Small Farm Goat Production in Semi-Arid Region of Uttar Pradesh

Majority of selected goat farmers were landless and marginal (69%) with an annual average income of Rs.I9200.00. However, average income of small and medium goat farmers were about Rs.25500.00.Ownership pattern of goats revealed that about 78% goats were owned by the landless and marginal farmers. Majority of the farmers had Barbari/Barbari type goats (54%) followed by non-descript (43%) and Sirohi type goats (3%). Furthermore, 69 per cent goat houses were of Kaccha type and 49 per cent of selected respondent availed private veterinary services for their goats however, 40 percent of the goat farmers used home remedies. Merely, 11 per cent of the respondents visited government veterinary hospitals Though, poor socio-economic status cannot be ignore for the goat improvement in study village, some policy support is imperative to encourage goat farmers for their overall development

Equity in distribution of benefits from water harvesting and groundwater recharge: an economic study in Sujala Watershed Project in Karnataka

The paper looks at the impact of water harvesting programs in ground water recharge through the case of the Sujala watershed in Karnataka. On comparison with areas of non sujala watershed and non watershed cases in one normal rainfall and one drought year, it was revealed that Sujala has been successful in recharging groundwater, improving farmers’ incomes and increasing crop production. Further the program is inclusive and the benefits were accrued even to the small and marginal farmers. In fact the net return for small and marginal farmers was higher that that for large and medium farmers. The study concluded that there is potential for expansion of Sujala pattern of watershed development program in other parts of Karnataka and India.Length: pp.720-746Water harvestingGroundwater rechargeWatershedsDevelopment projectsGroundwater irrigationWellsEconomic impact

Factors Influencing Economic Viability of Marginal and Small Farmers in Punjab

It has been noticed in Punjab that living in nearly the same socio-economic environment, some of the marginal and small farmers are financially viable, which means that they are able to earn enough income to meet their farm as well as household expenditure, while others fail to do so. There are multiple factors responsible for this viability. Broadly these factors are: farm size, off-farm income, income from dairy, rational domestic expenditure, and productivity of crops. This paper has examined the contribution of these factors towards the viability of marginal and small farmers by collecting data from three districts (Ropar, Ludhiana and Bathinda) of the state. The rationalizations of household expenditure and farm investment are also a source of enhancing the possibilities of financial viability of both the categories of farming families. Therefore, on the policy front, all efforts should be made to create off-farm employment opportunities for these farmers. The public investments should be made to remove the regional productivity gaps, as it will enhance income of these farmers. Assuring remunerative prices and up-scaling of the marketing and input supply facilities are the need of the hour to promote dairying and other allied activities among these farmers. All these measures will go a long way in easing the financial stress on marginal and small farmers of the area. In the prevailing economic scenario, it is difficult to pull out or push out these farmers out of agriculture in a short-run and hence the solution lies in making them part-time farmers having access to diversified sources of income as has happened in some of the South-East Asian countries.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Impacts of Institutional Arrangements on the Profitability and Profit Efficiency of Organic Rice in Thailand

This study assesses the performance of organic small farmers in Thailand under different institutional arrangements and over time. It was found that while organic farmers were significantly more profitable and profit efficient than conventional farmers, the level of profitability varies under different intermediaries. Farmers organized by NGOs on degraded marginal land showed a pattern of increasing profit and profit efficiency over time, after the transition period. On the other hand, farmers organized by a private sector firm on newly opened forest land exhibited a pattern of stable profit and increasing yields over time. The results showed that farmers under non-profit NGOs received the highest level of profit, followed by farmers under the private firm and finally the for-profit NGO. These findings suggest that while organic agriculture can increase the economic performance of small farmers, institutional arrangement is an important factor in realizing the broader benefits of organic agriculture for poverty reduction

Input-Output Structure of Marginal and Small Farmers - An Analysis

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Indian economy. Agriculture and allied sectors, contribute nearly 22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP of India). About 65-70 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. An attempt had been made to study the characteristics of sample agricultural farmers, labour utilisation and input and output structure for marginal and small farmers cultivating cereals and pulses in Tuticorin District of Tamilnadu. Multistage stratified random sampling technique has been adopted for the study. Out of 300 sample farmer's cultivations cereals and pulses, 150 sample farms are under the category of cereals and remaining 150 sample farms come under pulses. The data relates to the month of November 2011. It may be concluded from the analysis that as in the case of cereals, the marginal farmers were efficient in the use of inputs like fertilizers and pesticides and marginal farmers have produced more yields per acre than small farmers and farmer groups of pulses. Key words: agriculture, cereals and pulses, small and marginal farmers, labour utilisation, Z-test

