Role of Agricultural R&D Policy in Managing Agrarian Crisis in India

The study has revealed that agricultural research and development (R&D) has potential to offer long-term solutions to the problems of Indian agriculture. With the changing environment and supply-side constraints, the role of R&D has become more important. This realization alongwith past performance of agricultural R&D has convinced the government to commit a significant proportion of its resources for developing appropriate technologies. The ICAR-SAUs system has come out with a number of improved agricultural technologies for major agro-climatic conditions. The paper has provided a list of some of these technologies, which are capable of making farm operations easy, provide savings in resources, reduce production losses, improve product quality and increase shelf-life of products, etc. These technologies eventually provide higher availability of quality foods and higher farm income, including maintaining productive capacity of agro-ecosystems. Since some of the new technologies are information-intensive, the role of ICT has become more important alongwith empowerment of farmers with scientific know-how.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Rural Employment Diversification in India: Trends, Determinants and Implications on Poverty

This paper has studied rural employment diversification in India and across major states using NSSO data at household level for the period 1983 and 2009-10. Factors affecting rural employment diversification towards non-farm sector have also been studied. Analysis has shown that the non-farm sector has consistently grown over time and employed nearly one-third of the rural workforce in 2009-10, as compared to merely one-fifth in 1983 at all-India level. The similar trend is seen across major states as well, though the pace and pattern varied widely. In providing employment to rural workforce, increasing dominance of crop production, followed by animal husbandry was observed across major states during 2009-10. The share of fishery and forestry was negligible in providing employment to the rural workforce. The study has revealed that the increasing rural non-farm employment has positive and significant effect on reducing rural poverty at all-India level. A positive link between income and employment has also been observed in diversifying towards horticultural activities. A well designed area-specific programme should be evolved to help improve skill of rural workforce, which in turn would benefit in getting employment in the non-farm sector.Rural employment, Employment diversification, Crop sector, Agricultural and Food Policy, J21, J23, O15, O18,

Instability, Supply Response and Insurance in Oilseeds Production in India

Yield and price instability and covariate risks have been examined for major oilseeds, viz. groundnut, rapeseed/mustard, sunflower and soybean, in selected states of India using time series data. Risk behaviour and effects of price and price risk on production have been analyzed in a rational expectations framework. The study has also estimated social gains from yield and revenue insurance in oilseeds. While instabilities in yield, prices and gross return have shown mixed responses, covariate risks have increased. The results of econometric analysis have indicated that the expected prices and price risk are important determinants of oilseeds production. Price elasticities of oilseed production have been found to vary between 0.26 and 0.88 and price risk elasticities of production between –0.006 and –0.07 in different Indian states. The potential efficiency gains from insurance schemes based on rainfall and other meteorological variables have been estimated to be 17.5 to 43 per cent over self-insurance in oilseeds production.Oilseeds, Instability, Covariate risks, Rational expectation, Production response, Risk effect, Insurance market, Social benefits, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Rice Production in India — Implications of Land Inequity and Market Imperfections

The relationship between farm productivity and farm structure has been analyzed focusing mainly on one channel of transmission of this relationship, viz. input-use pattern in rice production. The hypothesized relationship tested in this study is that land inequality influences access to/ use of resources in rice production and in-turn influences productivity. Market imperfections aggravate the negative effect of land inequity on productivity. Results have shown that smallholders’ share in inputs like fertilizers, and irrigation has increased over time, but a large number of smallholders still do not have access to these resources. Study has demonstrated that policies like fertilizer subsidy, agricultural credit, and minimum support prices are able to address market imperfections only partially. Hence, for improving productivity and profitability of rice production of smallholders in particular and other farmers in general, addressing of structural inequity needs attention besides a focus on technology development.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Potential Benefits of Bt Brinjal in India — An Economic Assessment

The potential economic benefits of Bt brinjal hybrids in terms of yield gain, reduction in insecticide-use, and increase in net returns per hectare have been reported in this study. Results have shown that adoption of Bt brinjal hybrids would provide yield gain of 37 per cent and reduction in total insecticide-use of about 42 per cent over non-Bt hybrids. Other benefits like increase in additional brinjal production (30 thousand tonnes), savings from insecticides (` 47 crore) against Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB), increase in net returns (` 11029/ha), and reduction in price of brinjal output (3%), etc. would be at 15 per cent adoption level. With increased adoption level of 60 per cent of Bt brinjal hybrids would provide, additional production of 119 thousand tonnes, savings from insecticides against FSB Rs 187 crore, increase in net returns ` 44117/ha and likely reduction in brinjal price by 15 per cent. Simulation of gains adopting Bt brinjal hybrids has shown that country may gain aggregate direct economic benefits between ` 577 crore and ` 2387 crore annually at 15 per cent and 60 per cent adoption levels of bt brinjal hybrids, respectively. The major gains will accrue to consumers (66% of total) and rest would go to the farmers. In brief, Bt brinjal offers a large scope to increase income of farmers, reduce its cost to consumers, improve food safety and reduce health hazards and environmental pollution. The results of study may be helpful in policy decision on Bt brinjal adoption in the context of smallholders agriculture.GM food crop, Bt brinjal hybrid, Fruit and shoot borer, Economic benefits, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q11, Q16, Q15,

