more in urban areas than in rural areas.. Results of the study revealed that vegetables have emerged as an essential commodity recording income elasticity of demand lower than most of non-cereal commodities, while fruits continued to be more elastic. The demand of vegetable would be increase from 12.12 million tonnes in the year 2011 to 17.46 million tonnes in the year 2031, whereas the demand for fruits will be increased from 4.55 million tonnes (2011) to 6.55 million tones in the year 2031. This demand could be met by increasing the productivity of vegetables and fruits alone given the limitation of area expansion. The projected supply of major vegetables indicated that Bihar shall be surplus state in vegetable production and remained to be a surplus state in 2031. Study also revealed that 90 per cent of farmers were facing the problems of inadequate knowledge of market information system, and dis-satisfaction from price of fruits and & major constraints identified for vegetable were unavailability of cold storage facility; lack of processing plant in the state etc. Whereas senile orchard, lack of adequate knowledge of maintenance, unavailability of fund and input were highly significant constraints for production of these crops in the state.

Organic farming is one among the broad spectrum of production methods that are supportive of the environment through minimizing the use of chemical inputs and through use of on-farm resources efficiently. The present study was conducted in all the four zones of Himachal Pradesh with one representative district from each zone. Three blocks from each district was selected and from each block 12 organic farmers were selected. Thus, a sample size of 144 organic farmers was selected from all the four agro-climatic zones of Himachal Pradesh. Pre- tested schedule was used to collect relevant information from the farmers. Garret ranking technique was employed to prioritize the imminent constraints like production, marketing and ecological constraints. Highly severe constraints that were being faced by the farmers-practicing organic farming in the study area were small land holding, decline in crop productivity, higher incidence of pests and diseases, non availability of market place, lack of minimum support prices for organic products, wild animals menace, less erratic monsoon, fluctuation in temperature and humidity. These factors highlight the weak links, which need to be strengthened for promoting organic farming widely.

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.

The present study is an attempt to assess the cost of cultivation and economic viability of orchid cultivation in the hilly area of West Bengal with a unique set of primary data collected purposively during 2017-18 from the farm level. Based on farm size, farmers were categorised into three i.e. category-I (500 ft2), category-II (640 ft2) and category-III (1000 ft2). Returns from different categories were found to increase with the time as Orchid usually shows significant boost in yield with time. The estimated costs of establishment of orchid farm for Category- I (500 sq. ft), Category- II (640 sq ft) and Category-III (1000 sq ft) were ` 67117.89, ` 69870.67 and ` 159746.51 respectively. The average net income in absolute term had been worked out to be ` 46,354.2, ` 34,143.2 and ` 1, 97,760 respectively. The values of financial feasibility analysis with Net Present Value (` 97,971.3), Benefit-Cost Ratio (1.76) and Internal Rate of Return (25.38%) also proved that Orchid was a financially viable enterprise. Pay-back-period (3 to 5 years) was also reliable for investment though it varied little with size of farm. Keeping the commercial prospect of Orchid, it may be suggested for concerted efforts and more investment towards R&D, infrastructure, extension for further development in this sector.

The present study deals with time series models which are non-structural-mechanical in nature. The Box Jenkins Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) models are studied and applied for modeling and forecasting of spot prices of Gram at Delhi market. Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test is used for testing the stationarity of the series. ARCH-LM test is used for testing the volatility. It is found that ARIMA model cannot capture the volatility present in the data set whereas GARCH model has successfully captured the volatility. Root Mean square error (RMSE), Mean absolute error (MAE) and Mean absolute prediction error (MAPE) were computed. The GARCH (1,1) was found to be a better model in forecasting spot price of Gram. The values for RMSE, MAE and MAPE obtained were smaller than those in ARIMA (0,1,1) model. The AIC and SIC values from GARCH model were smaller than that from ARIMA model. Therefore, it shows that GARCH is a better model than ARIMA for estimating daily price of Gram.

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.

The present study investigates to growth and relative contribution of area and yield in production of green gram, black gram chickpea, pigeon pea and lentil pulse crops in India. The study period (1998-99 to 2017-18) is divided into three periods viz., period-I (1998-99 to 2007-08), period-II (2008-09 to 2017-18) and period-III (1998-99 to 2017-18). Time series data on area, production and yield were collected from Directorate of Pulses Development, Bhopal, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India. The semi-log model, Cuddy-Della Valle instability index and decomposition analysis models were used to analyze the CAGR, instability and relative contribution of area, yield and interaction components. The study clearly finds that area and production of green gram (Vigna radiata) is notified highest compound annual growth rate 1.84 and 1.76 percent respectively, during period-I. In case of yield highest growth rate is reported in black gram (0.26 percent) during the same period. During second period, highest CAGR in area, production and yield is found in black gram at 6.00, 10.30 and 4.10 percent respectively. During all three periods, instability in area, production and yield was very low, except total pulse in second period. The decomposition analysis of production is revealed that yield effect and area effect are major sources of output growth in kharif and rabi pulses, respectively. The Identified growth rate in individual pulse crop is a great informative work because it provides chronological background of how the cultivation of pulses persuades the life of farmers either in negative or positive way. The study also tries to know the peak or trough in past cultivation of pulses crops.

The study on socio-economic and psychological profile of the KVK adopted farmers of improved rice cultivation practices was conducted in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya with 120 sample size from the adopted villages. Data collection was done with the help of pre-tested structured schedule through personal interview method. The majority of the respondents in adopted villages belonged to middle age category and medium level of education, nuclear family type and medium size of family with medium level of social participation. They engaged farming as primary occupation and had operational land holding size up to 1 ha with income level ranging from ` 25,900.00 to ` 1, 65,067.00. Most of the beneficiary farmers had farming experience between the ages of 18 to 38 years, received medium level of trainings, financial credit facility from government sources. The beneficiary had medium level of economic motivation, information seeking behaviour, decision-making ability, innovation proneness and attitude towards KVK with high level of market orientation and risk orientation. The study further indicates that among the various problems identified by the respondents, inadequate availability of quality seed at proper time was highlighted as the major problem by the rice cultivators.

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.

The study was undertaken in Rewari and Sonepat district of Haryana to analyze factors influencing and various technological and socio-economic constraints to crop diversification. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected from randomly selected 25 farmers each from randomly selected villages. The secondary source of data used pertains to the period 2006-07 to 2016-17. To determine the factors influencing crop diversification multiple linear regression model was used as its superiority over the other regression models and is easy to compute and interpret. Among the factors influencing crop diversification, age, education and size of land holding signicantly affected crop diversification in a positive manner while, income affected in a negative manner. To determine the technological and socio-economic constraints to crop diversification Garret’s ranking technique was used. Among the various technological and socio-economic constraints for crop diversification, lack of proper marketing facilities and lack of technical know-how were recorded to be the major constraints for crop diversification faced by farmers.

In view of the economic importance of value addition the present study was taken up in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, India to estimate value chain of paddy. The aim of the study is to identify the existing value chain and create new chain in the study area. Random sampling technique was used to select 60 farmers. The result showed that, the recovery of main and by product during rice milling was 60 per cent of rice, 10 per cent of broken rice, 15 per cent of rice bran, 10 per cent of husk and 5 per cent waste from one tonne of paddy. In value chain for rice production, the share in value addition was 26.42 per cent for rice millers, 0.16 per cent Rice bran crude oil, 0.09 per cent for Rice bran refined oil, 0.05 per cent for traders, 6.41 per cent rice retailers and 0.04 per cent for rice bran refined oil retailers. In value chain for flaked rice industry, the share in value addition was 14.71, 0.28, 0.08, 0.09, 8.04 and 0.08 per cent for Flaked Rice Industry, Rice Bran Crude Oil, Rice Bran Refined Oil, traders, flaked rice retailers and rice bran refined oil retailers in channel respectively. Finally the study concluded that, the value addition in the existing value chain was ` 5096 which can be increased to ` 9530 through proposed model.

Area under production of vegetables is increasing over the years despite the gradual fall in total cultivable area in India. Nonetheless, growth in area is not same for all the vegetables. To the assess growth in area and address its disparity, the present study was carried out for the state of Karnataka for the period 1998-99 to 2017-18. About forty percent increase in area of vegetables has been observed over the period of two decades. Among the vegetables potato, and leafy vegetables recorded negative growth rate. Inequality between districts has also been observed for growth in area under vegetables. Markov chain analysis was employed to obtain transitional probability matrix of area under different vegetables. Projection for area of individual vegetable/vegetable groups for period of eight years has been made by simulating the transition probabilities. Tomato, gourds, cole crops and other vegetables group show positive trend of area over the study period. However, onion and leafy vegetables would have more or less constant area over the projected period. The unbalanced growth within the vegetable group could impact to the economy either by affecting dietary diversity or increasing import dependency for vegetables.

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.

Women constitute half of the population and so their participation in the household and economic activities at par with men is necessary for the development of mankind. The equality of women with men would remain a myth till women become economically self-reliant. Unpaid works affect women “employment” and income, social benefits and well-being. Women’s employment is generally low because unpaid work tends to constrain women’s participation in the formal, paid labour market. However, poverty and the financial crisis compel women to engage in economic activities and earn income in the informal economy. Thus women perform subsistence and livelihood activities or engage in micro-enterprises and generate income for the household. But their informal activities do not reduce their unpaid work; in fact, they continue to perform both the unpaid and paid work.

Chick pea is an important pulse crop and steady source of human nutrition, as it is an important component of production systems that are resilient to climate change. Asia and Africa contribute around 80 per cent of world production. India is a leader of production and consumption of chick pea as growing it is cost effective option for developing countries but yield of chick pea is comparatively low due to poor spread of improved varieties and technologies. In this study, growth trend of area, production and productivity of chick pea was estimated. The contribution of area and productivity in the production growth were also estimated and it was found that the contribution of area in production was high. Demand and supply gap of chick pea has been increased, so India has become the major importer of chick pea. Thus, to enhance domestic chick pea production and productivity generation and dissemination of technologies is a matter of great challenge and favorable policy measures are to requisite.

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.

Himachal Pradesh has a rich diversity of medicinal and aromatic plants. These plants have good potential of generating income. Owing to its natural habitat the economics of production of some important medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), has been examined based on the field level information from the state of Himachal Pradesh. This study was designed to appraise multistage random sampling technique to select the sample of 50 farmers cultivating MAPs. Local and distant markets were selected purposively for conducting marketing study. A total sample of five traders from local markets and five wholesalers from Amritsar market was drawn randomly from the selected markets dealing in MAPs. Cost of cultivation of these medicinal plants was calculated and the financial tools like NPV, BCR, and IRR were applied to determine the financial feasibility of the plantations. The analysis revealed that the net return per hectare was maximum from Stevia (` 173627.29), followed by Safed Musli (` 85462.01), Aloe vera (` 63832.29) and Lemongrass (` 43325.69). The benefit–cost ratio was found to be in the similar trend i.e., Safed Musli (1.30), followed by Stevia (1.27), Aloe vera (1.22) and Lemongrass (1.19). However, the internal rate of return was found to be highest in case of Lemongrass (40%), followed by Aloe vera (36%) and Stevia (32%). Hence the cultivation of MAPs seems to have good returns which farmers can opt instead of growing other plants.

The paper examined the inclusiveness of strategies for increasing farmers’ incomes in Telangana from the last two decades by using various government reports and statistical abstracts of the Telangana state. Telangana agricultural sector is in a transition from cereal based cropping systems to commercial crops based cropping systems with larger contribution from fruits and vegetables and commercial crops like cotton and soybean. The commercialization of agriculture resulted in high input-high output-high risk agriculture, where in small and marginal farmers are not able to cope with and ultimately end up in huge debt with higher cost of production. Further, faster farm mechanization in the recent years, resulted in increased scale economies with small farmers getting less profit compared to large farmers per unit area. The tenant farmers are especially at risk in the event of yield loss or output price reduction, as they have to pay tenancy fee of about 30% of the average farm returns, even though their yields are lower than average. Remedy is livestock sector, now its contribution is equal to crop sector to gross state domestic product. If an average agricultural household to cross poverty line, he has to have 4.41 hectare of land in Telanagana.

Cumin production of Rajasthan and Jodhpur were kept a dominant position in Seed spices economy of the country. This study was attempt to present the comparative performance of cumin in Rajasthan and Jodhpur. For drawing a meaningful termination of Agri-Export Zones on cumin production in Rajasthan, the selected study period from 1991-92 to 2018-19 was divided into three sub-periods as Ex-ante Agri-Export Zone (1991-92 to 2004-05), Ex-post Agri-Export Zone (2005-06 to 2018-19) and overall study period (1991-92 to 2018-19). The results of the growth analysis revealed that area, yield and production of cumin in Jodhpur was increased faster than Rajasthan and period-I. In case of instability, the production and yield of this crop in period-II were more instable than other two periods in Rajasthan and Jodhpur. The introduction of high yielding varieties has boosted up production Rajasthan especially in Jodhpur. During period-I the growth of output was contributed mainly due to increasing area under the crop. However, in period-II development of high yielding varieties have positive and significant effect on expanding production in Jodhpur and Rajasthan.

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.

In view of India’s potential competitiveness in apple crop in the international market, it is imperative to understand the dynamics of domestic trade in apple. In this study, marketing and price-spread patterns of apple crop in the state of Himachal Pradesh have been examined. A few policy interventions have been suggested for promoting apple crop in the state. The present study has been carried out in the two purposively selected blocks i.e., Banjar and Naggar of Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh by taking representative sample of 70 farmers. The produce has been found to be marketed through four channels and maximum i.e., about 59 percent has been disposed off through channel B (Producer-primary wholesaler-secondary wholesaler-retailer- consumer). Comparison between different channels revealed the highest share in consumer rupee in Channel D (Producer- retailer-consumer) i.e., 73.95 per cent and marketing efficiency has also been found to be highest in channel D i.e. 2.84 which means smaller the channel more profitable it is. Lack of good infrastructure and availability of skilled labour were found to be the major problems faced by the apple growers in the study area.

Vegetables are an integral part of the human daily diet; it also plays a vital role in the contribution to the farmer’s income and the National income. Thus, a study was carried out to analyse and find out the most efficient marketing system and channel using the Shepherds and Modified Acharya-Agarwal marketing efficiency method. The article is based on the study of 300 farmers from twelve villages in Phek district, which is well known for vegetable production and marketing in Nagaland. The marketing cost, price spread, net margins, etc. have been discussed under various channels. The vegetables selected for the study were Cabbage, Beans, and Potato. Numerous production and marketing constraints were also observed, and suggestive recommendations were made to increase production and marketing efficiency. Three marketing Channels were observed, and the most efficient marketing channel was found to be Channel I, where there is direct marketing between the Producer and the Consumer.

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.

Amidst the scenario of distress among agrarian community it is very important to discuss farmers indebtedness. Most of the studies in India revealed that indebtedness of farm households is one of the crucial factors responsible for crisis. This paper examines the nature and determinants of farmer’s indebtedness using unit record data from NSSO 70th round in Gujarat state. Incidence of indebtedness was studied using tabular and percentage analysis, while determinants were assessed using binomial logistic regression model. It was found that, the incidence of indebtedness was higher in agricultural households with large land holding size as compare to their counterparts with less land holding. Incidence was higher in non-SC/ST households than that of SC/ST households. There is ample scope for financial inclusion in South Eastern region of the state as non-institutional sources of credit were found more active. Households having cultivation as primary source of income were more likely to be indebted. MGNREGA job card holders also found more likely to become indebted. Thus, government should interfere in order to make hassle-free credit availability to the marginalized farm households for their livelihood security in the state.

In the present paper, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models developed to forecast the prices of potato using time series data of eighteen years from 2002-2019. The best models selected by comparing Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), Mean Absolute Percent Error (MAPE), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The study revealed that ARIMA (1,1,2), ARIMA (2,1,1)(0,0,2)[12], ARIMA (2,1,2), ARIMA (1,1,4)(0,0,1)[12], ARIMA (1,1,1)(0,1,2)[12], ARIMA (0,1,0)(0,1,1)[12], and ARIMA (3,1,3) were the best fitted models for forecasting of price of potato for the states of Utter Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Tripura and India respectively. The prices of potato in Utter Pradesh, West Bengal and India will be increasing with the first-quarter providing the highest price. The prices of potato in Madhya Pradesh and Tripura will be highest in the fourth quarter. In Punjab, the prices of potato will be increasing with the third-quarter. The forecast shows that market prices of potato in Utter Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Tripura, and overall India would be ruling in the highest value of .1208 `/qt, 1812 `/qt, 1345 `/qt, 1712 `/qt, 1354 `/qt, 2636 `/qt, and 1715 `/qt respectively for the year 2020.

With the ever changing climatic scenario and its impact on farming community, need is being felt to explore and develop alternative Resource Conservation Technologies (RCT’s) which will have positive impact on the environment as well as at the same time will save the critical inputs. Zero tillage is one such important RCT commonly practiced in the study area. Several research works have been reported for impact of zero tillage in wheat, rice but so far no systematic study on economics of rapeseed and mustard cultivation under zero tillage was available in the literature especially in Manipur of North Eastern Hill (NEH) Region. Keeping this in view, the study was undertaken to work out the cost and returns of the rapeseed and mustard growers under zero tillage. Economic analysis of the data presented in the paper showed that zero tillage method for rapeseed and mustard cultivation is the most economical and attractive option for the farming community in the area during rabi season.

The study examined the impact of cooperative milk collection camp on socio-economic conditions of farmers in Hooghly district of West Bengal. The farmers cooperatively collect milk in the collection camp namely Bholanath Dairy and milk was sent to Arambagh chilling plant. The primary data were collected from 60 cooperative farmers and 10 agricultural farmers through purposive random sampling method. The present collection camp covers 7 villages with 402 milk farmers and total milk collected in last 6 months was 216000 litres. The average herd size per family was 1.28 for local cow and 0.92 for crossbreed cow. The major component of variable costs incurred were feed which includes green fodder, dry fodder concentrates and grains. The total variable cost incurred by dairy farmer per animal per year was ` 26552.44. The total cost of producing milk per animal per year was ` 30149.99. The gross return obtained per animal per year was ` 51450.00. Lack of technical facility, high cost of cattle feed, improper grading; measurement & timings of milk collection in the camp were the major problems of the dairy farmers. The study farther showed that the families which were attached with dairy activities side by side of agriculture generated more income than solo agricultural families. It also found that the number of dairy farmers decreased in the cooperative milk collection camp with the increase of distance. So, this model might be replicated in every villages. There was also a scope for reduction in cost of milk production by using modern methods and technologies of dairy farming that was completely absent in the study area.

Study was conducted in least vulnerable districts (LVD) and highly vulnerable districts (HVD) of Karnataka. The results reveal that, in the LVD most of the farmers perceived that lower productivity and profitability of crops as the most visible impact of the climate change which has been ranked 1st (75.33 score) and incidence of farmers suicide with a score of 9.82 being ranked last. In case of HVD, farmers perceived increasing rural-out migration (78.98) as a most threatening impact of climate change hence it is placed at 1st rank and increasing price of food items with garette score of 27.12 placed at last rank. In both HVD and LVD, most of the farmers chosed drip irrigation, availing crop insurance scheme and construction of farm pond as the first line of defence to mitigate effects of climate change. However, the mitigation measures adopted by farmers to overcome the problem of groundwater depletion and climate change was found to be higher in HVD as against LVD.

