Economic Affairs - Official Publication of AESRA
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Sustainable Agroforestry Systems for Livelihood Security and their Economic Appraisal in Indian Himalayas
Get PDFSustainable 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
Fruit and Vegetable Processing Sector in Bengal: Opportunities, Status and Challenges
Get PDFFruit 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
Demonitizaton and its Effects on Digital Payments
Get PDFDemonetization refers to an economic policy where certain currency units cease to be recognized as a form of legal tender. The Indian government had demonetized bank notes on three times 1946, 1978 and October-2016. In order to evaluate the impact of demonetization on digital payments, data was collected from May-2016 to October-2017 from NPCI web portal. Exploratory data analysis indicated debit card users increased by 414 percent followed by NEFT by 155 and RTGS by 122 percent. The mobile transaction was seen to have highest CAGR of 3.40 percent. A similar trend followed in case of the value of transactions i.e., the highest growth was in a debit card with 205 percent followed by mobile and NEFT by 193 and 178 percent respectively. Overall, the study concluded that there was a significant effect of demonetization on digital payments
Cost of Cultivation and Economic Returns Analysis of Cashewnut in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya
Get PDFAdoption of new technology and sustainable utilization of resources can help cashewnut growers in minimizing the cost of production. New paradigm and challenges are needed for cashewnut growers of Meghalaya in solving the problem like recurrent price fluctuation, high inputs costs, marketing, storage and transportation cost, non-availability of adequate storage facilities, post harvest losses and lack of competitive marketing system. Cashewnut production plays a pivot role in fostering and sustaining the tempo of rural development in the study area. Meghalaya has become very popular in organic farming which gives very good returns from the Garo Hills region as well as export market. As the low input intensity of agriculture in Meghalaya and makes cashewnut ideally suited for organic produce is expected to boost up in near future due to the steps initiated under National Horticulture Mission for doubling the farm incomes. The study signifies and confirms the economics of cashewnut production for sustainable resource management, enhanced income generations and enlarged employment opportunities on a long term prospective
An Economic Analysis of Marketing of Potato from Shimla Hills of Himachal Pradesh
Get PDFPotato is an important cash crop of Himachal Pradesh. Although, potato production in the state is very less, it fetches higher price than potato from plain areas due to its off seasonality. The study of potato marketing in hilly region is necessary to find out the share of profit made by farmers and other intermediaries in the marketing channel. Therefore, current study was attempted to find out marketing cost, margins, price spread and marketing efficiency of potato produced in Shimla hills. The interview schedule was used to collect primary data from 40 potato growers from Shimla and wholesalers as well as retailers from Chandigarh market. The collected data were analyzed by using suitable tools of statistics and economic measures. The findings indicated that majority of potato was sold to wholesalers at Chandigarh market through commission agent. The marketed surplus of potato was nearly 80 per cent of total produce and 15 per cent was retained by farmers for seed purpose. The average cost of marketing of 1 quintal of potato was found to be one fourth of consumer price. More than half of total marketing cost was borne by the farmer. The producers share in consumer rupees was found to be 66 per cent. The marketing efficiency was estimated to be 1.95 by Acharya and Agrawal method. Higher transportation cost and shortage of labour for post-harvest operation were major constraints. In order to reduce marketing cost borne by farmers, cooperative marketing should be initiated in Shimla hills. Farmers need to be grouped as Farmer Producer Society (FPOs) to increase their share in consumer rupees
A Study on Irrigation and Agricultural Productivity in Odisha
Get PDFIrrigation is a critical component in the agricultural production as rainfall is inadequate, uncertain and uneven in an agrarian state like Odisha. The intensity of irrigation is an important determinant of the cropping pattern and agricultural productivity. The present paper studies the impact of irrigation on agricultural productivity in Odisha. The 30 districts of the state are grouped on the basis of their irrigation intensity and agricultural productivity. For the purpose Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient method and Skewed distribution are used. It is found that the district of Puri tops the list with an irrigation intensity of 80.79 followed by Bhadrak district with 71.91. The Balasore district is at the third position (66.85) while the district of Bolangir has lowest intensity value i.e 20.64. Similarly, considering the agricultural productivity, it is observed that Kendrapada district is at the top with coefficient value of 25.14 followed by Boudh and Sambalpur with coefficient of (19.42) each. The relationship between irrigation intensity and agricultural productivity establishes that irrigation plays a vital role in enhancing the productivity. Sincere involvement of government, policy makers, planners, farmers and NGOs can achieve the goal of self sufficiency in agricultural production through promotion of irrigation
Economic and Environmental Impact of Pesticide Use in Conventional Cotton and Bt Cotton
Get PDFThe present study studies the environmental and health effects of chemical pesticide use and quantified by using the Environmental impact quotient method (Kovach 1992). In order to compare the Environmental impact quotient (EIQ) a study was made on Bt and conventional cotton farmers in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. The study revealed that bollworm incidence was highly reduced in Bt cotton cultivation especially in fruiting stage of American bollworm and Pink bollworm. The quantity and frequency of pesticide application was also reduced in Bt cotton cultivation especially the quantity with a proportion of 93.61 per cent. The expenditure for the pesticides was high in conventional cotton as compared to Bt cotton by 77.19 per cent. The perception of farmers towards economic, environmental and social aspects favoured Bt cotton. The total environmental impact for conventional cotton with EIQ field rating was 157.76. The total environmental impact for Bt cotton with EIQ field rating was 16.23. Total environmental impact for pesticides in Bt cotton was low by 89.52 per cent as compared to conventional cotton due to the reduction of pesticides used for controlling Bollworm in Bt cotton. Hence farmers have to be educated about the ill effects of over use of plant protection chemicals in conventional cotton and to adopt the Bt farming technology to reduce the effect of pesticides on environment and ecosystem by conducting awareness programmes and crop seminars by the Agriculture Department
Study on Marketing Cost and Margins of Cluster bean in Bikaner District of Rajasthan
Get PDFThe present study was conducted to analyze the marketing cost and margins of cluster bean. The study was conducted in Bikaner district, Rajasthan. It has been observed from the study that the marketing cost incurred by the producer, wholesaler, miller and retailer is varied extensively over the channels. It is also evident that channel-II comprising of Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer- Consumer is more efficient than the other two channels. The study concluded that subsidized transportation facilities during harvesting along with establishment of sound market intelligence system may be helpful for the cluster bean farmers to fetch remunerative prices for their crop
Transaction Cost in Irrigation Tank Management: An Institutional Economic Analysis
Get PDFIrrigation 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
Vulnerability to Climate Change: Review of Conceptual Framework
Get PDFThe paper presents a conceptual framework on vulnerability to climate change. Vulnerability is a multi-dimensional process and is calculated by identifying the indicators of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Among the components of vulnerability, exposure followed by sensitivity has the highest contribution but they cannot be controlled directly as the climatic factors that influence vulnerability like temperature, rainfall and natural disasters were beyond the immediate control of policy makers. The only option to reduce vulnerability is to increase adaptive capacity. Hence, policy makers should make arrangement for increasing adaptive capacity so as to reduce vulnerability