Study of ground state phases for spin-1/2 Falicov-Kimball model on a triangular lattice

The spin-dependent Falicov-Kimball model (FKM) is studied on a triangular lattice using numerical diagonalization technique and Monte-Carlo simulation algorithm. Magnetic properties have been explored for different values of parameters: on-site Coulomb correlation $U$, exchange interaction $J$ and filling of electrons. We have found that the ground state configurations exhibit long range Ne\`el order, ferromagnetism or a mixture of both as $J$ is varied. The magnetic moments of itinerant ($d$) and localized ($f$) electrons are also studied. For the one-fourth filling case we found no magnetic moment from $d$- and $f$-electrons for $U$ less than a critical value.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Efficiency in Indian Edible Oilseed Sector: Analysis and Implications

Reversing the declining trend in productivity of oilseeds and improving the efficiency of oilseed processing is a major challenge to the policymakers and researchers. The present study has analyzed technical inefficiencies and factors responsible for inefficiencies in production and processing of four major edible oilseeds, viz. groundnut, rapeseed and mustard, soybean and sunflower. Both primary and secondary data have been used to estimate the inefficiencies. Analysis has revealed the presence of 1/4 to 1/3 technical inefficiencies in oilseed production at the average level and even more at the farm/ processing unit level along with allocative and scale inefficiencies. The combined technical inefficiencies in the oilseed sector have been found to be 1/2 to 2/3, which are enormous. If prevented/ minimized, the oil production in the country could nearly be doubled. Soil quality, seed replacement and education have been found as determinants of technical efficiency in oilseed production, whereas availability of adequate raw material and higher oil recovery determine the technical efficiency in oil production. Lack of assured market for oilseeds and lack of timely and assured supply of quality seeds and raw materials for processing are some of the important factors for the poor performance of the oilseeds industry. Study has reported that the marginal return to water is one of the highest in oilseeds. Therefore, cultivation of oilseeds in irrigated land if they really compete with other crops for profitability, needs to be given due consideration.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Interface induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Co/CoO/Co thin film structure: An in-situ MOKE investigation

Co /CoO/Co polycrystalline film was grown on Si (001) substrate and magnetic properties have been investigated using in-situ magneto-optic Kerr effect during growth of the sample. Magnetic anisotropy with easy axis perpendicular to the film surface has been observed in top Co layer, whereas bottom layer was found to be soft with in-plane magnetization without any influence of top layer. Ex-situ in-plane and out-of-plane diffraction measurements revealed that the growth of Co on oxidized interface takes place with preferential orientation of c-axis perpendicular to the film plane, which results in the observed perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Texturing of the c-axis is expected to be a result of minimization of the interface energy due to hybridization between Co and oxygen at the interface.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, under review in IOP journa

Direct Experimental Evidence for Differing Reactivity Alterations of Minerals following Irradiation: The Case of Calcite and Quartz

Concrete, a mixture formed by mixing cement, water, and fine and coarse mineral aggregates is used in the construction of nuclear power plants (NPPs), e.g., to construct the reactor cavity concrete that encases the reactor pressure vessel, etc. In such environments, concrete may be exposed to radiation (e.g., neutrons) emanating from the reactor core. Until recently, concrete has been assumed relatively immune to radiation exposure. Direct evidence acquired on Ar$^+$-ion irradiated calcite and quartz indicates, on the contrary, that, such minerals, which constitute aggregates in concrete, may be significantly altered by irradiation. Specifically, while quartz undergoes disordering of its atomic structure resulting in a near complete lack of periodicity, i.e., similar to glassy silica, calcite only experiences random rotations, and distortions of its carbonate groups. As a result, irradiated quartz shows a reduction in density of around 15%, and an increase in chemical reactivity, described by its dissolution rate, similar to a glassy silica; i.e., an increase of around 3 orders of magnitude. Calcite however, shows little change in dissolution rates - although its density noted to reduce by around 9%. These differences are correlated with the nature of bonds in these minerals, i.e., being dominantly ionic or covalent, and the rigidity of the mineral's atomic network that is characterized by the number of topological constraints (n$_c$) that are imposed on the atoms in the network. The outcomes are discussed within the context of the durability of concrete structural elements formed with calcitic/quartzitic aggregates in nuclear power plants