The present investigation was undertaken to study marketing costs, margins and price spread and problems faced by green chilli cultivators in marketing of green chilli. A multistage purposive and random sampling procedure was used to select district, tehsils, villages and farmers from the district. A sample of 57 farmers i.e., 10 percent for each category of each village was taken for the study. Muhana mandi was selected purposively for studying the nature and magnitude of costs and margins in the marketing of green chilli in Jaipur. From the market, 5 village traders, 10 wholesalers-cum-commission agents and 15 retailers were selected for study. Marketing costs, margin and price spread were estimated by using costs incurred by intermediaries, absolute margin, percentage margin and constraints in marketing of green chilli were measured by Garrett’s ranking method. Results revealed that the farmers adopted three kinds of marketing channels; channel-I (Producer → Village trader → Wholesaler-cum-commission agent → Retailer → Consumer), channel-II (Producer → Wholesaler-cum-commission agent → Retailer → Consumer) and channel-III (Producer → Consumer). Total marketing costs in sale of green chilli was ` 500.40 and ` 491.34 per quintal in channel-I and channel-II, respectively in the study area. Marketing margins of wholesaler-cum commission agent was ` 205.89 and ` 289.05 per quintal by retailer. Producer’s share in consumer’s rupee in sale of green chilli was 69.68 per cent, 74.02 per cent and 100 per cent in village, regulated market and in direct sale to consumer. The key problems of chilli farmers in marketing of green chilli were low price of green chilli, lack of good storage facilities, fluctuations in market price, difficulty in maintaining quality standards and high transportation cost etc. For the lucrative production, the productivity of the crop needs to increase and price stabilization of the green chilli and elimination of market intermediaries may be induced.

Coffee is an important commercial crop of the tropics and it is the largest and widely traded tropical agricultural commodity. The present study was conducted to examine integration of domestic and international markets of Indian coffee prices during 2005-06 to 2016-17. The domestic markets selected for coffee prices were Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad markets. Similarly, international markets were International coffee organization (ICO), New York and London. The results revealed that, Johansen’s Co-integration of Arabica and Robusta group prices had long run equilibrium and also implied strength and stability of price linkages between selected markets. Granger causality test showed that ICO and New York markets uni-directionally influenced the price of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad markets, respectively but there was bi-directional causality among the selected domestic wholesale Robusta group markets. Bangalore and Chennai markets are considered to be dependent on the other markets, the speed of adjustment in Robusta group coffee was registered 54 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively. There is need to spend much more money on demand creation, like cafe coffee day, which help to promote coffee consumption within the country. So our producers fetch the better prices for their produce.

Kerala’s agriculture development experience since the last few decades has been characterised by sharp decline in the area under food crops and the substantial expansion in the area under non-food crops. The analysis of the growth trends of area of principal crops in Kerala clearly revealed that the cropping pattern in the state made a significant change from food crops to non-food crops. Coconut came to the first position by pushing rice to the third. There must be certain determinants that motivated the farmers to make such a shift. Supply response in terms of area response and yield response models were used to analyse the determinants. The determinants estimated are lagged area, expected price of the crop, lagged yield, expected yield risk and price risk, average annual rainfall, irrigated area, etc. The analysis revealed that the irrigated area, rainfall and price risk factors are the significant variables affecting the area allocation of coconut in Kerala and the crop’s yield response, irrigated area, rainfall and expected price risk are the strong variables.

COVID-19, a pandemic disease caused by the coronavirus originated from China has been ravaging the entire global nations due to which the entire global economy is in the doldrums. The disease has been there in the entire globe since November 2019 and is expected to damage human beings and the world economies for a long time. In this article, we discuss the damage caused by the deadly virus to the Indian economy and the world economy as a whole. A word of caution is that until the vaccine is invented, the economies world will suffer to the maximum extent since most of the major economies of the globe are locked down due to the pandemic.

Jaipur district occupies first position in area and production of green chilli (Capsicum annum) in the state of Rajasthan. The present investigation was undertaken to study about growth rates in area, production and productivity of green chilli in Jaipur district as well as Rajasthan state. The secondary data on area, production and productivity of green chilli were collected for Jaipur district and Rajasthan state for the period 2002-03 to 2016-17. Growth rates were estimated by using statistical tools like linear model, compound growth rate model and CAGR mathematic model for calculating annual growth rate. The results revealed that area and production of green chilli were estimated to be significantly positive but productivity was negative in the district of Jaipur and the state of Rajasthan as a whole for the period 2002-03 to 2016-17. Results were also found that the growth rates in area and production of green chilli were estimated to be significantly positive i.e. 6.93 and 3.88 per cent per annum respectively, and productivity was negative i.e. -4.46 per cent per annum in the Jaipur district, whereas, in Rajasthan state, area and production of green chilli were estimated to be significantly positive i.e. 8.00 and 1.64 per cent per annum, respectively, and productivity was negative i.e. -0.013 per cent per annum during the period 2002-03 to 2016-17. Therefore, the study recommends increasing the productivity of the green chilli mainly by developing improved varieties of green chilli suiting to the changing agro climatic conditions of the state.

The study was conducted in North of Bengaluru with an aim to analyze effect of urbanization on production diversity, farm income and factors influencing the same across the rural-urban interface. The required data was collected randomly from 80 farmers each under rural, transition and urban gradients. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the drivers of farm income. Herfindahl index was employed to capture the extent of production diversification. Results revealed that the rural farmers diversified from food crops to vegetable and flower crops over the years. Whereas, farmers of transition and urban gradients chose to grow high value horticulture crops instead of food crops. During 2019, the extent of diversification was more in transition (0.21) and rural (0.25) gradients compared to urban (0.29) gradient. In rural gradients, the major share of farm income was from cereals (31.79 %) followed by vegetables (28.65 %) and perennials (17.88 %) in 2014 but the major share was replaced by vegetables (28.69 %) and flower crops (19.98) in 2019. In transition and urban gradients, the major source of farm income was from vegetables in 2014 which was later substituted by fruit crops in 2019. Over the period of five years, the percentage increase in average farm income of households was highest in urban gradient (143.07 %) followed by rural (140.15 %) and transition (110.50 %) gradients. Land holding size, education, borrowed capital and investment in farming emerged as the principal determinants of farm income. As a whole, the study concludes that, urbanization led investment on high value crops through crop diversification which played a significant role in augmenting the farm income.

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.

Climate change influences crop yield vis-a-vis crop production to a greater extent in Bihar. Climate change and its impacts are well recognizing today and it will affect both physical and biological system. Therefore, this study has been planned to assess the effect of climate variables on yield of major crops, adaptation measures undertaken in Samastipur district of Bihar. Secondary data on yield of maize and wheat crops were collected for the period from 1999-2019 to describe the effects of climate variable namely rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature on yield of maize and wheat. Analysis of time series data on climate variables indicated that annual rainfall was positively related to yields while maximum and minimum temperature had a negative but significant impact on maize and wheat yields. It actually revealed that other factors, such as; type of soil, soil fertility and method of farming may also be responsible for crop yield. Trend in cost as well as income of farmers indicated that income and cost of cultivation has no significant relationship with climate variable. On the basis of above observation it may be concluded that level of income of farmers changed due to change in the other factors rather than change in climatic variable over the period under study as cost of cultivation increases with increased in the price of input over the period but not due to change in climatic variable.

Present study recommends an option to overcome the limited water availability in surface irrigation system through provision of secondary reservoirs in the command. The harvested water can be utilized for irrigation in the dry season, short duration fish culture, etc. Approximately 10% of the command area is required for the secondary reservoir with assumption of 50% capacity of the main reservoir will be available for irrigating dry season crops. The demonstration of use of water from the secondary reservoir in addition to the water from main reservoir has resulted in substantial crop and fish yield. The gross and net returns from various cropping patterns considered using irrigation water from main reservoir (MR) and from main and secondary reservoir (MR+SR). Among the cropping patterns considered, rice-tomato cropping pattern resulted in highest net return of INR 29,457/ha followed by rice-brinjal cropping pattern (INR 22,430/ha) with benefit-cost ratio of 2.07 and 1.79, respectively. Highest benefit-cost ratio of 2.09 was obtained for rice-sunflower cropping system due to relatively lower cost of cultivation of sunflower. The highest incremental value of net returns of 3710 `/ha was obtained with rice-tomato cropping system. The low input-based scientific fish culture in the secondary reservoir has enhanced the fish yield by three fold over traditional practice increasing the gross return from the system. The economic analysis also revealed that the intervention is economically viable.

A field study was conducted in Jorhat district of Assam. The objective of the study is to obtain a better understanding of the factors affecting rice production at the farm level. The data were collected from 80 farmers using multistage random sampling technique. A regression analysis Cobb –Douglas model was used to identify the factors affecting rice production at farm level (Adopters and Non Adopters).The empirical evidence finds that FYM cost (0.074) and fertilizer cost (0.107) were found to be positive and significant indicating that with 1 % increase in both the inputs would increase the rice production and thereby increase the gross return by 7.4 and 10.7 %, respectively. Problems faced by the farmers as collected by primary survey were ranked using the ranking method. Among adopters, the major problem observed was high seed cost according to 33.33 % of total adopters and lack of extension contacts was a serious problem as reported by 26.00 % of non adopters due to which they were lagging knowledge about flood tolerant rice varieties.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the important commercial vegetable crops grown in India. The present study was conducted in Nuh district of Haryana on the basis of highest production of onion among other districts of the state. The block named Tauru was selected for sampling and a total of thirty onion farmers from various villages in this block were selected randomly. The primary data for the agriculture year 2017-18 were collected by personal interviews of the selected farmers with the help of specially designed schedule. The results of the study revealed that the major problems faced by the onion farmers in production were observed high cost of pesticide (93.33%), lack of knowledge about recommended fertilizer doses (86.67%), high cost of fertilizer (83.33%), lack of knowledge about the control measures for various pests and diseases (83.33%), difficulty in identifying the pests and diseases (80.00%) and lack of knowledge about seed/seedling treatment (76.67%). As for as marketing of onion is concerned, 83.33 per cent of respondents opined that high cost of transportation, absence of minimum support prices (83.33%), existence of large number of intermediaries in marketing process (83.33%) and too much fluctuation in prices (80.00%). The problems related to processing expressed by onion growers 80.00 per cent of the respondents reported the problem of technical manpower, higher charges of power and fuels (73.33%), fluctuation in raw material and procurement (73.33%) and lack of good quality packaging material (66.67%).

Vegetable plays key role in providing nutrition to human body. Vegetables are major sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber, iron, calcium etc. Potato is the highest yielding vegetable in the world as well as in India. It is one of the significant vegetables of Indian consumer’s food basket. Despite of high production, due to seasonal production and perishable nature market arrival and price are highly volatile in nature. So, the present study was conducted with an intension to study the trend in arrival and price of potato in four major markets in India along with their Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and seasonality and variability associated with them. The study is based on secondary data collected from www.agmarknet.gov.in. Data was collected for the period March 2009 to March 2019, and the analysis was done based on that. Linear trend in arrival and nominal prices were found to be positive across the markets, however for real prices, it was found negative except Bangalore (` 5.50/q per annum). CAGR for arrival in all the four markets were found positive, and for real prices it was negative in most of the months. The main season of arrival of potato in different markets was December to March, and for prices index is highest during the off season. Variability in arrival is highest in Agra market and in price variability is highest in Azadpur market.

Area and production of Sorghum in Andhra Pradesh state increased by 6.8% and 9.7% but decreased by 12.1% and 9.8% in Telangana state, respectively since the last few years whereas the average yield was increased by 2.6% in both the states. The cost of production of sorghum was raised by 11-14% but the market price was increased by 7.5% only. Cost of production C2 was overlapped with the market price up to 2012-13 but later on, the market price was lower than C2 whereas the cost of production A2 overlapped with Minimum Support Price up to 2011-12 but MSP was quite higher after 2011-12. Operational costs ranged from 62-66% and fixed costs are 34-38% out of the total cost of cultivation of sorghum. The inverse relationship between yield and cost of production has proved in the log-linear regression model at 5% level of significance, due to low productivity of crop, still, there is need to develop High Yielding Varieties at State Agriculture Universities of both the states, modern technologies are to be adopted by the farmers to improve the productivity. In view of the importance of crops the government has to raise the remunerative market price and public awareness is to be created about the nutritional importance of crops so that the cropped area might be increased. Processing industries are to be encouraged on a large scale which generates employment for the rural youth; some more need-based processing technologies are to be developed at research institutes.

The present study was conducted in Jorhat District of Assam to study the factors affecting the farm household income and formulating some policies based on the identified factors. The study was based on sample survey employing multistage random sampling technique and a total number of 120 sample farmers consisting 72 marginal, 22 small, 14 medium and 12 large farmers were selected for generating primary data. A multiple log linear regression analysis was done to work out the factors affecting farmer’s income. Out of the seven identified factors, four factors viz., education level of the respondents, size of land holding, social participation & extension contact and number of income sources were found significant. The relationship of all the variables was found to be positive with the income of the households. Inclusion of agriculture as a subject in the school level; motivation of farmers towards co-operative farming; strengthening the extension contact; dissemination knowledge regarding marketing of the produce, multiple cropping and integrated farming, creation of self help groups amongst the farmers etc. maybe some of policy measures to increase the farm income in the study area.

Globalisation, IT development and strengthening of WTO-GATT have resulted in equalisation and internationalisation providing a favourable environment to international businesses. At the same time, social and socio-cultural differences draw up new challenges for international marketers and businessmen. In international business, the main question of marketing is to adapt to the specialities of the desired foreign market or to follow the standardised strategy. Cultural differences, specialities, are the main barriers to globalisation tendencies. Thus, international marketing strategy - if we are sensible to differentiation - has to be adapted from culture to culture. The essence of cross-culture marketing is studying the cultural features, differences of foreign markets, fitting, adapting to them or at least taking them into consideration when making a business decision (DANKÓ, 2000). The main aim of the present paper is to overview marketing concepts and to highlight the importance of the intercultural approach to marketing.

The study calculated technical efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis technique was employed, one of the non-parametric linear programing techniques to estimate the farm level technical efficiency of paddy production in Andhra Pradesh. This secondary data set contained 541 paddy producing farms/units across Andhra Pradesh state under five agro climatic zones viz North coastal, Godavari, Krishna, Southern and Scarce rainfall zones was studied. The results showed that the overall technical efficiency of the entire sample is 86.8 per cent inferring that about 13 per cent of the potential paddy yield is lost because of technical inefficiency in Andhra Pradesh. The yield gap was found to be 981.10 kg/ha in Godavari zone and a minimum yield gap of 335 kg/ha in North coastal zone with an average yield gap of 663 kg/ha for Andhra Pradesh indicating domestic paddy production could be significantly increased only by improving farmers practices with the current amount of resource they are using. The study suggested that there should be exposure to the improved technologies, frequent trainings and experience sharing mechanisms with efficient resource management practices.

Sharecropping is an important age-old agrarian phenomenon in Assam. There is still vast scope to boost rice production in the study area through increasing the productivity of crops with the adoption of improved and economic methods of crop cultivation in due space and time on a sustainable basis. Sharecropping in the study area is established as supplementary source of farm income to those farmers who undertake sharecropping by hiring lands from others. It also act as a complementary source of income and employment for both the group of farmers that is one who undertake sharecropping on others lands and others who let their land for sharecropping to other farmers. Thus, Sharecropping in the study area is found as both supplementary and complementary source of farm income. Of course, in the study area, there is still great scope to make share cropping more profitable as the productivity of rice crop is 481 kg less than the productivity of Punjab and 3202 kg less than the productivity of Egypt which is highest in the world.

Based on research from Darjeeling and Uttar Dinajpur districts of West Bengal this paper presents evidence that non-farm and off-farm activities are carried out by a significant proportion of farmers and make an important contribution to livelihoods. The average diversification index in the study area was 0.46. Majority of the diversifiers had medium extent of diversification. It shows that there is a high involvement of farm women (24%) in diversification activities. Diversification activities make a greater contribution to cash incomes for poorer households. The study found that farmers from Darjeeling district are more diversified (52%) compared to Uttar Dinajpur district (39%). The reason might be that the scope and marketing in non-farm sector are higher in Darjeeling as compared to Uttar Dinajpur district. In Darjeeling district unavailability of land as well as unproductive land particularly in the hill and comparatively high cost of living also forced farmers to diversify into other sectors for their livelihood. Despite the vast potentiality to diversify the livelihood towards farm and non-farm activities in the study area, there were problems such as negative perception of the community, outdated method of production, lack of improved technology and skills, lack of business start- up budget and absence of market for the non-farm output. There are also lacks of potential researchers to study the effect of non-farm activities on farm production and to identify the major problems that hamper the non-farm sector. State machinery should play a facilitator’s role in terms of promoting investment in infrastructure such as road, electricity, irrigation facility etc. more of a decentralized operations for government programmes, especially using the local institution for greater efficiency and better outreach.

Backyard poultry is a low input or no input bird rearing practice and is characterized by indigenous night shelter system, scavenging system, with little supplementary feeding, natural hatching of chicks, poor productivity of birds local marketing and no health care practice which is usually takes place in back yard of rural household. This study has been done to understand the value chain of the back yard poultry in a depth manner in different stages. For the study the state, district and block has been selected purposively as this place was well known for the backyard poultry culture. The study is totally done by the help of sampling survey, FGD and some PRA tools. 60 samples of farmers 10 samples of middle man and 10 samples of consumers are taken to do the study. Sample of the farmers and consumers are selected by simple random sampling and the middle men are selected by the snowball sampling. Odisha is among one of the most vulnerable sufferer of the eastern coast cyclones, as the result of this the agriculture and the livestock which is the backbone of rural economy is badly affected. So the community focuses on the short term and low cost livestock backyard poultry to avoid a huge loss. In this study the system of back yard poultry has been studied clearly in all the stages, and sixteen different value chains are found. The detailed results and discussions are clearly elaborated.

India is the second largest producer of vegetables in the world next to China. The cabbage is the major vegetable crop of Karnataka. The study was conducted in Belagavi, Haveri and Kolar districts to analyze cost and returns of seedling rising in nursery under shade net condition. This study also attempts to estimate the area under cultivation of cabbage in Karnataka and also to forecast the demand for cabbage seedlings during 2019-20. The results indicated that the area under cabbage cultivation estimated to be 11263 hectare and the demand for cabbage seedlings are 62.57crores in the state of Karnataka for the agricultural year 2019-20. The analysis of the study indicated that, the nursery entrepreneurs have invested ` 265977 towards setting up of nursery in an area of 1000 m2 under shade net on their own. The economic analysis pointed out that entrepreneurs have realized gross income of ` 248920 and net returns of ` 77383 per time. The capital investment on cabbage nursery was found to be economically viable in terms of Net Present Worth (` 119836), Benefit Cost Ratio (1.30) and Internal Rate of Returns (78%).

Investment is the expenditure incurred for real capital formation. A sample of 150 farmers was taken with 23 (15.3%), 28 (18.7%), 46 (30.7%), 43 (28.67%) and 10 (6.7%) farmers selected from marginal, small, semi-medium, medium and large farm size categories respectively in proportion to the share of respective category in total farmers in Punjab. Income, consumption, funds available post-consumption and investment level of the respondent farmers was worked out to find the factors that affect farm investment. Information related to education level, family type, cropping pattern and credit availability was also collected to see if they affect the level of investment. Income, consumption and funds available post-consumption were higher for larger farm households. The level of investment was higher on large farms but the investment per hectare was highest on marginal farms. The availability of credit was more on larger farms but per cent share of credit in investment decreased as the farm size increased as large farmers were using owned funds extensively. The regression analysis revealed that the size of the operational holdings, saving and the credit availability showed positive relation with the level of investment while the education level, family type and cropping intensity were non-significant.