Combining extension services with agricultural credit

India has nearly 90 million farm households. More than 80 percent of these farmers operate on a small or marginal scale, farming less than two hectares of land. They also usually have one or two buffaloes or cows, reared for milk and dung. Most of these small and marginal farmers fall below the poverty line. To reduce overall poverty in India, it is important to enhance the incomes of small and marginal farmers. One way to do that is to provide credit so they can get access to yield-enhancing inputs like seed, fertilizer, and cattle feed, as well as acquire irrigation pumps and crossbred cattle. But these kinds of investments alone will not raise farmers’ incomes. Agricultural and livestock development services are also crucial to give farmers knowledge of improved practices and strengthen their links to markets. BASIX is an Indian livelihood promotion institution working with more than a million poor households. Its mission is to promote sustainable livelihoods for a large number of rural poor people and women. When it started in 1996, BASIX’s primary focus was delivering microcredit to its customers. In 2001, however, BASIX asked the Indian Market Research Bureau to carry out an impact assessment, and the results were rather disappointing. Only 52 percent of the customers, who had received at least three rounds of microcredit from BASIX, showed a significant increase in their income (compared with a control group); 25 percent reported no change in income level; and 23 percent reported a decline in their income level. BASIX then carried out a detailed study of those who had experienced no increase or a decline in income and found that the reasons for these results could be grouped into three factors: 1. unmanaged risk; 2. low productivity; and 3. unfavorable terms in input and output market transactions.agricultural extension, BASIX, Rural poverty, Sustainable livelihoods,

Agrarian scenario in post-reform India: A Story of distress, despair and death

Indian agriculture today is under a large crisis. An average farmer household's returns from cultivation would be around one thousand rupees per month. The incomes are inadequate and the farmer is not in a position to address the multitude of risks: weather, credit, market and technology among others. Social responsibility of education, healthcare and marriage instead of being normal activities add to the burden. All these would even put the semi-medium farmer under a state of transient poverty. The state of the vast majority of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers is worse off. An extreme form of response to this crisis is the increasing incidence of farmers' suicides. In such situations, employment programmes can provide some succour to the agricultural labourers and also perhaps to the marginal and small farmers. The least that one can expect from such programmes is rent-seeking. Some recent evidences indicate that one can develop institutions to address this. It is this that gives a glimmer of hope in the larger story of distress, despair and death. Incidentally, this paper provides some estimates from National Sample Survey (NSS) region wise information on returns to cultivation and on some aspects of farmers' indebtedness based on the 33rd schedule 59th round survey of 2003. It provides suicide mortality rate for farmers, non-farmers and age-adjusted population across states of India from 1995-2004.Agrarian crisis, agricultural indebtedness, farmers' suicides, employment programmes, value of output in agriculture

Agrarian Scenario in Post-reform India - A Story of Distress, Despair and Death

Indian agriculture today is under a large crisis. An average farmer households returns from cultivation would be around one thousand rupees per month. The incomes are inadequate and the farmer is not in a position to address the multitude of risks : weather, credit, market and technology among others. Social responsibility of education, healthcare and marriage instead of being normal activities add to the burden. All these would even put the semi-medium farmer under a state of transient poverty. The state of the vast majority of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers is worse off. An extreme form of response to this crisis is the increasing incidence of farmers suicides. In such situations, employment programmes can provide some succour to the agricultural labourers and also perhaps to the marginal and small farmers. The least that one can expect from such programmes is rent-seeking. Some recent evidences indicate that one can develop institutions to address this. It is this that gives a glimmer of hope in the larger story of distress, despair and death. Incidentally, this paper provides some estimates from National Sample Survey (NSS) region wise information on returns to cultivation and on some aspects of farmers indebtedness based on the 33rd schedule 59th round survey of 2003. It provides suicide mortality rate for farmers, non-farmers and age-adjusted population across states of India from 1995-2004.Agrarian crisis, agricultural indebtedness, employment programmes, value of output in agriculture

Linking Socio-Economic and Policy Variables to Technical Efficiency of Traditional Agricultural Production: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

The major objective of this study was to analyze and link the level of technical efficiency of Nigerian small-scale farmers to specific farmers' socio-economic and policy variables. Data were collected on 461 food crop farmers selected from five states of Southwestern Nigeria. The selection of respondent farmers was multi-stage and involved random sampling method, stratification as well as purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed with the use of stochastic frontier production modeling technique. The results show that while farmers socio-economic and policy variables significantly influenced the level of technical efficiency, education has the highest marginal effect on technical efficiency while gender has the least marginal effect. The highest mean technical efficiency of 0.77 occurs among group of farmers within 7-12 years of schooling (secondary school education group) while the least mean technical efficiency (0.54) occurs within the category of farmers with years of schooling within 1-6 years. The findings of the study has a number of policy implications, including the need to formulate and implement agricultural policies that will enable farmers acquire basic education necessary to read, write and understand instructions on application and adoption of new farming innovations.Traditional agriculture, socio-economic variables, policy variables, Technical efficiency, Nigeria, Productivity Analysis,