The present study was conducted in Sri-Ganganagar and Bikaner districts of Rajasthan. Kinnow cultivation under different irrigation system viz.; solar, diesel and electric irrigation system was found to be popular in the state. Therefore, study on economic evaluation of kinnow cultivation under different irrigation system in Rajasthan has been conducted to evaluate kinnow orchard orchards under different irrigation system. Total 240 respondents were selected for the study. Standard techniques like NPV, BC ratio, IRR, Break-Even point and Payback period were employed. The investment in kinnow orchard has been seen as profitable business. In the study area, the net present value was work out to be ` 842521 per ha under solar irrigation system ` 798964 per ha electric irrigation system and ` 762808 per ha under diesel irrigation system. Internal rate of return was found to be 38 per cent, 37 per cent and 35 per cent under solar irrigation, electric irrigation and diesel irrigation system. Benefit-Cost Ratio was at 2.36, 2.23 and 2.08 under solar, electric and diesel irrigation system. Break–Even point was 5.82 ton, 4.79 ton and 6 ton under solar, diesel and electric irrigation system. Payback period estimated to be 7.1 years, 7.2 years and 7.3 year under solar, electric and diesel irrigation system. Hence, the kinnow orchard with solar irrigation system has been found to be very economic feasible and it should be realized to the farming community for attraction towards use of renewable energy in fruits production in the state.

The present study analysed the impact of trade policies on coconut economy of Kerala based on the secondary data from Coconut Development Board (CDB) and Export-Import data bank of Government of India. Exponential growth function, Cuddy- Della instability index and Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) were used to compute the growth rates, instability indices and comparative advantage, respectively. Though trade liberalization adversely affected the coconut farmers during the initial phase of liberalization, it subsequently increased the opportunities of the Indian coconut sector to compete in the world market. Compared to Period I (1980-81 to 1993-94), a significant improvement in the coconut export was observed during Period II (1994-95 to 2007-08) and Period III (2008-09 to 2016-17). The high growth rates of coconut products together with low instability indices in the export revealed the prospects for Indian coconut sector in the global market during the post liberalization period. The value of RSCA revealed that India lacked any comparative advantage of coconut export in Period I. While in Period II, the export of coconut and copra possessed a comparative advantage from 2002 and 2005, respectively, and maintained the comparative advantage throughout the Period III. The result indicated that India must give much effort to increase the export share of coconut, copra and other value-added coconut products to augment the foreign earnings.

Currently, involvements of armed forces to aid civil authority in various events are continuously rising. Given their professional training and spirit to deliver and assist the communities, the armed forces always become the first choice of any state civil authorities in the event of disasters. The role of the armed forces in disaster management is globally well recognized. Their ability to work under adverse ground and climatic conditions is an unusual attribute to help to civil authority during disasters. Government, civil society and all other stakeholders have incredible faith and believe that all types of disaster can be efficiently handled by the armed forces. The Indian armed forces are one of the most dedicated professional and modernized armed forces in the world. They are always in a state of operational readiness to move quickly to any disaster affected area. Besides, NDRF also played an important role in rescue and relief operation in all major disasters in the country; in fact their service during the disasters reduces the pressure on the armed forces. The armed force will continue to play a vital role in disaster response as they are the core of the government’s response capacity in major disaster situations.

Collectivization of primary producers, minimal and marginal into farmer’s producer organizations has emerged as one of the most successful ways to tackle the many challenges of agriculture. Most importantly, FPO improved the access of farmers towards investments, technology and inputs, and markets. This study was conducted in the Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh. Total seven FPOs were functioning in Kannauj district. Out of seven, one FPO, namely Ausher Kissan Producer Company Limited (AKPCL) was selected purposively because of its functional superiority over others. Data were collected by using a well-structured interview schedule. A total of 20 members and 40 non-member farmers were randomly sampled in the functional area of FPO-AKPCL to delineate the constraints faced by them. The results revealed that inadequate storage facilities, shortage of transportation facilities, lack of grading and packaging skills, revelry among members to achieve key positions in the organization, and challenging each other for key positions in the group were the significant constraints faced by the member farmers. Lack of well-developed storage facilities, lack of well-developed processing facilities, lack of awareness about grading and packaging, high cost of labor, and price fluctuation every year were the major constraints faced by the member as well as non-member farmers of FPO. It can be concluded that by removing above hurdles’, many help enable farmers’ access to the markets through FPOs, both as buyers and sellers, thereby improving farmers’ income.

The price of agricultural commodity shows seasonal nature with low price immediately after harvest which increases gradually to reach maximum just prior to next harvest. The price of sweet orange and lime also exhibits strong seasonality due to their seasonal nature of production and higher perishability which may exacerbate the poverty of small holding farmers but also can increase the profit of farmers if it can be properly utilized. However, the knowledge about seasonal price movement of these fruits in Nepal is inadequate. Thus, this study was conducted to analyze the seasonal price variation and business opportunities of Lime and Sweet oranges in Nepal which may be useful in developing appropriate policy response for price stabilization. The ratio-to-moving average method was used to study the seasonal price variation and business opportunities. The results from this study revealed the strong seasonal nature of price movement with the highest seasonal index in Baishakh for lime and Ashad for sweet orange whereas the lowest seasonal index for lime and sweet orange in Poush and Kartik respectively. The magnitude of price variability was high and the gross storage return for both lime and sweet orange was also higher. Similarly, the wholesale price of sweet orange and lime showed significant and increasing trend. This concludes that the earning from sale of lime and sweet orange is highly unstable due to the seasonal nature of their prices and the storage and sale of these commodity during the lean season of production would be profitable.

The research entitled “Economic impact of SUBICSHA on SHG members of Kozhikode district” was conducted in Perambra block of Kozhikode district. SUBICSHA stands for Special project for Sustainable Business Development of Innovative Coconut Based Micro-Enterprises for Holistic Growth and Poverty Alleviation. It is an innovative women oriented, coconut based value added products venture and a women empowerment model. The objective of the study was to assess the economic impact of SUBICSHA on SHG members associated with SUBICSHA. Primary data were collected from 120 SHG members associated with SUBICSHA. Economic impact of SUBICSHA on SHG members was analysed based on before and after joining status using percentage analysis and paired t-test. It was found that the income levels, overall expenditure pattern, saving habit, borrowing power of SHG members have improved after joining SUBICSHA. SUBICSHA as a women empowerment and poverty alleviation programme was successfully implemented in Kozhikode district and SUBICSHA had significant positive economic impact on SHG members associated with it.

In the present study, we aim to devise most appropriate prediction model for India’s annual sticklac production data based on Exponential Autoregressive (EXPAR) model. Statistical modelling and forecasting of agricultural time-series data plays a vital role in comprehending the underlying relationships among statistically significant variables and helping the planners in policy making. Accordingly, in this paper, a promising methodology of EXPAR family of models has been employed to describe India’s annual sticklac production data that depict such cyclical fluctuations.The fitted EXPAR model captured the data in a satisfactory manner. Further, the performance of the model is compared by computing various measures of goodness-of-fit and forecast performance. We conclude that EXPAR model performs quite well for modelling as well as forecasting of the cyclical data under consideration.

The present study was conducted to identify the technological and socio-economic impact of the climate resilient technologies demonstrated at National Innovation for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Kyrdem village at Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya. To assess the impact, the ex-post-facto research design, where before and after comparisons on different aspects of NICRA project were done. The statistical tools like chi square and Cramer’s V were applied for analysis of the collected information for jalkund and vermicompost to draw the meaningful and logical conclusions. Findings reveal that the average cultivable land area and productive parameters for crops and livestocks of NICRA farmers after the project interventions was significantly higher than that of before the implementation of the interventions all through in kharif and rabi seasons. Findings of cropping intensity, annual savings, expenditure pattern and crop yield were significantly higher in comparison to before implementation of the intervention. Findings of the study exhibited an encouraging impact of the demonstrated technologies in various spheres of farmer’s life of NICRA village.

The present study was aimed to find out the input use levels and economics of ginger cultivation in Wayanad district of Kerala, during the crop year 2015-16. Total four villages which are leading in the area of ginger cultivation were selected and twenty farmers from each village i.e. total 80 farmers were chosen randomly as sample size. The study indicated that cost of cultivation and gross returns were positively related with size of the holding. The overall cost of cultivation was ` 4, 54,991.62 and ` 4, 94,501.03 per hectare on small and large farms. The expenditure on seed was found to be maximum constituting about 35.01 per cent of total cost followed by human labour, and machine power. All the farm income measures exhibited a positive relationship with the farm size. Returns per rupee of expenditure were found to be ` 0.60 and 0.67 per hectare on small and large farms respectively

Sheep and goat rearing practices are followed since from the civilization of the human beings over the period of years, millions of people in the world. Sheep and goat population in southern region is consistently increasing mainly due to increase in number of keepers. Several feeding management systems are being followed. The study was carried out in Mandya and Mysuru districts of Karnataka. The random sampling technique was adopted in selecting sample for the study. 180 farmers (90 sheep farmers, 90 goat farmers) were selected at randomly. The results of the study revealed that overall outlay required for beginning sheep farm were, in extensive rearing (` 1,74,706), semi-intensive (` 2,31,243) and in intensive rearing (` 6,33,857) respectively. With respect to goat farm, extensive rearing (` 1,33,881), semi-intensive (` 1,96,673) and in intensive rearing (` 4,61,041) respectively. The total cost per annum was relatively low in goat rearing across all the rearing methods, extensive rearing (` 1880/animal), semi-intensive rearing (` 2355/animal) and in intensive rearing (` 3811/animal) compared to sheep rearing, extensive rearing (` 2060/animal), semi-intensive rearing (` 2638/animal) and in intensive rearing (` 3874/animal).The net return per animal was higher in goat rearing across all the rearing methods, extensive rearing (` 1537/animal), semi-intensive rearing (` 2174/animal) and in intensive rearing (` 4186/animal) compared to sheep rearing, extensive rearing (` 1092/animal), semi-intensive rearing (` 2020/animal) and in intensive rearing (` 3983/animal).

The research empirically determined rice yield differentials between the IFAD participating and non-participating farmers in Nigeria’s Niger state. A field survey data of 2018 cropping season collected through structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule from 111 participants and 185 non-participants sampled via a multistage sampling technique were used. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, profit function and inferential statistics. The empirical findings showed that the participating farmers are efficient in managing their enterprise risk owing to low cost of production and high yield. In addition, the programme had impact on the farmers’ productivity both in the short-run and long-run, thus the reason for the high yield in comparison to their counterparts. Furthermore, the decomposition analysis justified the impact of the programme as structural difference called programme participation accounts for more than 92% variation in the yield of the participating farmers been higher than that of the non-participating farmers, leaving less than 10% to be contributed by resource endowment difference. Therefore, the study advised the participating farmers to increase their insurance coverage and adjust their structural pattern of production as a risk management strategy so as to enhance their chances of breaking even in rice production. In addition, the programme should be broaden to cover the non-treated groups so as to enhance the livelihood and rice food security of the farming households in particular; and that of the rural, state and national economies in general.

The present study was carried out in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district of Telangana, the major producer of pigeon pea among pulses, which lies in the rain shadow area of the state and suffers from frequent droughts. The rainfall in the district is fluctuating. Further revealed that about 70 percent of farmers expressed that change in climatic conditions has reduced pigeon pea yield and 28 percent farmers opined that it reduced output and the quality seed, 87 percent are interested in an alternate crop as a coping up mechanism in complete failure of crop. The significant change in climate as per farmer’s perception is the erratic distribution of rainfall with the highest Garrett Score of 76.66, followed by a delay in monsoon,which scored 69.54. The suggestions of the farmers when ranked to face the extreme climate conditions given in the order are,the dissemination of knowledge on contingent crops,loans for second crop and waiver of earlier loans, early settlement of crop insurance, High yielding early duration pigeon pea varieties to escape terminal moisture stress, sufficient quantities of quality seed on subsidy for the second crop in case of failure of crop in initial stages.

Pulses are important constituent in the food basket of people of Assam. The state produces 107.5 thousand tonnes of total pulse from an area of 146.4 thousand hectare with yield rate of 735kg/ha (2016-17). The present production is able to meet only 20 per cent of the present requirement. The major pulses grown in the state are gram, arhar, greengram, lentil, blackgram and pea. A study conducted with the objective of analysing the supply demand gap of pulses in Assam, it was found that there was huge gap in requirement and supply of most of the pulses except black gram and pea and the deficit continues upto 2025, as well. The government has been trying to increase the pulses production with increase area and enhanced yield through various schemes namely NFSM-Pulse. Bringing more pulse area under irrigation, adoption of recommended production technology is expected to increase the yield that might help in bridging the demand supply gap. As blackgram was found to be surplus, the people of Assam should gradually replace lentil with blackgram as dal. Establishment of mini dal processing plant might attract the youth to grow and process pulse and thereby increase the employment opportunity and enhanced production in the state.

The present study was carried out in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir state with special emphasis on selected districts viz., Doda, Kishtwar and Rambam, as these regions had the highest area and production under apple crop. Both primary as well as secondary data has been used as per requirements of the study. A multistage sampling technique had been used for the present study. To study the functional relationship between yield of apple and the selected independent variables, Cobb Douglas type of production function in log linear form had been fitted to the collected data for marginal farms, small farms, medium farms and on all the farms put together. The analysis had shown that the co-efficient of determination (R2) indicated that 68.3 per cent, 71.2 per cent, 73.7 per cent and 75.5 per cent of the variations in the output of apple had been explained by the six independent variables included in the production function for the marginal, for the Small, for the medium and for the overall sample apple growers respectively. The analysis had also revealed that the sum of the production elasticities for the marginal farmers was 1.403, for the small farmers was 1.57, for the medium farmers was 2.53 and for all sample farmers put together it was 1.989 which showed operation of increasing return to for all categories of apple farmers. Increasing trend in returns to scale of apple suggested the planners to plan strategies for long run so as to safeguard the interest of apple growers involved in the production process.

The study was carried out in Barmer district of Rajasthan to analyze economics of Isabgol production and constraints faced by farmers. The primary data were collected from total sample of 80 farmer’s respondents. The study reveals that total cost of cultivation was higher ` 38407.69 per hectare on large farm, followed by ` 34132.15 on medium and ` 31281.96 on small farm and ` 34607.27 per hectare on overall farm. The cost of cultivation increases as farm size increase. It is observed from the result of F test p value is .001 which shows that there is statistically significant difference in cost of cultivation of Isabgol on different farm size category. The different cost on the basis of cost concept (Cost A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 and C3) of Isabgol cultivation per hectare was calculated. The cost of production was found lower on large farm it was found to be ` 5053.64 per quintal followed by ` 5094.35 per quintal on medium farm, ` 5128.19 per quintal for small size farm which was found highest and ` 5092.06 per quintal for overall farm size. Farm business income, family labor income and farm investment income of Isabgol cultivation was found highest on large farm. The benefit cost ratio was found at 1.63 for overall farm size and was found to be 1.68 for large farm, 1.64 for medium farm and 1.63 for small farm. Crop damage by pest and diseases are the most important constraints faced by farmers in Isabgol production.

The study attempts to examine the causal relation among export growth, inflation, foreign direct investment and real GDP growth rate for the period 1990-91 to 2018-19 using Vector Auto Regressive (VAR) model and Granger Causality test. Both the statistical techniques employed show similar results pertaining to the causal relationship among the variables selected for the study. The results show that FDI & Real GDP growth have positive effect on export growth and there is no evidence of inflation alone causing export growth, but inflation along with FDI and Real GDP cause the Export growth. There is also evidence that export growth, inflation, real GDP growth together cause FDI. The results also indicate that none of the aforementioned economic variables either individually or jointly cause real GDP growth. The authors opine that slow growth in exports had been compensated by domestic demand and services-led growth in the process of economic growth during the period of study. The study stressed the need for introducing structural reforms to enhance the competitiveness of Indian products in the international markets. The focus should be on designing a new strategy for technology-driven export-oriented sectors as the export stability is positively associated with economic growth.

Chickpea (Cicer arientinum) is known in India since ancient times, and In Asia and Europe chickpea is said to be one of the oldest pulses known and cultivated. The On farm Benefits of the chickpea in Rajasthan with reference to Gangour (GNG 1581) variety was evaluated in this study. The evaluation was based on a household survey of chickpea grower in 4 villages of Bikaner District of Rajasthan. To evaluate on farm benefits of the chickpea in Rajasthan with reference to Gangour (GNG 1581) variety the cost of cultivation concept and simple statistical tools were used. Extra revenue generation estimated is ` 760 crores per year in case of Gangour (GNG 1581) variety. Labor productivity was higher for Gangour (GNG 1581) (0. 74q/day), and lower for the local variety (0.44q/day).

Economic Affairs March 2020

Irrigation tanks formed the lifeline of village economy. The Government of Karnataka amended its Irrigation Act in 1965 and Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) was brought under the domain of Cooperative Act and Water Users Cooperatives were formed to managed and operate the tanks. The present study was undertaken to assess the transaction cost in irrigation tank management in central dry zone of Karnataka. Two tanks Bukkarayanakere (farmers managed) and Ayyanakere (Minor Irrigation Department managed) were considered for the study. The results revealed that, total transaction cost incurred was high in Minor Irrigation Department managed tank or defunct water users association (` 1,06,085 per year) than farmers managed tank or active water users association (` 61,480 per year). This is because of free riding problem that prevailed in the Minor Irrigation Department managed tank command. Educating the farmers regarding the benefits of collective action is necessary to reduce the transaction cost.

Cow is venerated by more than 70 per cent of the population of our country. Although the total cattle population of the country is dominated by indigenous cattle but the population of crossbred cattle has increased significantly. There is also another problem of large number of stray cattle in the country and their number is still increasing. They need to be managed. Gaushalas are considered to be a good alternative to manage the ever increasing stray cattle population. Since Gaushalas are supported by charity and have to take care of unproductive animals, they face various constraints in managing these uneconomical cattle. Thus a study was conducted to identify and prioritize the constraints faced by Gaushalas in Haryana. A detailed questionnaire in respect to various aspects of housing, feeding, breeding, marketing, institutional, labour, waste disposal and animal health constraints were enlisted and Gaushalas’ committee members were asked to rank each constraint which were later analyzed through Garret’s ranking method. The major overall constraints found in the study area were lack of green fodder (71.40), high cost of concentrates (67.44), irregular government grants (62.95), lack of space (62.55) and inadequate market information (62.10).

The study was undertaken in North of Bengaluru to Assess the Repayment performance and factors affecting repayment capacity of agriculture credit by farm households across rural urban interface. The required primary data was collected from randomly selected 50 farmers each under rural, peri-urban and urban transacts. The results revealed that the farmers availed more credit from formal sources compared to informal sources across all transacts. Repayment was more in urban areas (50.36 %) compared to peri-urban (43.05 %) and rural (34.52 %) areas. The farmers were categorized based on the extent of repayment across rural urban interface and the results indicated that, 42 per cent of rural farmers, 40 per cent of peri urban and 34 per cent of urban farmers fall under the category of 75 to 100 per cent repayment. Low price, crop loss and higher household expenditure occupied the major reasons for indebtedness of farm households in all the three transacts. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to know the factors affecting repayment capacity and regression results showed that Amount borrowed and interest rate were the factors which significantly affected the repayment capacity of farm households.

Socio-economic events that fall largely outside the purview of the direct control of a given economic agent allow much more rigorous quantitative modelling of effects that such events may have on that economic agent’s decision-making and the consequent economic outcomes. The on-going Corona pandemic across the Globe presents a unique case study to extract operationally exogenous shocks that can be subjected to further rigorous research as well as to help students learn about applied economics using real-time events rather than abstract theoretical generalizations. This pandemic has thrown a huge challenge for the largest democracy in the World, namely India. The subsequent series of lockdowns in India and the consequent unlocking process have given rise to several economic shocks that require urgent attention from both the academic and policy-making circles. An overview of the microeconomic and macroeconomic events that have been sparked by the current pandemic and, the several rounds of lockdowns and social unlocking, can help the policy makers to better understand how future policy interventions can improve economic outcomes in the post-COVID era. A brief overview of various such economic shocks and their implications are highlighted in this note. The aim is to highlight the most important economic concerns so as to motivate teaching and research that is driven by real-time concerns and that can shed more light on the ways in which people and institutions react to such a crisis with some indications on the possible road ahead.

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.

India exports spices from times ancient and is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices in the world. This study is contemplated during the two time periods viz., Pre NHM (1993-94 to 2004-05) and Post NHM (2005-06 to 2017-18). The overall trend in spices export in quantity was found to be lower in the Period I than in Period II and Period III. It implies that a lower growth rate in quantity (4.75%) of spices were being exported during Period-I, which increased in quantity (9.57%) of spices during Period-II. Highly stable market for spices and its products during Period I were oils & oleoresins and curry powder, in Period II chilli (quantity), mint products (quantity), oils & oleoresins (value) and curry powder (quantity and value). No commodity showed low instability during Period III. (1993-94 to 2017-2018).

The fish is important food commodity and has an important role in nutritional security of North East region of India. The average per capita consumption of protein in India is 56 gm/day (2005-06) which is below to minimum protein requirement 70 gm/capita/day recommended by the WHO. This study looked into the consumption pattern of fish in urban households of Tripura. This study also examines the socio-economic factors affecting quantity of fish purchase and level of fish consumption by urban households. Simple random technique used to select 120 respondents from four fish markets from the Agartala City of Tripura. Primary data from 120 respondents was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. It was found that majority of fish buyers were male and out of those 70% were age below 45 years. The modle class for family size was 3-4 Members/family. The average monthly expenditure on fish purchase was ` 1312.16/household. The regression analysis revealed that fish price negatively affect to the quantity of fish purchase, whereas number adult members in a family, quantity of consumption of chicken and mutton (close substitute of fish) were found to have positively effect on quantity of fish purchase. Therefore, to increase the level of fish consumption in urban areas of Tripura, strategies towards household income, sufficient and regular supply this was needed.

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.

Does Bank Rate, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) affect the bank credit? This question always comes in the mind of researchers, economist, academicians, and policymakers and to get the answer to it, many research activities and projects are carried out by them. This study is also on the same line. The study intends to examine the impact of monetary policy on bank credit since reforms period. The study uses multiple regression models to test the selected banking variables by using the time series data collected from RBI. The study found that there is an inverse relationship between CRR and bank credit, SLR and bank credit but there is no association between bank rate by RBI and bank credit by the scheduled commercial banks in India since reforms period.

The present investigation was undertaken with a view to studying the costs and returns structure by the contract and non-contract farmers under contract farming of bottle gourd. Primary data were collected for the agricultural year 2015-16. The cost concepts were used. The results of the study revealed that all types of incomes viz., gross income, family labour income, farm business income and net income were higher on the contract farms than on the non-contract farms. The net income per hectare from bottle gourd was 31.69 per cent higher on the contract farms as compared to the non-contract farms. The total costs were higher on contract farms than on non-contract farms. The net profit was higher on contract farms than on non-contract farms. Returns per rupee were higher on contract farms (` 1.82) than non-contract farms (`1.69).

Sugarcane is important commercial crop of India. It is a major source of raw material for not only sugar industry but also other allied group of industries. Sugarcane plays a vital role for the overall socio-economic development of farming community. Uttar Pradesh is one of the leading producers of sugarcane in India. Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh has been selected as study area which is famous for sugarcane production. The main objectives of present paper are to assess the trends and patterns of sugarcane production in the district and explain the reasons behind the changes in the sugarcane production. The study is based on secondary sources of data. The study reveals that there is uneven trend of area under sugarcane as well as production of sugarcane in the district and it is found that government policies were important determinants for such trends. Jatipur and Dadrol blocks of the district show high concentration of sugarcane crop. The study further reflects that this area is experiencing an ongoing agricultural development pertaining to the sugarcane cultivation.

The study was carried out in Giridih district of Jharkhand with the objectives to work out the cost and return structure of onion cultivation and to identify the major constraints confronted by the farmers in onion cultivation. For the selection of respondent’s multistage sampling design was employed. Primary data was collected from sample of 120 onion growing farmers. The data so collected pertained to the Rabi season of the agricultural year 2016-17. The study concluded that, the average cost of cultivation of onion in Dhanwar block was ` 57687.95 per acreage which was higher than ` 50374.3 in case of Birni. The total variable cost per acre in Dhanwar was ` 45325.16 and in Birni it was ` 41691.40. The output per acre in Dhanwar was 65.52 quintal and in Birni it was 46.00 quintal/acre. The return per rupee investment was around ` 1.71 and ` 1.34 over variable and total cost respectively in case of Dhanwar block. In Birni block it was ` 1.65 over variable cost and ` 1.37over fixed cost. The major problems in cultivation of onion were lack of water for irrigation, high cost of seeds, pest and diseases, awareness on optimum use of fertilizers, high cost of labour etc.

Awareness on proper nutrition, nutritional value of food and healthy practices in food intake can build a difference in farm women productivity. Poor dietary practice is one of the biggest global contributing factors on recurrent disease in farm women. Negative effects of malnutrition among women were compounded by heavy farm work demands and poverty, although technological breakthrough brought tremendous scope in agriculture sector. Under this backdrop, this study was conducted with the objectives to gauge the nutritional awareness and dietary practices by farm women. The study was conducted among 150 farm women of Bhagalpur district of Bihar. From this research, it can be concluded that mass media, social media, and grassroots extension functionaries play pivotal role in creation of nutritional awareness among farm women. The mostly dietary practices included cereals (Rice, Wheat & Maize) and farm women nutritional awareness is significantly correlated with age, education level and mass media exposure of farm women.

Livelihood diversification is a norm in every economy, particularly in rural India, where farming alone rarely provides sufficient income. The study was conducted at Mawpran village in the hilly terrain, Meghalaya, India in the year 2017, with the objective to analyze the extent of livelihoods diversification among rural farm families, the impact of livelihood diversification and its determinants. Ninety respondents were selected by simple random sampling. The study found that majority of the farmers diversified from on-farm traditional crops to on-farm high-value crops (strawberry) while a majority of landless respondents had to do diversifying livelihood activities. Using the Wilcoxon sign rank test, it was observed that diversification had a significant impact on material possession and income level of the respondents. Diversification index was measured with the help of Simpson Diversification Index (SDI) and it conferred that fifty percent of the respondents belong to the high level of diversification (more than 0.43) and the average diversification index of the respondents was 0.32 which implied that the majority of the respondents had diversifying livelihood activities. Variables like education and cosmo-politeness were found to be significantly related to their degree of livelihood. Thus, diversification of livelihood is an important feature of rural survival and improving income level.

In order to combat the challenge of deficit in food availability, the Government of India launched National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in 2007-08. The main objective is to achieve self-sufficiency in foodgrains production to improve livelihood of the people. Rice, wheat and pulses are given high priority in the process of production by the Union and State Governments. In Tamil Nadu, only 25 per cent of the districts (8 districts) where rice cultivation is predominant have implemented the scheme. After the implementation of the NFSM scheme, there has been significant improvement in the farmer’s life. NFSM beneficiaries are in a better position with improved performance in terms of input use, production, productivity in comparison with that of the Non-NFSM farmers. Further, many of the selected villages in the study area are yet to satisfy the existing coverage norms. The farmers are not well equipped with adequate farm materials like cono weeder, multiple planters, power weeder, pump sets, sprayers and power tillers as they have not been provided with them under the scheme. They have been given only a limited support like the provision of seeds and inputs. Besides, there is widespread intra-district disparity in terms of subsidy and benefits distributed.

This study comprise of minimizing farm risk through diversification in tomato based farming systems (TBFS). Primary data was collected from 3 taluks of Kolar District, Karnataka viz., Malur, Mulbagal and Srinivaspura representing cultivation of tomato hybrids, High yielding varieties (HYVs) and both, respectively. The total sample size was 150 tomato growers, 50 from each taluk. Tomato was grown as a major crop in all the 3 taluks. Farmers had diversified to different crops and farm enterprises along with tomato in order to reduce their income risk. Herfindahl diversification index and Crop diversification index was calculated. Based on which, farmers having high and medium degree of diversification faced lower income risk as compared to those farmers having lower degree of diversification. In all the three taluks, the inclusion of livestock as a component under any TBFS lowered the income risk faced by the farmers. The results of quantile regression analysis showed that, the variable CDI (Crop Diversification Index) was significant across all quantiles showing that as the degree of farm diversification increased, the variability in total annual income of the farmers decreased as risk was reduced when the income was diversified from different sources or enterprises.

Tribal population is the aboriginal inhabitants of India who have been living a life based on the natural environment and have cultural patterns congenial to their physical and social environment. Realizing the disadvantage position of forest dwelling communities, Government of India passed The Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA). The act aims at granting legal entitlement, empowerment and improvement of livelihood by way of various provisions of the act, but due to lack of proper awareness and impediments in the implementation this goal was not fully achieved. The present study was conducted in the tribal majority district of Kerala, Wayanad, where FRA was implemented to strengthen the social security and livelihood improvement of forest dwelling communities. This study attempts to enlighten the status and progress of FRA in Wayanad along with its impact on the major tribal communities. The assessment of impact on socio-economic and livelihood improvement was done based on the primary data collected from 160 households of four tribal communities viz., Paniya, Kuruma, Kattunaika, and Urali, which are the predominant communities found in the study area. Study revealed that Kuruma community found to have ‘very good’ socio-economic condition after the implementation of Act. There are positive outcomes in terms of socio-economic status and livelihood progress of other communities as well but the difficulties in realizing rights and utilizing it lead to the poor impact of FRA, 2006 on them.

ICT revolution worldwide has brought immense opportunities in all the sectors of the economy. However, optimum utilization of information and communication technologies requires infrastructure development and human capital investments, overcoming bottlenecks of which will be a challenging task. One of the main challenges is the gap between the information ‘haves’ and information ‘have-nots’ what we call the digital divide. In this context, the paper investigates the extent of ICT diffusion in India and also evaluates inter-state technology divide. ICT Diffusion indices have been constructed to measure ICT diffusion in different states of India. For this purpose, Obricom (2003) methodology has been used. The results of ICT diffusion index indicate that Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka are the top ICT performers and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam are the poor performers. In order to evaluate different determinants of inter-state telecom development, pooled regression analysis was used by taking data at three points of time, i.e., 1991, 2001 and 2011. The results of regression analysis show that telecom sector growth has been positively affected by population and per capita NSDP and policy variable indicating telecom sector liberalization.

Farm level technical efficiency and its determinants in wheat production in the state of Bihar has been studied using stochastic frontier production function model. The average productivity of wheat was reported 28.43 q/ha which was below the national average of 30.33 q/ha during 2016-17. The resource inputs were found inelastic and not being properly utilized. All the resource inputs were found positive and significant at 1 per cent and 5 per cent level of probability except machine labour used which was negatively significant, indicating overuse of machine labour or costly machine labour. The mean input efficiency in production of wheat in the state was estimated to be 94 per cent, emphasizing that efficiency may be enhanced by 6 per cent. The factors influencing efficiency were identified as education, family size and landholding size. The mean technical efficiency was found to be 0.94 indicted that optimal and sustainable use of resource inputs may further raise the input use efficiency in wheat production by 6 per cent and consequently boost up the income of the wheat cultivators in the state.

This investigation analyses the early reaction of general public on demonetisation announcement, wherein, an attempt has been made to examine how people from diverse background perceived the decision in terms of its pros & cons from the perspective of economy as well as from personal and business perspectives. A structured questionnaire survey is carried out via online and field survey mode during the period between 9th November, 2016 and 11th November, 2016. We utilise appropriate descriptive statistics and the ordinal regression model to get insights on our research objectives. The findings suggest that the demonetisation move is strongly appreciated by the citizens and considered it to be initiated at the right time despite the difficulties encountered by them with respect to procuring money from banks, post offices and ATM outlets in addition to the household and livelihood management during the initial three days. The results also prove that the younger generation, businessmen and professionals consider the demonetisation decision as the most appropriate as indicated by significant cumulative odds ratio. This implies that in the long run the decision India may witness more secure, brighter and prosperous economic and social growth.

Institutional credit is one important input for progressive agriculture. We expect efficient role of land to generate formal credit for the small farmers in the post tenancy reform period in India as secured land holding is ensured by such land reform policy. We have used NSSO 70th round unit level data on survey of agricultural households and quantile regression as a method to support the paper empirically. Volume of institutional credit is our dependent variable which is explained by land holding as well as different household level characteristics like caste, gender, religion and education. We found formal schooling, land and caste as significant factors to control the volume of formal credit but at different extent for different quantile ranges of the formal credit in India. Up to fiftieth quantile of institutional credit, land is more helpful to those who borrow more. But one unit of land is rather less helpful in generating higher volumes of credit in the quantile ranges above the median level. We conclude redistribution of land is essential to increase financial inclusion in India.

Present study analyzes value addition of the Jackfruit, its marketing by rural women and women empowerment in Tubagere Hobli in Bengaluru Rural district. Data was collected from all the women entrepreneurs in the study area. Six value added Jackfruit products viz, chips, jam, papad, juice, halwa and mixture are produced. A return per rupee of expenditure was highest in Jam (` 2.54) and lowest in Juice (` 1.05). They transacted an average 240 kg of chips, 120 kg of mixture, 4000 papads, 190 litres of juice, 30 kg of jam and 150 kg of halwa in 2015-2016 through direct marketing. Profit generated through value addition was higher (95 %) compared with marketing of raw fruit. Women empowerment index has shown that 50, 10 and 40 per cent of women had high, medium and low level of empowerment respectively. Thus, value addition and direct marketing have enabled them to become better empowered.

This study analyses the challenges and strategies to increase pulse production with special emphasis on chickpea and pigeon pea. The study is based on secondary data collected from published sources. Compound growth rate was estimated to study the yield performance in the major states. The study revealed that there is low yield growth in chick pea and pigeon pea in the majority of the states. The yield gap analysis in chickpea also reveals high exploitable potential yield in the western zone. Totally 3.2 million tonnes of additional pulses can be produced by extending pulses area to rainfed rice fallow lands, replacing low productive crops and summer fallows. Hence, the respective state governments may take necessary action to increase pulses production by providing technological and institutional support.

There is a growing discontentment among Indian cotton farmers because of declining profitability. Increase in production costs, yield stagnation and volatile output prices have affected the net incomes adversely. In this study we analysed cost of cotton cultivation to elucidate reasons for cost escalation. Cost of cultivation data obtained from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics for the period 2000-01 to 2014-15 was used for the analysis. It was found that an increase in human labour wage rates was the major factor that contributed to cost escalation. Fertilizers were another factor that contributed to cost escalation. Selective mechanization for curtailing human labour consumption and judicious use of fertilizers are options to lower the cost of cotton cultivation.

The paper has examined the labour employment generation of the prevailing agro-forestry system. Two block of Udham Singh Nagar was selected for study purpose in which two spacing was followed by sample farmers i.e. 7m×3m and 5m×4m. Study was conducted by taking in to labour engaged in the Agro forestry System. Aggregate measures were used to determine the labour employed in agro-forestry system in different years of plantation. The result indicated that Agro-forestry with spacing 7m×3m require less labour to be employed in comparison to spacing 5m×4m. The result of study has suggested that policy support in terms promotion is to provide some incentive to agro-forestry farmers.

Indian food processing sector has shown promising growth with wider scope to accelerate agricultural economy of the country. It has given level playing to the multinational corporate to excel direct retailing of the food products. This study has tried to explore the factors affecting the quality delivery in the food processing industry. The conceptual framework has been developed on the basis of existing literature and finds nine responsible factors to deliver quality in the food processing industry. Statistical tests are used to examine the quest, based on the inputs from 50 food processing entrepreneurs. A survey based on structured questionnaire was conducted in three districts of Uttar Pradesh. The finding reveals that availability of educated and trained workers are the most challenging task for food processing players. The study further explores the potential and prospect of Skill India initiative in resolving the scarcity of qualified manpower. It is found that PMKVY (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana) is giving the meaningful result by adding expertise to employed and unemployed individuals. This initiative is producing competent workforce in almost every zone in India. It is needed to include industrial participation for delivering training so that the needs of both parties were fulfilled.

Presently, out of 20 million tube wells in the country, almost 1.3 million are in Punjab, contributing to fast-paced groundwater extraction and its depletion. Direct seeding of rice has a great potential for optimizing the water-use efficiency in paddy cultivation without any disturbing and harmful effect on its productivity, if weeds are controlled properly. A significant saving of 18 per cent was achieved for irrigating one hectare of the DSR farm in basmati and non-basmati varieties as compared to non-DSR farm. The mean overall technical efficiency was more in DSR farms as compared with non-DSR farms, with difference of about 12 per cent in basmati and 5 per cent in non-basmati fields. However, this difference was 7 per cent in basmati and 14 per cent in non basmati while calculating the average technical efficiency w. r. t water-use. Popularization of this technology among farmers in a participatory mode on a comprehensive scale needs a focused attention through capacity building of farmers.

In developing country like India where population is large and unemployment is high, focus on common property resources (CPR) is a must especially in backward regions. Manipur is one of the least developed terminal states in the country which has a total geographical area of 22347 square kilometres (GoM, 2013). Importance of CPRs in the state is multifold. It has been the source of livelihood for several. The study has attempted to identify the sources of household (HH) income, role of CPRs in the livelihood of the people in the state in terms of income and employment generation. Complete enumeration of households and descriptive statistics had been employed to accomplish the study. Identified income sources in the selected valley and hill has been classified under three main sectors viz., farm, non-farm and common property resources (CPRs) income. CPRs based activities in the valley and hill villages vary and generate income and employment to both male and female household members. Income from CPRs based activities contributes 9.38 and 32.59 per cents in the valley and hill village, respectively. In valley village male spends maximum time collecting firewood (22.50 man-days) and females in collection of food items (13.75 man-days). While in hill village, in charcoal making male spends 157.5 man-days and female 135 man-days.

Sustainable indigenous agroforestry systems are mainstay of rural agrarian economy coupled with livestock rearing in mountains of Himalayas. A 2B4D6-watershed was selected in Central Himalayas to investigate economic returns from agriculture based agroforestry systems. A detailed structured analysis revealed four types of agriculture based agroforestry systems are prevalent in the 2B4D6-watershed of Indian Central Himalaya. These agroforestry systems are profitable to farmers and can obtain more than two-fold returns from agriculture based agroforestry systems. The net return from these systems decreased in the order: Agrihorticulture > Agrihortisilviculture > Agrisilvihorticulture > Agrisilviculture. The highest benefit cost ratio from agroforestry systems was obtained at higher elevation E5 and it decreased with decrease in elevations in the order: E4 > E3 > E2 > E1. Thus, we conclude that agroforestry systems are not only sustainable but also are imperative for livelihood security of local inhabitants of Indian Central Himalayas.

Agriculture is highly dependent on rainfall. Any irregularities impact the production and farm income of the rural households. Hence it is important to estimate the impact of rainfall on farm income in order to understand the extent of dependence and responsiveness of agriculture income on climate parameters. Analysis of the time series data on rainfall for the period 1901 to 2015 of Chitradurga district exposed the existence of breaks in the series. Auto-regressive error correction model revealed a significant influence of rainfall received on agricultural GDP of Chitradurga district of central dry zone.

Fish farming in open water cages is a recently introduced technology in India. The successful cage farming demonstrations in the open sea led to its popularisation in the coastal waters in the country. The economic viability of cage fish farming was analysed based on primary data collected from 60 farm units in Kerala state in the South west coast of India. Asian seabass, pearlspot, tilpaia, redsnappers and caranx were the major species cultured in the study area. The average size of a farm unit was 115 m3 with a stocking density of 32 fishes per m3. The gross revenue and average cost were ` 8584 and ` 4331 respectively per m3 of farm area. The Benefit–cost ratio and operating ratios were 2.02 and 0.42 respectively indicating cage farming as an economically viable farming technology. Resource use efficiency analysis indicated that stocking density and quantity of feed used had positive and significant influence on fish production and economic efficiency could be improved by increasing the use of these inputs.

Indian extension system is said to be pluralistic in nature with number of agencies involved in delivery of extension services. There are public, private and third sector actors along with information communication technology (ICT) based initiatives proactively involved in information and technology dissemination in agriculture and allied sectors. Some of the actors are involved in the provision of support services also. It has brought added responsibility to public extension like quality assurance along with provision of technical backstopping, and ensuring coordination between different actors in pluralistic extension system. This article tries to reflect on the imperatives for and major actors of pluralistic extension system in India as well as its implications.

The study was carried out to assess the energy use pattern and its efficiency in paddy production under different farm sizes in Karnataka. Data were collected from 90 sample farmers, by using a pretested schedule through personal interviews. The results indicated that the total energy used for producing paddy was 8,957 MJ per acre with an energy input cost of ` 17, 008 per acre. Among different components of energy use in paddy production, chemical fertilizers accounted for the highest amount of energy to the extent of 5240 MJ per acre (including N, P2O2 and K2O). The sample farmers had used excess fertilizer energy of 2050, 349 and 60 MJ per acre of nitrogen, phosphorous and potash respectively, as compared to the recommendation of package of practice. The elasticity coefficients provided by the Cobb-Douglas production function indicated that draught animals, labor, seeds, FYM and PPC were statistically significant among small farms. Irrespective of the size of farms, labour was significantly contributed to the output energy. Hence, the effective use of labour energy input plays an important role in paddy production. The ratio of MVP to MFC was less than one for fertilizers irrespective of the size group of farms indicated that fertilizer energy was over used in paddy production. Elasticity coefficients of different forms of energy indicated that impact of renewable energy sources was much higher than that of non-renewable energy sources in paddy production. Hence, to improve the paddy yield, economic performance of the crop and environmental sustainability, farmers have to use more of renewable energy. The energy efficiency showed that the energy ratio (6.98) and energy productivity (0.29) of small farmers were highest as compared to medium and large farmers. This implied that small farmers efficiently used energy vis-à-vis medium and large farmers.

This research assesses the trade competitiveness of BRICS nations during the period 2001-2017. The ultimate aim of the study is to investigate the effects of economic integration in enhancing the trade competitiveness of member countries. Various price and non-price measures that carry information on trade competitiveness are computed and their relative importance is analyzed. The findings of the research demonstrate the asymmetric pattern of trade development in BRICS region even after the formation of group. The benefits under integration are more country specific and in particular, the partnership favors more to the growth of China and India. Surprisingly, the research finds the loosely linked stock markets as and real exchange markets in BRICS that acclaims the lack of consensus among market regulators in their intervention policies.

Potato plays a very significant role in the agriculture economy. It is most important tuber crop in Chhattisgarh. The present study was conducted in Northern hills zone of Chhattisgarh. Two districts were selected and one block from each selected districts was selected. Further, clusters of villages from each selected block were selected and finally, a sample of 100 potato growers comprising 40 marginal, 32 small, 17 medium and 11 large farmers were selected with the help of probability proportion criteria from selected villages. Tabular analysis was used to achieve the objectives. The study revealed that the overall cost of potato cultivation was ` 47408.91/ha. The major cost component was labour cost. The cost of producing one quintal of potato was ` 625.56. It was also observed that cost of cultivation, cost of production, gross returns, net returns, yield and marketed surplus of potato was increasing with the increases in the size of holdings land. The gross returns and net returns from potato cultivation were found to be ` 92766.74 and ` 45357.83, respectively. The overall input-output ratio was 1:1.96. The overall yield of potato was 75.71 qtl./hectare. Out of this, 97.37 per cent was marketed surplus. Majority of potato was marketed through wholesaler followed by retailer, village trader and only about one per cent was marketed through consumer directly.

The area under maize crop has been consistently decreasing in the Punjab state over the last few decades, despite its multiple uses. Ineffective implementation of price policy along with certain problems, the maize growers could not earn remunerative returns form maize cultivation in the state. The present study was designed to highlight the various problems in the context of production and marketing front of maize crop in the Punjab state. The data with respect to various problems being faced by the maize growers were collected through well structured pre-tested schedule. The data recorded on scales and severity analysis was carried out by using mean rank score. Garret ranking technique was applied to extract the important problems that influence the maize cultivation in the Punjab state. The severity analysis indicated that among biotic constraints, the emergence of diseases (mean score=1.82) was reported as the most severe problem faced by the maize growers. Plant protection measures being adopted by the maize growers for effective control of insect, pest and management of diseases could increase the production cost of maize. Based on the value of mean score, shortage of labor supply during peak season (mean score=2.82) was the most important problems amongst abiotic problems, while the intensity of the problems like price variability, shortage of farm machinery was moderately high in the study area. Low price of the produce was exposed as the most influential problem by applying Likert scale. Shortage of labour supply during peak season, emergence of diseases, insect-pest attack and weeds infestation were exposed as moderately severe problems. Hence, the effective and suitable measures to address the highlighted problems of maize could provide impetus to increase maize acreage in the Punjab state.

Peach is the most important stone fruit in temperate and sub-tropical areas. Among the stone fruits, peach crop accounts for 49.54 per cent in area and 60.82 per cent production in Himachal Pradesh. A sample of 60 farmers cultivating peach was selected using multistage simple random sampling. Results of the study revealed that literacy rate in the study area were worked out to 82.57 per cent with literacy index of 2.23 indicating low quality of education. Average operational area was found 1.26 ha, out of which orchard area was 0.83 ha and peach plantation accounts for 52.38 per cent. The cultivation of peach component was also seem to be quite important; with its contribution to total household income was 45.54 per cent. It has been observed that fertilizer, FYM and Labour were significantly affecting the production but plant protection chemical was not found significant. It has been observed that Fertilizer, FYM, Plant Protection Chemicals and Labour were found to be significantly under-utilized resources and increase the use of these inputs will increase production. The findings of the study strongly recommend the optimum use of the resources in order to attain desired growth in peach cultivation and ultimately the productivity.

The study attempts to estimate the profitability of crops cultivated in Cauvery river basin of Karnataka. The study uses primary data pertaining to Mandya district, which is the major beneficiary of the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Project of Cauvery basin for irrigation purpose. For this study, 120 farm households were selected through appropriate sampling procedure. The data thus collected were processed using statistical tools including descriptive analytical tools, Cobb-Douglas Production Function and Garrett ranking method. The results revealed that, in the study area, sugarcane was the most profitable crop with a mean net returns of ` 1,47,288 per ha and a benefit-cost ratio of 2.02. The corresponding figures for paddy were ` 31,342 per ha and 1.52, while for ragi, they were ` 3,159 per ha and 1.12. Over the last decade, maize, banana, sesamum and coconut have gained importance as indicated by their significant positive high compound annual growth rates in cropped area, which is a desirable change replacing the age-old monotonous sugarcane-paddy cropping system. Labour scarcity and high wage rate were the serious problems faced by the sample respondents in crop production. Amongst the irrigation related problems, untimely and inadequate release of water from the dam for irrigation purposes and sedimentation in canals and tanks were the most serious ones, which needs the attention of the policy makers on priority basis, in order to have a sustainable crop production system in the region.

An attempt has been made in this paper to formulate a three-sector general equilibrium model where two sectors produce final traded goods whereas a third sector produces a non-traded final good. It has been referred to the third sector as a non-traded final good producing health sector. In such a set up it has been shown that a movement from a regime of international health capital immobility to a regime of international health capital mobility may lead to an expansion of the health sector in the presence of nutritional efficiency of workers. Apart from that it has also been shown that social welfare of our stylized small open economy will improve.

This paper aims to analyze the determinants of the choice probability of millet consumption and the demand for major millets at household level in India. For this, we used consumer expenditure survey data collected by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) for the years 2004-05 and 2011-12. Heckman sample selection model was used to estimate the functional relationship between household level characters and millet consumption as zero expenditure is encountered for many of the households in the data set. The analysis revealed that the prices of millets and other food commodities had statistically significant effect on both millet consumption probability and the quantity demanded of millets while per capita income was not an important determinant. It is confirmed that the millets continue to be treated as inferior goods in India. Besides, age of household head has a positive relationship with the millet consumption, whereas larger household size and higher educational level decreased the probability of millet consumption and quantity demanded.

The present study was conducted at a cooperative milk plant having the capacity of 1.1 lakh Litre Per Day (LPD). The investigation was carried out to study the cost of procurement and economic efficiency in the cooperative milk plant Sirsa (Haryana). The study shows that procurement cost was ` 1.83 per litre of milk. Among all the cost constituent in procurement process transportation cost had the highest share (43.72 per cent) followed by collection cost (26 per cent), chilling cost (21.86 percent) and reception cost (8.20 per cent).

This paper examined the trend in Asian rice production, role of rice in human nutrition and documents structure of rice market in major Asian Countries, by analyzing supply demand and trade scenarios for the fast five decades. Country wise data from FAOSTAT and WTO were collected for the past five decades, to analyze key issues related to rice sector with special focus on rice markets in Asia. Rice Area and production has been increased significantly at higher rate than the population growth rate in Asia over the past fifty years. This resulted in increase of per capita availability of rice and contributed significantly to nutrition security. However, there are wide imbalances in supply-demand across Asian countries .Thus rice trade has become a major global economic activity in the recent past. The structural changes in global rice markets are discussed in detail in the paper.

Considerable participation of women in socio-economic, political and cultural set-up of the society is the pre requisite for the development of an economy. It is the fact that the economies which used the growth of agricultural sector as a base for their development path towards industrial and service sector growth shifted their surplus labour from agricultural sector to these sectors. Punjab has a different story regarding rural female employment. After green revolution, the state recorded tremendous agricultural growth. But this achievement in agriculture did not contribute in terms of female participation in economic activities and even this remarkable growth upto 1980’s in agriculture sector brought a sharp decline of female work participation in farm-sector. In the nineties when major economic reforms were introduced in Indian economy, the major sectoral shift was noticed in employment which in result brought a rapid shrink in the number of agricultural workers in the state. Census 2011 figures present a gloomy situation for the gender equality in work participation in Punjab. Punjab continued backward for providing equal employment opportunities for the women. High mechanisation of agriculture and low growth of a non-agriculture sector made the situation worse for women to get employment. It is high time for a gender sensitive employment generation strategy to secure the socioeconomic interests of females in the state.

In recent years, traditional literature implies that women are empowered when they can exercise choices and are aware of alternatives, microfinance being one of the most important catalysts. However, doubts about the long term viability of SHGs as a model for supply of micro credit to low income groups of women have risen, as for SHGs-Bank linkage model to remain viable as long as long term key support and maintenance services must be provided to individual community group-level bodies, and their costs recovered. It is found that even though women have experienced an increase in income and consumption, they have very little control over resources, assets and do not participate equally in major household decisions. However, they have significant influence on the choices that their children make. The paper made an empirical study of SHGs in Imphal East, Manipur as a case for illustration. The study shows that microfinance and SHG is very closely related and is considered as two sides of the same coin. This study attempts to understand the impact of microfinance on women empowerment through a case study in study of SHGs in Imphal East, Manipur as a case for illustration. The success and failures of SHGs to achieve the goal of socio-economic empowerment of women have been evaluated and lessons and evidences learnt have been incorporated in the paper. The study has covered the specific constraints and challenges of SHGs, and policy prescriptions to address the specific problems are suggested.

Analysis of production efficiency of rice cultivation of Wet Rice Cultivation (WRC) in Dimapur and Wet Terrace Cultivation (WTC) in Phek district of the state of Nagaland revealed that, WRC under Dimapur district experienced the highest productivity than WTC under Phek district. The reason for higher productivity for WRC when compared to WTC is due to the better use of seeds, fertilizer, machines, and availability of irrigation facility which had a great impact on production and productivity. Both the farming systems in the two districts are labour intensive and the average labour absorption per acre in Phek district is 41.57 labour man days whereas, in Dimapur district it is about 43.9 labour man days. Result from Cobb-Douglas production function shows that capital plays the predominant role in production in both the districts. The study is based on primary data and the data was collected from 300 household from the two districts and three villages each district using a pre-tested interview schedule. The period of the study was the crop year of 2016-17. The study was found that the cost of production is high in case of small and medium farmers, while the profit rate was high for marginal farmers showing inverse relation between farm size and profitability.

This study has focused to analyze the influence of agricultural trade on economic growth in India obtaining annual time series data from 1990-91 to 2016-17. This study estimates the relationship between agricultural exports and economic growth in India employing the Error Correction Model. This study has used three variables such as, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), agricultural exports and non-agricultural exports. According to empirical estimates, the Error Correction Model, that is to say catch can tend towards the long run relationship, has been validated. The variables are converging to equilibrium value and the change in agricultural exports and non-agricultural exports are directly affecting the real GDP in India. Furthermore, this study found that there is short-run uni-directional causality between agriculture exports, non-agriculture exports to GDP in India. The main finding of this study is that the agricultural exports and non-agricultural exports are important variables to stimulate economic growth in India. This study recommends an increase effort to be directed towards policies that will expand the volume of a country’s agricultural productivity and trade for the economic growth in the country.

Purely monetary approach to poverty measurement does not provide a true picture of deprivations or wellbeingness of households. Aspects based poverty measurement using multiple dimensions of deprivation gives a more complete picture of poverty. In this investigation, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) has been used to study deprivations experienced in multiple dimensions of drinking water, sanitation and housing facilities in urban Haryana. For estimation of the poverty across the urban areas of Haryana, household level secondary data from 69th round of NSSO survey on selected indicators of drinking water, sanitation and housing facilities have been used. Based on MPI estimates the urban households in the district of Mewat have been found to be most deprived in reference to drinking water, sanitation and housing facilities in urban Haryana followed by Fatehabad, Rohtak, Mahendragarh, Jhajjar and Ambala.

India has not only achieved self-sufficiency in food production but also enhanced its ability to deal with inter year fluctuations in production. Despite the much commended economic growth of the country, the average calorie consumption in India has declined over the years and has been low in comparison to international standards. Hilly states in particular, confront multiple food insecurity risks owing to many reasons like dominance of traditional agriculture, low yields of food and cash crops, and lack of market incentives, etc. Three northern hilly states namely; Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand constitute the Himalayan belt of India. Out of the three hilly states Uttarakhand was purposively selected for the study due to higher below poverty line (BPL) percentage (RBI, 2012) and the higher rank (6th rank) in the development disability index (NIPFP report, 2013) than the other two states. The present study assessed the existing food security status of the state over the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) rounds and measured inequality in calorie intake across various income groups. The study utilized unit record data on household consumption expenditure surveys extracted from CDs for two rounds viz., 61st round (2004-05) & 68th round (2011-12) conducted by NSSO. The state was first categorized into two regions viz., hill and plain region. Households in either region were further classified into different quartiles on the basis of their monthly per consumer unit expenditure and across these quartiles the information was obtained. To assess the incidence, depth and severity of food insecurity Foster, Greer and Thorbecke-FGT (1984) class of poverty measures was used Inequality in calorie intake among different expenditure class was calculated through Gini coefficient. Results revealed that despite a noticeable decline in the share of food expenditure till 68th round it was still more than 50% among people of lower income group (LIG) in plains and LIG and lower middle income group (LMIG) in hills. At an overall level hilly region fared well in terms of calorie intake than plain region of the state in each round. The head count index of food insecurity showed that the incidence of food insecurity in plains came down to 52% in 68th round from 61% of 61st round and 39% from 46% in hills during the same period. A considerable difference in dietary pattern when viewed in terms milk and milk products consumption, edible oils, fruits, vegetables and sugars was observed across income groups. The head count index of food insecurity in 61st round showed that 61% households in Plains and 46% households in hills were food insecure, this incidence of food insecurity came down to 52% in plains and 39% in hill region till 68th round. Inequality in plain region was lower in each round, when compared to that in hilly region. A targeted monitoring to ensure food availability through PDS to lower income population can be done and range of food products can be increased for this particular target group.

The present study was conducted to analyze the rice cultivation scenario in West Bengal from 1994-95 to 2015-16. The study was based on secondary data collected from various sources. Study showed that production, yield, area under high yielding variety (HYV) and area under irrigation had a positive and significant growth rate, whereas area had negative and significant growth rate in overall period i.e., period III (1994-16). North 24 parganas, Cooch behar, Jalpaiguri showed highest growth rate in terms of area, production and yield respectively in period III. Among the traditional rice growing districts Midnapore showed higher growth rate in terms of production and yield than Bardhaman in period III. Midnapore and Bardhaman were among the top three districts in terms of area and production. Variable like rainfall (R) had negative and significant effect in growth of area and production showing unpredictability of monsoon caused the farmers to show reluctance in rice cultivation. Other variable like literacy rate (LR) and fertilizer consumption (FC) had positive and significant effect on growth rate of yield and gross irrigated area (GIA) in terms of growth of area under rice cultivation.

Although, India is the largest pulse producing country in the world, the production of these crops in the country has shown sluggish growth over the years. Low growth rate coupled with high fluctuations in production of pulses is mainly responsible for poor performance of pulse sector. It also leads to high price variability. Variability in the prices of pulses is a major concern for decision makers. This study was conducted to estimate the volatility in the prices of major pulses (chickpea, pigeonpea, blackgram, greengram and lentil) in India using GARCH model. Results have shown that the volatility in the current period depends on volatility in the preceding period in case of pulses as evident from the significant ARCH term for all the crops. Further, the sum of α and β coefficients has been found more than one for all the pulse crops except pigeonpea in period I thus indicating an explosive price series with a tendency to meander away from mean value. The volatility in the price series of pigeonpea has been found more persistent and explosive in recent period. So, there is a need for regular monitoring of prices and appropriate interventions by the government, when necessary, to make the development of pulse sector more sustainable.

The present study was conducted during 2016-17 in the Udupi district of Karnataka. Mobile phones play an important role in accessing the information about improved cultivation practices. In this study, we had analysed the relationship between independent variable and knowledge level of the farmers. We had selected total 13 independent variables for the study, three variables viz., education, achievement motivation and risk orientation showed positive and significant relationship at one per cent level of probability. Whereas, six variables viz., annual income, extension contact, scientific orientation,extension participation, mass media participation and innovativeness showed positive and significant relation at five per cent level of probability with knowledge level. The remaining four variables namely, age, family type, occupation and land holding and did not showed any significant relationship with knowledge level.

Cost of cultivation is an important factor affecting the profitability of agriculture in West Bengal. We have considered here cost of production of six major crops, namely paddy, jute, mustard, potato, til and pulses. Cost of cultivation increased over the years for paddy, potato, jute, mustard, pulses and til. There occurred a decline in percentage of family labour cost (imputed) to total cost of cultivation. It reflects that family labourers are not interested in cultivation of these crops while being devoted to other means of economic livelihood and the cultivators depend more and more on casual labourers for cultivation of those crops. Percentages of fertilizers cost and rental value of owned land also registered increase during this period for these crops. The production cost and returns of different size of landholdings in different crops cultivation have been calculated based on field survey data in the backward region of Paschim Medinipur district. The farmers are getting relatively high net returns or profit from vegetables, mustard and potato cultivation and relatively low returns from paddy cultivation. Higher net income was the main driving force for shifting towards vegetables cultivation. Net return per unit of labour and unit cost of production has been compared with those of cereals and other crops. It was noted that most of the vegetables were more profitable than cereals and other crops.

From many counts, the natural disaster in Uttarakhand caused by torrential rains in 2013 that had drawn serious attention of policymakers needs an appropriate framework of analysis to account the economic losses incurred. More so because such losses have several implications for the growth of the regional economy on account of its inter-linkages in the production, consumption and distribution processes. The present study adopts a loss assessment framework in four hard hit districts of Uttarakhand and assesses the economic loss of affected districts through both direct and indirect economic loss assessment methods. Apart from this, the present study has tried to capture the gender and the caste differentiated impact of disasters in case of Uttarakhand, to identify the most vulnerable sections and to suggest appropriate measures to reduce their vulnerability in the event of a disaster.

Exploiting the potential of current technologies is more critical to increase farm production than that of waiting for a new technological breakthrough. In reality, higher efficiency can often translate into higher productivity which further may lead to sustainability at the farm levels. Taking this into consideration, the present study was conducted in Saurashtara region of Gujarat state during 2016-17 to determine technical efficiency levels of randomly selected farmers practicing groundnut-pigeonpea relay cropping vis-à-vis other cropping systems. The analysis was conducted using stochastic frontier production function (SFPF) approach. The findings revealed that the mean technical efficiency of relay cropping farmers (89 %) was higher than that of sole pigeonpea farmers (87.18 %) and sole groundnut farmers (74.52 %). The maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) revealed positively significant effect of human labour (1.103) and machine power (0.109) and fertilizer (0.276) on farm output among relay cropping farmers. In fact, the variance ratios viz. σ2 (0.027), γ (0.838) and λ (2.263) were found to be significant indicating that the variations in the farm output were more due to the existence of technical inefficiency levels. In addition, the average frontier yield to be bridged was only 0.89 qtl/ha under relay cropping which was much lesser than the other two cropping systems. Among the factors influencing the technical efficiency of relay cropping farmers, experience (0.37); education (0.10); institutional support (0.12) and imput market access (0.08) were found to be both positive and significant.

The present investigation was conducted in the Belagavi district of Karnataka to compare the economics of milk production with member and non-members of Women Dairy Self-Help Groups (WDSHGs). The primary data was collected from 90 members and 90 non-members of households from two seasons i.e. rainy and summer in the year 2015-16. The gross cost for maintaining local cow, crossbred cow and buffalo was found to be ` 91.75, ` 146.22 and ` 128.29 for member is more as against ` 88.11 for local cow, ` 142.36 for crossbred cow and ` 124.67 for buffalo in case of non-members. The cost per litre of milk of local cow (` 28.15), crossbred cow (` 20.73) and buffalo (` 26.82) was found to be slightly less for members in comparison to non-members ` 28.91 for local cow, ` 21.10 for crossbred cow and ` 27.08 for buffalo. The net returns per liter of milk was found to be ` -1.74 for local cow, ` 3.76 for crossbred cow and ` 2.45 for buffalo in members were slightly higher as compared to ` -2.57 for local cow, ` 3.18 for crossbred cow and ` 2.02 for buffalo in non-members. Here, net return per liter of milk for local cow is negative because, less productivity of local cow overall the net returns from dairy farming is higher for members as compared to non-members.

In the context of hill agriculture, diversification has occurred both across and within crop, livestock and forestry sectors. Agriculture, in its broader sense is the mainstay of mountain people. Diversification in agriculture has become necessary for developing countries since growing of basic staples such as cereals alone cannot support economic development, notwithstanding the need to ensure food security to the people. Diversification with commercial crops is now a key strategy that can increase agricultural incomes and minimize risks due to crop failures and further help in poverty alleviation, employment planning and environmental conservation. The present study was undertaken to probe into changes in cropping pattern, region wise levels of diversification and determinants of diversification both at macro and micro level. Diversification in different districts of Himachal Pradesh was assessed by using Herfindahl index. Regression analysis was carried out by using Herfindahl index at macro level for the selected period from 1972-73 to 2011-12 and Entropy Index at micro level to find out the determinants of crop diversification. Diversification towards high value cash crops in most of the districts (ten) did take place, but its intensity was quite pronounced in Lahaul & Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla and Kullu where the increase in area under the non-foodgrains varied from 17.18 per cent to 57.47 per cent over the study period. The ongoing process of crop diversification in the state has become evident from rising proportion of gross cropped area under fruit and vegetable crops as per present study.

Agricultural equipment gets deteriorated mechanically and their functionality decreased with time and usage. In order to manage such equipment, it requires higher operating and maintenance cost, as a result of this, there is a need to replace them. Decision making about the replacement of used farm equipment with a new similar one is one of the important aspects of farm machinery management. Based on that criterion, the objective of the investigation was decided to estimate the economic operational life of tractors in the central region of Madhya Pradesh, India and to evaluate the effect of different parameters on economic life, which would add value to the profitable management decision. The tractor data collected were from government agricultural centres in the different regions of M.P. and categorized them into different groups based on their horsepower rating. Considering the preventive replacement policy the total annual average costs of tractors were estimated taking account into the repair cost and depreciation cost. The time period (in year), when the total annual average cost touched its minimum value, was decided as the economic life of a tractor. There is a negative correlation (r= -0.835) found between size (HP) of tractors and their economic life. And an empirical relation based on multiple regression analysis has been generated to predict the economic operational life of a tractor using per unit repair cost and annual usage (hours) as variables.

Sugarcane is an annual crop engaging around 50 million farmers of which approximately half are women. Even though, women form the backbone of sugarcane cultivation, they still tend to exist as “the hidden farmers” with almost negligible access on land, resources, technologies, financial services, markets and even education. Despite their exclusive inputs in sugarcane farming operations like farmyard manure application, sett planting and treatments, hand weeding and detrashing, sugarcane bundling, disposal of trash and plant protection measures, the output of the land controlled by women is drastically lesser than the male counterparts. Against this backdrop the present paper is an attempt to examine the role of women in sugarcane farming in terms of their participation level, their decision making pattern in various activities, time utilization pattern, drudgeries involved and thereby implications. Hence, this study was conducted in Nehtaur Block of Bijnor District of Western Uttar Pradesh. Six villages from Nehtaur Block were selected for the purpose of the study. From these villages, 120 women who were engaged in sugarcane farming selected randomly and each was interviewed personally for the collection of data.

The paper examines the nature and extent of crop diversification, crop specialization and inter-district diversity in cropping pattern in the most advanced agricultural state Punjab during the period of 2000-01 to 2014-15. The study has used the index of crop diversification, location quotient, crop versatility and district versatility index for analysis. The study has revealed that both wheat and rice crop is grown by all the districts, so none of the district was found to be very highly specialised or very less specialised than state. However, for cotton and maize, four districts acquired specialization. The district versatility results shows that Hoshiarpur is the more versatile district and Patiala is less versatile district in 2014-15. The insights from the paper suggests that the government should enhance region-specific diversification on the basis of district specialization along with infrastructure and assured marketing of new crops through contract farming and supermarkets procurement.

The online retail market in India is relatively new and still adapting to the global business environment. Also, conventional tax regime was neither able to cover all e-commerce transactions nor give it a proper space to flourish. The launch of Goods and Services Tax (GST) changed the taxation scenario in India from a very complex tax structure comprising of around 500 different kinds of taxes to a simpler tax regime with just 3 broad tax categories while having both positive and negative impacts on industries operating in organized and unorganized manner. The objective of this exploratory, qualitative, and non-empirical paper is to explore and present the consequences of the introduction of GST on the Indian Economy with special reference to the online retail industry in India. Researchers reviewed the reports of various departments of Government of India (such as the Central Board of Excise and Customs); the GST Council reports up to 30th meeting held on September 28th 2018; Honorable Finance Minister’s speech on GST; and interviews of government officials. This paper may provide useful insights to the online retailers, suppliers and most importantly, the common buyers in understanding the changes brought by GST and help the GST Council in making further amendments in the Act.

The present investigation was undertaken with a view to study the problems faced by the contract farmers and the contracting firm under contract farming of bottle gourd in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan. The contracting firm Rajasthan olive cultivation limited was selected, as it was only contracting firm in the Bassi tehsil which was engaged in the contract farming related to cucurbits and other vegetables. A list of 26 villages having contract farming in bottle gourd was obtained from the tehsil headquarter. From that list three villages were selected randomly. From these villages, 30 contract farmers were selected randomly and 20 non-contract farmers resembling to the contract farmers except contract component were also selected to make a comparative study of the contract farming vis-à-vis non-contract farming. Primary data were collected for the agricultural year 2015-16. The conventional budgeting technique and multiple regression functions were used to analyze the data. In the production of bottle gourd, contract farmers and contracting firms face many problems like transfer of technology, supply of quality seed, arrangements of institutional credit, fertilizers and other inputs, market arrangements, timely payments, violation of terms and conditions, lack of proper management by the company, frequent price fluctuations in markets, lack of transport facilities during peak periods, etc. For solving such problems it is necessary to first identify the problems and reasons thereof so that corrective measures may be resorted to tackle them. However this study was conducted on simulation conditions that involves the construction of the artificial environment (under control conditions) within which relevant information and data can be generated like in green house, poly house and shade net house for the future scholars.

In the present study an attempt has been made to study the economic analysis of tomato cultivation in Kandi block, Murshidabad district, West Bengal. For this 60 tomato growers selected from the study area. The primary data for the agriculture year 2016-17 were collected by personal interviews of the selected farmer, using a multistage sampling method with the help of pre-tested survey schedule. The main objectives were to analyze the cost and return structure of tomato cultivation and to identify the major constraints faced by the farmers in tomato cultivation. The total sample size was 60. Simple statistical tools like Averages, percentages, cost concepts and garrett ranking were used to interpret the results properly. The overall findings of the study reveal that the cost of cultivation of tomato was ` 50879.94 out of which total variable cost was ` 40456.52. The net income of the farmers per acre.was ` 83385.80. Output in the study area found to be 8853 kg per acre and cost of production was estimated ` 5.74 per kg. The major constraints identified in tomato cultivation were Non availability of institutional support, disease and pest attack, high cost of seeds, high cost of pesticides and high cost of labours during peak season etc.

Jute is an eco-friendly, cheap and excellent fibre, traditionally used for sacking and hessian. India produces 80% of jute of total global demand. Owing to environment friendly properties, this ‘golden fiber’ has been used as a safe material for packing and transport. However, dilution of JPM act coupled with competition from synthetic/ man-made fibres, demand of jute for traditional usages i.e. sacking and hessian has decreased over past five years. Under such circumstances, application of jute for diversified product has become necessary for survival of around 44 lakhs direct and indirectly related workers (covering farmers and mill workers) associated with the jute industry. Jute diversified products like shopping bags, wall hangings, floor covering, non-ovens, geo-textiles, composites etc has opened up a new realm beyond traditional application of jute. Export of jute diversified products has increased from INR 363.593 to 590.215 corers during 2012-13 to 2016-17. Present status paper reports various type of jute diversified products along with their market scope, performance and opportunity across the world.

The present study was conducted in Punjab to examine the financial viability of poplar based agro-forestry system. The data were collected for the year 2015-16. The total sample of 70 farmers was selected which grew poplar as block plantation. BC ratio, NPV and annuity value were estimated. Two types of agro-forestry systems AFS-1 (wheat + khariff fodder during first four years) and AFS-2 (sugarcane for first two years and wheat during 3-4 years) were identified. AFS-2 (NPV ` 164998/acre) gave marginally higher returns than AFS-1 (` 155489/acre) at 12% discount rate at fourth year of harvesting. The study revealed that net returns from poplar cultivation were at par with pure cropping system as the returns from paddy-wheat rotation were ` 46833/acre in 2015-16.

The present investigation was carried out to determine the factors affecting fertilizer consumption in Rajasthan from 1967-68 to 2014-15. The study period had been divided into following three phases; Post-green revolution- Phase I (1967-68 to 1980-81), Post-green revolution- Phase II (1981-82 to 1990-91) and Post-reform period (1991-92 to 2014-15).The regression analysis was done for the three temporal phases as well as for the overall period. High coefficient of multiple determination (R2) indicated that 90 per cent of total variation in fertilizer consumption was explained by the variables included in the linear regression model. Gross irrigated area was found to be the most important variable influencing the fertilizer consumption during the three phases as well as for overall period of study. Its coefficient was found positive and statistically significant (P<0.05). Area under high yielding varieties appeared to be the second most important variable significantly influencing the fertilizer consumption. Its coefficient was found positive and statistically significant (P<0.05) during the overall study period. The regression coefficient of rainfall was found to be statistically non-significant in all the three temporal phases of study period. Although it was positive in phase I and negative in phase II and III.

Farm level capital formation by farmers is largely for the creation of productive assets. An understanding of pattern of investment on capital assets and the source of funds for investment at farm level has greater significance in the present context from the point of view of agricultural development. With this background, the study aims at analysing the farm level agricultural investment in Southern Karnataka specifically focusing on progressive (Tumakuru) and less progressive (Ramanagara) agriculture districts with an objective understanding the pattern of investment and source of funds at farm level. The study revealed that, a lion share was accounted by investment on irrigation structures, livestock and farm machinery and implements, across all type of farms in both progressive and less progressive regions. However, magnitude of investment was different across the region. On an average, in both progressive area and less progressive area, large farmers invested greater amount on farm assets per farm followed by irrigated farmers, small farmers and rainfed farmers. In the progressive area, the irrigation development was the preferred area of investment, where as in less progressive area, it was the livestock. The small and rainfed farmers depended on borrowed funds for investing in assets. In progressive area, institution source of funds played a major role than the non- institutional source of funds and vice versa in less progressive area. On the other hand, the large and irrigated farmers, because of their resource base, made investment from their own sources.

A neoteric phenomena which has put the Indian economy under unbearable pressure is ballooning borrowings because of unceasing expenditure by the governments. In India, rising debt to GDP ratio has accentuated the problem of outpacing revenue expenditure which led to the implementation of FRBM Act, 2003 and after that indebtedness among states has declined. So, this paper focuses on the analysis of public indebtedness of non special category states of India and to access the level of indebtedness, debt to GDP ratio is taken. The state that has emerged as one of the weakest in tackling with the situation of growing indebtedness is Punjab over the period of 2000-2017 along with West Bengal because of rise in revenue expenditure especially the non-development component, stagnant growth in state’s own tax revenue and sliding non-tax revenues. States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have low Debt to GSDP ratio and are spending more on developmental activities whereas the Punjab state is spending very less amount on developmental activities and more interest payments which can lead to the further deteriorate the financial health of the state.

The present study was conducted to analyze the production and marketing system of Khasi Mandarin in Eastern Himalayas of India. The data was collected through pre-tested schedule by personally interviewing the farmers selected through multistage sampling technique. The objectives were studied using analytical tools like semi log exponential function, marketing cost, marketing margin, price spread and marketing efficiency analysis using Acharya’s and Shepherd’s approach The results of the study revealed that the compound growth rate of area (-1.42%) and production (-0.36%) of Khasi mandarin was negative and had badly affected the Khasi mandarin cultivation in the study area. However, the positive growth rate of productivity (1.08%) was responsible for maintenance of production at a decent level. The marketing efficiency estimated by using both Acharya’s approach and Shepherd’s approach was found highest in Channel- I (Producer - Retailer – Consumer) followed by channel-II (Producer – Merchant wholesalers– Retailers – Consumers) and channel –III (Producer – Pre-harvest contractors – Wholesalers – Retailers – Consumers), respectively. The producer’s share in consumer’s rupee was also maximum in channel-I (50.43%) followed by channel-II (36.55%) and channel-III (20.38%). It was found that price spread was maximum in channel III (` 5080.00) followed by channel II (` 3820.00) and channel I (` 2537.50).

The present study was conducted to analyze the rice cultivation scenario in Punjab from 1994-95 to 2015-16. The study was based on secondary data collected from various sources. Study showed that growth rate of area, production, yield, area under HYV and irrigation was much higher in period I (1994-04) than in period II (2004-16). Among the districts Sangrur had the highest growth rate in yield and in terms of area and production Muktsar had highest growth rate in overall studied period i.e. period III (1994-16). Sangrur and Amritsar was among the top three districts in terms of both area under rice cultivation and production. The coefficient of variable GCA had positive and significant effect on growth of area, production and yield. Rainfall (R) and literacy rate (LR) had positive and significant effect in growth of area. Fertilizer consumption (FC) had negative and significant effect in terms of growth of area and positive and significant effect in terms of growth of yield.

The study is formulated to assess the extent of yield gap at different adoption levels and identify the constraints responsible for the existing yield gap in chickpea production technology of Madhya Pradesh. The study was carried out in the Khargone district with 60 sample farmers form 5 villages in the state. The study reveals that adoption of improved production technology has lagged far behind. The chickpea productivity could be increased in the area through the judicious use of improved inputs and practices for that purpose. On the other hand, the proper use of improved technology and improved practices of chickpea production need to be demonstrated. Hence, farmers should given priority to use their resources on the basis of economic viability with proper management of their farm so that emphasis should be given on resources availability and their economic use. Economic study to be conducted suggests optimal cropping pattern and practices including recommendations for varying quantities of fertilizer applications under varying price and output situations.

The primary restraint in crop production and food security worldwide is exposure of crop to stress conditions viz., abiotic and biotic which has driven the attention of scientists. Stress conditions induce changes in plant internal functions leads to reduction in plant growth and yield. The adverse economic losses due to abiotic stresses can be mitigated by application of chemicals such as anti-transpirants, nutrients and plant growth regulators, while the biotic stresses by application of pesticides and fungicides. Another way to resist stress conditions is adoption of modern breeding technologies and biotechnological strategies to produce climate resilient crops. Promotion of chemicals and biotechnology tools negatively impacts soil health, environment as well as socio-economic status of the farmer. Though the use of agro-chemicals is unavoidable in modern agriculture, indiscriminate use of chemicals would cause imbalance in environment and reduction in benefit to cost ratio (B: C) of farmer. In this context to make the crop production profitable, the review has outlined different economic considerations associated with biopriming mediation for stress moderation in different crop plants.

The present research paper has examined the process of agricultural infrastructure, climate change and agricultural efficiency in Uttar Pradesh at district as well as regional level from 2004-05 to 2015-16. Agricultural Infrastructure Indices (AII) have been estimated through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) by taking eight variables related to agricultural infrastructure to identify the disparities within the district as well as regional level. Agricultural Efficiency Index (AEI) has also been estimated to identify the trends of agricultural efficiency and panel data regression analysis was employed to analyze the determinants of agricultural efficiency index at disaggregate level of Uttar Pradesh. The values of agricultural infrastructure index (AII) confirmed that rural infrastructure has been enhanced in all the districts and regions from 2004-05 to 2015-16 with some fluctuations. Moreover, the results of agricultural efficiency revealed that the pattern of efficiency at district and regional level has undergone a significant shift towards a higher level during the study period. However, this shift was not uniformly distributed across the districts/regions. The regional level result of UP indicated that WUP recorded highest AEI and AII followed by CUP, EUP and Bundelkhand respectively. The results of Random Effect Model confirmed that agriculture infrastructure index (AII); gross sown area per tractor, percentage of loan for agriculture and rainfall variability have been found the significant determinants of agriculture efficiency, while per hectare fertilizer, maximum temperature and minimum temperature have established insignificant relationship with agricultural efficiency. This paper suggests policy support in terms of enhanced agriculture infrastructure, mitigation of vulnerable climatic factors, appropriate use of agriculture inputs and suitable technology to achieve higher degree of agricultural efficiency and also generate higher income for farmers. Furthermore, the use of technological inventions by public--private participation in the cultivation methods of various crops needs to be encouraged for achieving agriculture efficiency at disaggregate level.

Friedman’s hypothesis regarding the relationship between inflation, inflation uncertainty and output growth states that full employment policy objective of the government tends to increase the rate of inflation which increases the uncertainty about the future course of inflation. Increase in inflation uncertainty lowers economic efficiency and reduces output growth. There are very few studies for underdeveloped countries particularly for India regarding the relationship between inflation, inflation uncertainty and output growth. Thornton’s (2006) study regarding the relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty in India is univariate in nature and it cannot establish the relationship between inflation uncertainty and output growth. This study intends use the bivariate GARCH model to find out the relation between inflation, inflation uncertainty and output growth simultaneously. In this study we use monthly data of wholesale price index (WPI) and index of industrial production (IIP) of India as the proxies of price and output respectively from 1950:1 to 2011:12. Following Fountas, Karanasos and Kim (2002) we have used the following bivariate GARCH model to estimate simultaneously the means, variances and covariances of inflation and output growth. We use Granger- causality test to know the statistical relationship between average inflation, output growth, inflation uncertainty and output growth uncertainty. We find strong evidence that increase in average inflation raises inflation uncertainty and increase in growth rate increases the growth rate uncertainty. But we do not find any statistically significant relationship between inflation uncertainty and output growth rate.

The purpose of the study is to examine why Farmers suicide is a burning issue in India. Farmers are life savers then why they are killing themselves. Is there any nexus between farmers’ suicide and government actions. Agriculture sector data like GDP for 1960-2016, Share of agriculture sector to GDP and disparities in Agriculture and Non agriculture income also agriculture census data from 1951 to 2011 were obtained. Study depicts about what NSSO and NCRB data says about farmers’ distress in India. Doubling farmers’ income by 2022-23 could become the only panacea for thwarting farmers’ suicide in India comparison of agricultural income with non agricultural income also another area of study. In this way farmers suicide issues challenges and remedies has been discussed.

To estimate the technical efficiency of maize production among fluoride affected and non affected locales of Tamil Nadu. A multi-stage sampling method involving a combination of purposive and random sampling procedures was employed in drawing up the samples for collecting primary data. The sample size is about 120. Stochastic frontier production function is used to estimate technical efficiency of maize. The result of stochastic frontier production function indicated that FYM, Potassium, machine power, irrigation and management index have significant influence on yield of maize in less fluoride affected locale, while, seed rate, nitrogen, phosphorous, machine power and irrigation are significantly influence the yield of maize in moderately fluoride affected locale, in case of highly fluoride affected locale, seed rate, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and irrigation are significantly influencing the yield of maize, while, nitrogen, potassium, irrigation and management index are significantly influences the yield of maize in non affected locale. The study suggests that awareness of fluoride contamination and averting measures must be disseminated to the farmers.

The financial systems of the day demand greater speed and accuracy which has been provided by digitalization delivered though computers. However, iterative programmes are no better than generalized formulae in saving time and money. This necessitates efforts in finding generalized mathematical formulae. This paper attempts to derive mathematical expression for various repayment plans in general. The generalized expressions derived have been further made use in comparing the cost effectiveness of repayment plans in long run. The straight end repayment plan remains the costliest plan with partial repayment plan being less costly regardless of interest rate and repayment term involved. The cost effectiveness of other plans depends on rate of interest and term of repayment.

The study was conceptualized across the emerging small scale industry clusters and locations in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. As evident, the SSI (small scale industry) plays a crucial role in macro and micro economic development in context of developing economy like India, yet the sector is not aloof from problems, challenges and threats evident as industrial sickness. The research posits across the socially constructed origins of the phenomenon and calls for the identification and classification of the factors that contribute towards industrial sickness in Andhra Pradesh SSI sector. The current research identifies the factors that contribute (directly and indirectly) towards the small scale industrial health(survival or decay) in Andhra Pradesh. At the same time, research seeks to quantify the cross factorial impact on organizational survival or sickness in small scale enterprises and analyze the relationships amongst the factors that shape survival or sickness as well as revival. A sample of 300 ownerscum entrepreneurs or promoters was assumed for the current research from across the three districts of Andhra Pradesh; which was subjected to likert based measurement instrument. The data hence collected was analyzed with aid of SPSS based explorative factor analysis and reliability was established with cronbach alpha estimation. The empirical and statistical analysis across AMOS lead to confirmatory factor analysis and enabled the identification of factors as “internal” and “external” contributions to the “market orientation” development, leading to changes and influences on the “ability to pay” and “threat from sickness”. The sickness was hence attributed to internal, external as well as market orientation based factors that collectively shape the revival or the sickness across the incumbent units.

Agricultural Labourers from the poorest section of the rural population in India as well as in West Bengal. In numerical terms, they constitute about one-fourth of the total work force. Their number has been rising faster than the rate of growth of rural population. By the term agricultural labourers we mean a person who sells his/her labour power to work to another person’s land for wages in money, kind or a share of the crop. According to the 1991 Census definition, “a person who works on another person’s land for wages – in money, kind or share of crop is regarded as an agricultural labourer. He or she has no risk in cultivation, but merely works on another person’s land for wages. An agricultural labourer has no right of lease or contract on the land on which he or she works”. (Census of India, 1991, paper – III of 1991, p. 6). Thus the Census definition clearly excludes tenants as well as marginal farmers and includes only landless labourers. The definition adopted by us would be broader in the sense that it would include all those for whom sale of labour power in the agricultural sector is a source of livelihood. At the dawn of independence, the economy of West Bengal was characterized not only by a high percentage of landless agricultural labourers in its rural work force but also by a sizeable class of marginal holding peasants. This paper tries to inquire in some detail the causes of the high rate of growth of agricultural labourers in West Bengal as well in the district of Uttar Dinajpur.

Bundelkhand region of central India, a major drought affected area of the country is associated to high level of rural to urban migration. The present study was conducted to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of the migrants and to examine the key factors triggering migration decision of agriculture practicing households. The region was facing drought for the fourth consecutive period which had left the population, mainly dependent on agricultural income, out of option than migration. The analysis of socio-economic profile of migrants showed that majority of the migrants were between the age group of 20-39 (70.1%) and the education level was secondary (54.8%). The population of female migrants was comparatively low, as many of them followed their family to the migrating place after marriage. Majority of the migrants (81.73%) were engaged in unskilled manual labour activities like construction works in destination cities. The various factors identified triggering migration decision were associated to livelihood security, climatic, agricultural, institutional and socio-cultural factors.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is not exclusively intended to provide employment in rural areas. Its objective of employment guarantee is linked with the creation of durable and sustainable assets. With this, MGNREGA has long run objective to enhance livelihood security of rural households. To achieve this, list of permissible works are clearly stipulated in the Act itself. So far, MGNREGA has successfully completed over a decade of journey in the countryside. In this long voyage, it is quite important to understand how far MGNREGA has become successful in creating sustainable assets through employment generation. The unevenness of economic development across the regions, MGNREGA implementation may not be same. So demand for employment varies across the regions. As result, employment generation and assets creation obviously differ from region to region. In addition, its performance depends upon financial resources, administrative mechanism, planning, monitoring and supervision, etc. In general, need for MGNREGA arises mostly in drought-prone, unirrigated and rain-fed rural areas. The present study attempts to explain the relation between employment generation and assets creation in drought-affected regions. For this study, Kalaburagi region of Karnataka is chosen where droughts occur frequently. Under MGNREGA, employment generation is relatively high in Kalaburagi when compared with state and national level. Work completion rate was increased from 44 percent to 79 percent for first three years and declined drastically thereafter. This work completion is relatively better in the works like rural connectivity, water conservation and rural sanitation. During 2006-17, just 13 percent of works were completed out of total undertaken works. The correlation between employment generation and work completion rate is too weak. From a decade of MGNREGA implementation, assets creation remained to be unsatisfactory.

Apple is the main fruit crop of Himachal Pradesh and is grown in nine out of the twelve districts. It contributes to 40 per cent of the fruit growing areas in Himachal Pradesh. A sample of 60 farmers cultivating apple was selected using multistage simple random sampling. Out of 60 farmers 30 farmers are with drip irrigation and 30 farmers are without drip irrigation. Literacy situation revealed that 93.37 per cent family members were literates with a literacy index of 3.37 in case of with drip irrigation farms. In case of without drip irrigation farms, 91.61 per cent family members were found literates with a literacy index of 3.05. Average size of land holding was 1.34 and 1.38 ha on with drip and without drip irrigation farms, respectively which is low due to more area under apple. Area under apple has been found to be 64.35 per cent out of total cultivated land on with drip irrigation farms and in case of without drip irrigation farms it was 67.09 per cent out of total cultivated land. The main problems of farmers with drip irrigation were clogging of emitters (83.33%), difficulty in inter cropping and high cost of spare parts (66.67%) each and irregular electric supply and spare parts not available at village (63.33%) each. The main problems of farmers without drip irrigation were high cost of establishment (86.67%), lack of knowledge on subsidy (73.33%) and lack of technical knowledge (70.00%).

The emergence of innovative electronic payment modes in the financial sector has changed the payment dynamics of transactions across countries. The two important modes of card payments offered by the commercial banks are the debit and credit cards in India. This study is an attempt to examine at the micro level the Baumol Tobin model of demand for money in light of the adoption of electronic payment instruments via debit and credit cards among the select households of Coimbatore City for 2017. The estimated results revealed that from across the range of transactions, more than 50 per cent of the respondents chose the mode of cash payment for values lesser than ` 10,000. This indicated that cash was preferred more in the case of low-value transactions. Garrett’s Ranking technique was used to find the impact of usage of debit and credit cards on the financial parameters of the respondents. The results showed that among the respondents usage of debit and credit cards had the highest impact on the “level of indebtedness”, which indicated that the usage of cards for retail purchases substituted cash significantly.

India accounts for only about 2.4 % of the world’s geographical area and 4 % of its water resources, but has to support about 17 % of the world’s human population and 15 % of the livestock. Agriculture is an important sector of the Indian economy, accounting for 17% of the nation’s GDP, about 11% of its exports, about half of the population still relies on agriculture as its principal source of income and it is a source of raw material for a large number of industries. Accelerating the growth of agriculture production is therefore necessary to meet the rising demand for food, but also to increase incomes of those dependent on agriculture to ensure inclusiveness. The productivity of farms depends greatly on the availability and judicious use of farm power by the farmers. Agricultural implements and machines enable the farmers to employ the power judiciously for production purposes. Agricultural machines increase productivity of land and labour by meeting timeliness of farm operations and increase work out-put per unit time. Besides its paramount contribution to the multiple cropping and diversification of agriculture, mechanization also enables efficient utilization of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation water. Mechanization in agriculture enhances production and productivity of crops through timeliness, better management of inputs, improved quality of work and reduction of post-harvest losses. The study revealed that the domestic sale of tractor is the highest (45.41%) for the 41-50 hp range followed by 36 % for the 31-40 hp range during 2015-16. The demand of high power category tractors in India increased for using high capacity farm machines on custom hiring basis. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra together account for about 45.21% of the total tractors sale in India during 2015-16. The net area sown by a tractor was 487 ha during 1975-76 and reduced to 24 ha by 2015-16 that still lags behind the developed countries and even some of the developing countries of the world (e.g. China) in terms of the net area sown by a tractor. Farm power availability of India was 0.48 kW/ha in 1975-76 reached to 2.13 kW/ha in 2015-16, which is 4.44 times higher over a period of forty years. A positive direct correlation was found between available farm power, food grain productivity and cropping intensity for the country. With the increase in intensity of cropping, the turnaround time is drastically reduced and it is not possible to harvest and thresh the standing crop, on one hand, and prepare seed bed and do timely sowing operations of subsequent crop, on the other hand, in the limited time available, unless adequate farm power and matching implement is available.

The study was conducted for Indian tea based on secondary data pertaining from 1971 to 2016 with the objective to examine the production of bulk tea and value added tea, trends and growth of value added tea and its competitiveness in the world tea market. The data were analysed through tabular as well as quantitative analyses like CAGR, Balassa’s Revealed Comparative Advantage and Nominal Protection Coefficient. It was observed that production, export and growth of graded tea increased during the last two decades. Among the value added tea, the export of tea bags was found to increase and the growth of values was higher in the country. Production of tea in Kenya was more advantageous than India and Sri Lanka. South Indian tea had labour and cost advantages while tea produced in North India and Assam gained profit advantages for selling quality tea. Revealed Comparative Advantage indicated that India is still competent in the global tea market and tea is not an efficient export crop as the domestic prices were higher than the world prices. The study concludes that India should go more for graded and value added tea by reducing the costs of production to gain the competitive advantages.

Changes in food consumption and expenditures of households in developing country have been a topic for research throughout the twentieth century. Consumption expenditure patterns and estimates of expenditure elasticities can give an indication of the potential for demand-led growth in a particular economy and also helps in assessing the food security-related policy issues. This study uses the recent household survey data of NSSO (round 68) to estimate a complete demand system for Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) of Tamil Nadu State, with special emphasis on the food commodity group. A Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) specification was employed for this study. The QUAIDS model is an example of the empirical demand systems that have been developed to allow expenditure nonlinearity. Price and expenditure elasticities were computed for seven food aggregates which includes cereals, pulses, milk, edible oil, meat, fruits and vegetables and other foods. The results revealed that the most of food groups considered for this study were demand inelastic implies that they are staple foods and the magnitude of the cross-price elasticities suggesting the limited possibilities of substitution among food groups. The estimated expenditure elasticities suggested that the expenditure share on these food groups would increase with an increase in real income, prices held constant. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the QUAIDS model which allows for more flexibility is superior to the traditional AIDS model.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was enacted in India in 2005.It guarantees 100 days of work and ensures at least 33 per cent of the women participation. Even though MGNREGA has played a substantial role in economically empowering women, it faces major challenges that restrict their participation. This essay dwells into the complexities faced by women in India and exposes various factors that limit the success of MGNREGA. The study finds that tenacious social norms, continued illegal presence of contractors, lack of proper childcare facilities and delayed payments are the crucial factors that restrict women participation. Policy implications for Indian Government are also put forward.

Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) – the age-long rural institutions were set up mainly focussing credit aspects of farming community. However, with the passage of time PACS have undergone many changes in terms of their modus operandi as well as objectives. Of late they have been mobilizing financial resources from rural households in the form of savings etc. Additionally, they are now promoting Self-Help-Groups (SHGs), particularly women-groups who were untouched earlier. In this paper, attempt is being made to examine performance of PACS in terms of its coverage, inclusion, economic efficiency, social responsibility and prudence in financial management. The study is based on secondary data relating to the period 2007-08 to 2016-17 referring to randomly selected seven PACS of Nadia district, West Bengal. Finally the authors point out to the weaknesses and pitfalls of societies and conclude with some suggestions for strengthening PACS. It has been observed that PACS have broadened their base in terms membership growth and quantum of loan-disbursement. However, they have showed poor performance in recovery and decelerating NPA growth. The reasons for growths in Overdue and NPA need critical observations at ground level. An exhaustive evaluation is needed whether overdue or NPA are owing to growth of wilful or non-wilful defaulters.

North hill region is the major rice producing belt of Chhattisgarh. Northern hill region contributes about twelve per cent of total production of rice in the state. Adoption of hybrid rice constitutes a major component in the rise in productivity of rice in the state. Farmers found it more profitable than other crops due to high yield. Keeping the importance and potential of hybrid rice in the state, the presented study was undertaken. In the presented study, investigator tried to understand the socio-economic profile of the rice cultivators, costs and returns from hybrid rice cultivation and disposal pattern of rice in the study area. A sample of fifty farmers from study area was selected using simple random sampling technique. The size of family was found large (six family member) and majority of farmers are either literate or had attained higher education. The agriculture was found to be the main source of income of farmers in the study area. The cost of cultivation of hybrid rice was highest for large farmers and lowest for small farmers while return from rice cultivation was highest for marginal farmers and found lowest for small farmers despite the lowest cost of cultivation. The input-output ratio was found highest for medium farmers followed by marginal farmers. Majority of farmers sell their rice to government agencies followed by consumers and private agencies.

Micro and Small manufacturing enterprises not only plays a critical role in providing employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital cost than large enterprises but also helps in rural industralisation and reduce regional disparities. This paper attempts to bring out an economic analysis of the manufacturing enterprises by studying the relationship between operating costs and the gross monthly income (GMI) and the mode of production. All the items of costs show a positive effect on GMI. The coefficient of determination or R2 is 0.87 and that an increase by one unit will have a positive impact on GMI by 304649 times. Using the Cobb-Douglas production function the study also finds that manufacturing units are operating under decreasing returns to scale, labour (ß1) and capital (ß2 ) equals to 0.93 and that given the two inputs, the additional capital input will be preferred to labour input because output elasticity of capital is higher than the output elasticity of labour.

The study was conducted on primary data, collected from a sample of 60 banana growers, consisted of 26 (43%), 25 (42%) and 9 (15%) marginal & small, semi-medium and medium & large category. The data were collected from the sample growers with the help of specifically prepared pre-tested schedules through Survey Method by interviewing them, selected through Multi-Stage Sampling Technique from a cluster of 3 villages of Nawgachhia block of Bhagalpur district. The growers in general (76.67%) were found selling banana in ‘local market’. The semi-medium and medium & large category (36.0 and 56.0 per cent) growers were also found selling it to ‘distant markets’. The ‘contract sale’ was pre-dominantly prevailed as ‘mode of sale’ in the area. The ‘cash sale’ as-well-as ‘credit sale’ was prevailing in the area. The marginal & small category growers sold banana to the pre-harvest contractors.

This paper examines the market linkage and volatility estimation of Indian stock market with selected stock markets in the world by using various econometric models from the period of 1st April 2000 to 31st March 2018. The result suggests that Indian market positively correlated with the other selected stock markets. Indian stock market has significant influence with two out of five markets in the short run. In the long run relationship, there is no linkage between markets. However, there exists bidirectional causality in the markets. Also, there is market price volatility, and the clustering effect was found in all the major markets. From the study, it is apparent that the Indian stock market has an impact on the other stock market, in the short run. Hence, investors have the opportunity to reap the benefits of the portfolio diversification by gaining knowledge from market integration.

The study comprises 50 households related to victims’ family of Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh as numbers of victims were found to be maximum in this particular district in the year 2014-15 and intensive survey of these respondents was carried out in the year 2015-16. It is observed from the data that the prominent causes of farmer suicides in Madhya Pradesh as recognised by the majority of the respondents were found to be family problems i.e. illness (46%), drug abuse/alcoholic addiction (32%), fall in social reputation (22%), extra martial affairs (36%) and frequent quarrel between victims and family member (20%). None of farmers was found to commit suicides due to poverty and property disputes. The main problems of suicides were found to be lack of access to mental health services in rural areas and shame attached to treatment (82%), lack of rehabilitation centres for drug and alcoholic addition (78%) and lack of avenues for off/non farm income (52%). Therefore, it is suggested that the government should remove the bottlenecks and increase access in remote areas. In addition to these a psychologist must be appointed in Govt. Hospitals and Rehabilitation Centre for drug abuse and alcoholic addiction should be established at least at block level particularly in identified hot spots of farmer suicides districts of the state. Efforts should also be made so that crop insurance scheme should reach at individual level and health insurance should be made mandatory with Govt. support for the farming community. A campaign should also be launched for crop/varietal diversification in various agro climatic regions of Madhya Pradesh. The role of various social institutions must be increased for this in future for increasing awareness of different development programmes of state and central govt. amongst the farmer community.

Haryana has the most severe shortage of girls compared to boys and stand bottom among all states of India. The discrimination against girl’s child and strong son preference over daughters is well known in Indian society which is largely responsible for resulting decisive sex ratio. The issue of gender unfairness with the girl from womb to real-world compel to think that despite the mounting modernization and societal development why this significant segment of society is treated with double standards. The present study is coupled with the state Haryana which is recognized not only for its economic development but also far behind in sexual characteristics. The main motive of the work is to analyse the regional variations in sex ratio in Haryana during different time periods. There is no doubt that the state has questioning distinction of having the worst male-female ratio which is really an unprofessed adversity having its cavernous and horrifying impacts upon society in future. Several reasons are ascribed to the deteriorating numeral of females in proportion to males. It is very surprising that slaughter of girl child both before and after birth is still experienced in the state in spite of legal prevention and many policies and programmes that support girls like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padao’, ‘Haryana Kanya Kosh’, ‘Apki Beti Hamari Beti’ etc. It has been found that male-female ratio in the state is imbalanced and continuously going to decline from 1981 to 2011 except a little improvement and both urban and rural areas are facing severe scarceness of females over males.

Financial and real sector linkages have been the subject of interest among economists since the global financial crisis. This paper investigates the cointegrating relationship and the causality between the financial and real sector in India for the period 1982 to 2015 using time series annual data. The financial sector is proxied by liquid liabilities, domestic credit given by financial sector and market capitalisation as percentages of GDP. The real sector is proxied by real GDP with net capital formation and real interest rate used as control variables. The Augmented Dickey Fuller and Phillips Perron tests show that all variables are stationary at first differences. The Johansen cointegration test reports cointegrating relations between financial and real sector when domestic credit given by financial sector and liquid liabilities as percentages of GDP represent the financial sector. However, the error correction model gives the speed of adjustment between the financial and real sector only when domestic credit as a percentage of GDP is used as an indicator of financial sector. The Granger test reveals that there is a unidirectional causality from real to financial sector when domestic credit and liquid liabilities as percentages of GDP represent the financial sector. We find evidence of a demand following hypothesis or growth driven finance hypothesis. These results have significant inferences for economists and policy makers.

Food security is recognized as a basic human right and in the ‘Sustainable Development Summit’ of 2015, achieving ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030 has been set as one of the 17 sustainable development goals. The incidence of hunger is very much region or context-specific. India remains at ‘serious’ category in Global Hunger Index Severity Scale, 2017. Food accessibility being the most important pillar of food security, in this paper we attempt to assess the incidence, depth and severity of food inaccessibility at the household level in three villages of the district of Birbhum, West Bengal. The study, based on primary data covering 257 households, also intends to examine food accessibility of the households classified by their primary source of income. We have taken monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) on food as the indicator of food accessibility. The MPCE on food as per the minimum food basket set by the Planning Commission in 2014 and the mean MPCE on food for rural West Bengal as determined by the NSSO in 2011 are considered as two threshold levels. The study reveals the alarming reality that a significant percentage of households with zero operational land and marginal farmers do not have food accessibility. An inquiry into the sources of income of the households reveals that there exists (i) a negative relation between wage income and food accessibility, (ii) an inverse relation between income generated from farm activity and food accessibility and (iii) a positive relation between income from regular service, trade, business and food accessibility.

The study was conducted in Karnal and Kaithal districts of Haryana during the year 2017-18. The results of the revealed that the share of variable cost as well as fixed cost in total cost of conventional technique of wheat were estimated to be was higher than the conservation techniques (ZTT and THST). The highest cost was incurred on fertilizer investment in variable cost. On the other side in case of fixed cost, highest share were incurred on rental value of land in conventional as well as conservation techniques of wheat in both the districts. The highest gross as well as net returns were found to be higher in turbo happy seeder technique (THST) over zero tillage technique and conventional technique in Karnal and Kaithal district of Haryana. As far as benefit cost analysis, turbo happy seeder technique was recorded profitable over zero tillage technique and conventional technique in the study area.

Statistical tools for forecasting purpose started using smooth exponential methods in 1950s. These methods were modified depending upon the trend followed in the data sets, based upon the evaluation purpose. From simple additive to multiplicative effects and then automated functions were used to evaluate the complexity in data for forecasting purpose. In this review we summarized the various statistical methods used for forecasting purposes starting from the basic function to complex function in order to evaluate various data sets viz-a-viz time series data of different components, like agricultural products, business outcomes, and stock market exchange rates. In order to evaluate the data sets for forecasting purpose to accuracy or near accuracy, various statistical methods will give different predictions depending up on the range of data sets whether daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, number of observations in the data set, seasonality in data sets, number of missing observation in data sets, and more importantly the variation in data sets to interpret the results.

Childhood immunization programs have been suggested as an infrastructure to deliver vitamin, a supplement to children in developing countries. Health education and vaccinations prevent the spread of infectious disease. In long term, they can even lead to the end of those diseases in a given country. Thus, in this paper we have considered those vaccinations which are must for children against different types of serious disease suffered by them during their childhood days and have analyzed its coverage across states in India. The conclusion which we are able to draw is that the considered indicators have shown an improvement over the considered period i.e. from 2005-06 to 2015-16. Moreover, increment in the percentage of children who received most of the vaccinations by the public health facility over the decade has also increased in case of all the considered states.

The present study was conducted to show the statistical investigation of growth and instability in area, production and productivity of cauliflower in Punjab. The study was based on the data collected from the secondary sources like www.indiastat.com. The results revealed that area as well as production of cauliflower in Punjab and India had increased over the last 27 years but the yield of the crop was found to be decreased over the year in Punjab while in India it had increased over the year. The instability index of productivity was very low and stable in Punjab as compared to the whole over India. This was happening due to higher amount of assured irrigation facilities available in Punjab. Proper concentration should be paid on the improvement on production as well as marketing also.

There is no doubt that Punjab farming is capital intensive and agricultural production increased with the use of machinery, high yielding varieties of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. But the use of technology made agriculture more capital intensive. Punjab farmers are suffering from stagnated agricultural production and their expenditure on agricultural inputs are increasing over the time. This situation creates financial problems for the farming class. The present paper tried to shows the current situation of Punjab’s agriculture in terms of operational land holding, productivity, irrigational sources, marketing of agricultural produced, and transformation from labour intensive to capital intensive farming etc.

Fruit and vegetable processing sector is one of the core segments under food processing in 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. Bengal has huge potentials for the growth of this sector in the state. But such growth potentials are constrained by several factors. The processing of fruit and vegetable is still at a very low level in Bengal (2.8 per cent) as well as in India (2.2 per cent) against the highest post harvest losses (27 per cent). The main constraint lies behind this with infrastructure, technology, quality measurement and lack of farm-firm linkages. In view of the above facts this paper tries to examine the streangths of this particular sector in the state and highlighting on its existing constraints. The paper also made suggestions to achieve the future progress of this sector in Bengal.

Ageing is a natural fact in a life where social, cultural, economic and health issues attached to study of aging. The oldest old or Super Senior Citizen subpopulation in India is growing much faster than any other age group and due to their physical incapability they fall in peril situation which make them more dependent on others for their needs of financial support, medical assistance and social services etc. However, anthropological perspective on aging study is based on evolution of human aging as well as working incapability, economic dependency, sources of income and others. Therefore, authors of the present paper aim to highlight economic resources of the oldest-old female residing in different wards under Midnapore Municipal town of Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. The areas, which were explored, include some basic economic features such as different sources of financial support, sources of pension and amount of pension which deals with the economic resources of the Oldest Old. For the present paper data has been collected from about 500 oldest old female populations (using systematic random sampling table) living in urban areas of Medinipur Municipal Town. Therefore, the finding presented in this paper is that, the oldest old female under study area are seriously in economic disadvantageous position in many respects, which may be illustrated with the following facts: economically more dependent; most of them are non-worker; a very good number of them do not get/receive any pension from any sources.

The present paper studied the economics of large cardamom cultivation using primary data collected from a sample of 80 large cardamom growers of Zunheboto district. It has been found that investment in large cardamom is a profitable business. Total cost of cultivation for large cardamom was ` 83188.29/ha and net farm income was ` 251559.65/ha. The values of economic parameters, viz, NPV, BCR, IRR and PBP was worked out to be ` 98129.31/ha, 1.66(over total cost), 35 per cent and 4.3 years respectively, thus, confirmed the economic viability and certainty of investment in large cardamom plantation. Non availability of planting materials on time was the major constraint reported in the study area. The study has emphasized on the need of participatory quality planting material production at village level which will facilitate in effective supply of seedlings at proper time.

The study focused on determinants of capital formation in agriculture in the Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka. The results revealed that multiple linear regression model was significant as indicated by F ratios and R2 value. The coefficient of multiple determinations (R2) revealed that the model was a good fit as indicated by a value of 0.92. The Higher levels of these factors, higher the capital formation and vice versa. In the case of less progressive area, variables like annual income, area irrigated, area under commercial crops, distance from town and borrowed amount are positive and significantly influenced capital formation for the pooled group of farms. As annual income of the farm increases by one rupee, capital formation would go up by ` 0.43. In the same way for one ha rise in irrigated area, capital formation would increase by ` 1,07,016. As area under commercial crops increase by one ha, capital formation would rise by ` 1701. In the same way a rise in borrowed amount by one rupee would result capital formation by ` 1.21. Interestingly as distance of the farm is longer from the town, capital formation tends to be more.

Agriculture as an economic activity is subjected to serious risk of natural conditions and price risk. Some of the important constraints of agricultural marketing system in the country are lack of infrastructure like storage, transportation, quality control, packaging, price risk management, cool chains, market led extension, and condusive framework for promotion of contract farming. The present study was undertaken in the state of Punjab to study the problems of farmers in the marketing of paddy, wheat, maize and cotton. A total sample of 180 farmers from 12 villages of six districts was selected for the study. The sample farmers were further categorized, based on their operational holding, as marginal, small, semi-medium, medium and large farmers. The results from the study indicated that the most important problem identified by the farmers in the marketing of paddy and wheat was the delay in procurement of paddy in the markets followed by the deduction of payments by commission agents due to higher moisture content in the grains. However, the major problem during marketing of basmati was the exploitative practices by the intermediaries followed by lack of public procurement. The problem faced by majority of farmers in the marketing of maize and cotton was the lack of public procurement of the produce and lack of remunerative price of the crop respectively

In the aftermath of introduction of major agricultural marketing reforms such as amendment of APMC Act, e-NAM in the state of Odisha, there was hardly any study assessing the performance of regulated markets in Odisha. Therefore present study was undertaken to study the performance of existing regulated markets, scope of e-NAM and various constraints faced by the farmers to market their produce in the state. Both primary as well as secondary data was collected from respective APMCs and AGMARK net portal. Trend analysis was employed to study the pattern of arrival and prices of major commodities. Garret ranking was done to study the constraints faced by farmers. Findings show that state is gearing up to establish the required infrastructure for implementation of e-NAM, arrivals showed mixed trend and lack of remunerative prices and lack of market information emerged as major constraints faced by farmers in the state.

Cotton accounts for the maximum share of pesticide consumption. Over the past decade, the perplexities in pest management intensified more insect species developing resistance to insecticides which was a consequence of excessive use of insecticides on the crop. For the study, multistage sampling procedure was adopted to select the respondents. Twenty cotton farmers from each village were post-stratified into small, medium and large farmers proportionately making a total sample of 120. The total costs as well as returns incurred were highest for large farmers as compared to medium and small farmers, but pesticides cost was more in case of small farmers. Around 54 farmers (45%) had spent ` 4500 to ` 5500 per ha for pesticide application. Most of the farmers do not know how to read literature on pesticide containers. It was astonishing to notice that 73.33 per cent of the farmers were exposed to or not using protective masks/coverings during pesticide application and farmers were found careless in handling pesticides.

The present study analyzes the spatial integration through cointegration analysis on the wholesale monthly prices of potato in five selected markets of Assam for the period January 2013 to December 2018. The results of the analysis revealed that markets under study are integrated. The Granger Causality Test reveals 1bi-directional and 8 uni-directional causations under different market situations. However, the study finds no cointegration between Sonitpur (Dhekiajuli) and Nagaon (Dhing) market. Kamrup Rural (Upharhali) market was identified as the leader market. The study suggests the need to focus on building an improved market information system, one that is able to disseminate timely market information about price, demand and supply of products as well as strengthen market infrastructure facilities inorder to increase the efficiency of potato markets in Assam.

Variability in climatic factors is one of the main determinants of agriculture production. Past agrarian studies have shown that variability in rainfall and temperature has decline agriculture production in entire North Indian States. Farmers, especially small and marginal are adversely affected from climate variability. They have less resources and coping strategies against the climatic variability. Rice is the one of important crop for all North Indian State’s people. Level of temperature already reaches to tolerance level of crops and it is increasing day by day. Also variability in rainfall during Kharif cropping season has been reported in all North Indian states. Incidence of extreme climatic events such as drought and flood is also repeated in these areas. Level of carbon dioxide is also increased due to over exploitation of natural resources and industrial activities in these states. Growth in population is much higher in last three decades. So burden on natural resources such as on agriculture is becoming very high. Agriculture sector needs immediate action against climate variability. Mitigation strategies are time taking process. However, an adaptation method is best technique to mitigate consequences of climate variability. Sowing date and use of technological tools are the best adaptive method to minimize the impact of climate variability.

Groundnut is grown throughout the tropics and extended to the subtropical countries. India is the second largest producer of groundnut in the world after China. The fact is that groundnut crops in India, particularly in Karnataka are mainly covered under rain fed situation, which in turn has to depend on the arrival of monsoon, climatic changes and drought. Hence, the productivity level of groundnut crop was erratic. It was in this backdrop, an attempt was made through the present study to examine the growth and instability of groundnut in India and Karnataka by way of analyzing the time series data of 48 years. The results revealed that the level of instability was marginally higher in groundnut area (8.7 %) during period II compared to period I (2.9%) and period III (7.3%). The variation in production and yield of groundnut was higher during the period III compared to period I and II. Change in the mean area is contributing more to change in average production of groundnut in India and in Karnataka followed by interaction between changes in mean area and mean yield. Change in area variance is the predominant component contributing to the change in variance of production of groundnut in India as well as in Karnataka. From the outcome of the result, it is concluded that the researchers and policy makers have to pay more attention to develop location specific cultural practice to increase and sustain groundnut production and yield in the nation.

Small scale industries has been considered as device of economic growth and development in many developing countries and this constitute the backbone of an economy in maintaining a significant growth and in generating employment opportunities. The Government of India declared that ` 500 and ` 1000 notes will be no longer legal tender from midnight, 8th November 2016. This move is expected to cleanse the formal economic system, discard black money and counterfeit notes. The small business units who largely depend on Cash related transaction on daily basis witnessed more disturbances. Therefore an attempt has been made to identify the problems faced by the small business units and give suggestions to improve the working of small business units which were affected by demonetization in Coimbatore city. The study revealed that most of the respondents were unhappy about the implementation of demonetization because they faced loss due to cash crunch and had a great impact on their small business activities and their standard of living.

The present study examines the factors influencing the production of organic vegetable farming in the north region of Kerala. The study is based on primary data collected by using a structured questionnaire. The samples of 300 organic Vegetable farmers randomly selected from five districts of north Kerala. A logistic regression method has been used in this study to determine the factors influencing the productivity of organic vegetable farming. The results from the estimated model shows that gender, irrigation potential, sources of water, ownership of the land, experience in both farming and organic farming, land maintenance, price of organic vegetables, price volatility, farmer occupation and income source, number of household member engaged in farmingare influencing the production of organic vegetables.

An effort has been made in this study to measure the impact of public policies on women health in Indian. This Paper has been divided into three parts: first part of the study shows the trend and pattern of the public policies on women health from 2004 to 2015. Secondly, this paper explored the effectiveness of the health policies and in order to find out the effectiveness, we have used Anova with post hoc test. Lastly, we have used regression analysis to find out the impact of public policies on women health in India.

This study was conducted in 2020 to determine the profitability and productivity of organic turmeric production in the Surkhet district of Mid-western Nepal. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 60 farmers and two focus group discussions were held in four different communities. Turmeric is commonly utilized among Nepalese households in the preparation of curries and is considered one of Nepal’s top five major spice crops. Despite being one of the top five-spice crops, Nepal’s dependency on imported turmeric has been growing every year to meet domestic demand due to the gradual decline in domestic production. The simple descriptive and statistical tools including the Cobb-Douglas production function and benefit-cost analysis were used to analyze the result. The benefit-cost ratio was found to be 1.20, indicating that organic turmeric production was a low profitability sub-sector with a productivity of only 9.06 metric tons per hectare. The Cobb- Douglas production function showed that the cost on seed had a non-significant effect on gross returns and other costs like human labour cost, organic manure cost, ploughing cost, and other costs (agriculture equipment, thread, sack/doko, and rhizome treatment) were found statistically significant. Return to scale was calculated using the Cobb- Douglas production function and it was found to be 0.363, indicating that a 10% increase in the cost of production increases the rate of return by 3.63%, which is a diminishing rate of return. As a result, replacing human labour with agricultural machinery, lowering seed costs, and ensuring appropriate market prices are required to boost the productivity and profitability of organic turmeric production in the research area.

Uttarakhand state has 26 principal market yards, 31 sub-market yards and 27 weekly markets for marketing of agricultural produce which are regulated effectively in 11 districts of the state. However, majority of the districts of this state is located in hilly region, but the principal markets are largely located in the plain regions. Although, the entire hill region is covered under the provision of Agricultural Produce Market Act, 1964; despite this, the major hill markets are still non-functioning. However, Haldwani market which is the best market in terms of marketing welfare has the highest number of functionaries and covers about 20% of total functionaries, As far as the farmer’s perception about the prevailing marketing system and practices is concerned, majority of the farmers from Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Almora district were satisfied with the boarding/lodging, weighment, grading, cleanliness and, information sharing, who largely sell their produce to Haldwani market or the grain Mandies in Rudrapur, Jaspur, Sitarganj etc. But these farmers have also expressed their dissatisfaction on the account of cold storage facilities and the exploitative practices of traders and management of the markets especially during the rainy season in the agricultural markets of Uttarakhand. It may be inferred that the hilly regions of the state require special attention on the marketing interventions and infrastructure due to difficult terrains and limited bargaining and handling capacity of the growers resulting from lower size of holding and lack of resources.

The paper attempts to consider the valuation of forest resources using contingent valuation method in the dryland areas of West Bengal. The issue is important as forestry plays a pivotal role so far as dependency on natural resources by the forest-fringe dwellers (the major stakeholders) in the dryland regions of the state is concerned. Both ‘dichotomous-choice type’ closed ended and open ended cases are considered to examine the willingness to pay by the forest-fringe dwellers to conserve forests in the dryland areas. It has been estimated that the average willingness to pay by the poverty-stricken forest dwellers for the above-mentioned purpose is ` 9.62 per month. Given that the stakeholders are poor, the amount of willingness to pay (though low) shows the willingness of the stakeholders to conserve forests as they cannot survive without it.

Finger millet was the most consumed among the urban consumers with 3.00 kg per month while other millets equally being consumed by the urban consumers, while foxtail millet, finger millet and little millet were consumed by rural consumers with higher consumption of foxtail millet. The monthly household food expenditure among the urban consumers, expenses made on groceries (40.21 percentage), expenditure on millet (15.33 percentage), purchasing minor millets were as nutritional and health benefits (96.67 percentage) followed by doctor’s advice (53.33 percentage) similarly, traditional staple food (93.33 percentage) followed by own production (80.00 percentage) for rural households. For each respondent, the part-worth’s were estimated using OLS regression analysis, rural consumers also found price to be the most important attribute accounting 26.11 per cent of relative importance, gaining awareness among consumers in consumption of millets for nutritional value and health benefits is improving gradually.

MGNREGS is a much discussed rural development scheme currently operational in all rural districts of India. It’s vast extension and decentralized nature of planning has made it special to Indian economy. Employment related aspects of this scheme has always remain the focus of discussion since its inception. However, little attempts have been made to relate MGNREGS created CPRs and gender. This paper provides an empirical research on the impact of MGNREGS generated CPRs on gender. The impact is assessed through a structured questionnaire and the identification of mostly used CPRs across gender. The degree of ease of livelihood and the utilization pattern of these CPRs are different across gender in study area. In the last section, this paper provides suggestions regarding the improvement of the gendered access of CPRs and its sustainable use.

There is a debate about the role of Foreign Direct Investment (specially from Developed nations to developing nations) for raising economic growth of the host nation. Some researchers’ support that FDI raises the economic growth of the host country since it brings sophisticated technology, efficient management, raises employment opportunities and fills the gap between domestic savings and investment. Other researchers think that no entrepreneur wants to sacrifice their self interest for interest of a foreign nation. Hence, whatever the positive outcome for FDI inflow put forwarded by MNCs or developed nations ultimately these FDI sucks the main juice of a less developed nations and try to keep a control on the central government of that poor nations. Empirical finding also shows the impacts of FDI on economic growth is not unique. The outcome depends on many factors of the receiving nations. Under these circumstances this paper tries to investigate this FDI inflow, Export and economic growth nexus in the economy of India by applying a newly developed econometric tools ARDL Bound Cointegration Approach.