Whether commodity futures market in agriculture is efficient in price discovery? - An econometric analysis

In any agriculture-dominated economy, like India, farmers face not only yield risk but price risk as well. Commodity futures and derivatives have a crucial role to play in the price risk management process, especially in agriculture. The present study is an investigation into the futures markets in agricultural commodities in India. The statistical analysis of data on price discovery in a sample of four agricultural commodities traded in futures exchanges have indicated that price discovery does not occur in agricultural commodity futures market. The econometric analysis of the relationship between price return, volume, market depth and volatility has shown that the market volume and depth are not significantly influenced by the return and volatility of futures as well as spot markets. The Bartlett’s test statistic has been found insignificant in both the exchanges, signifying that the futures and spot markets are not integrated. The exchange-specific problems like thin volume and low market depth, infrequent trading, lack of effective participation of trading members, non-awareness of futures market among farmers, no well-developed spot market in the vicinity of futures market, poor physical delivery, absence of a well-developed grading and standardization system and market imperfections have been found as the major deficiencies retarding the growth of futures market. The future of futures market in respect of agricultural commodities in India, calls for a more focused and pragmatic approach from the government. The Forward Markets Commission and SEBI have a greater role in addressing all the institutional and policy level constraints so as to make the agricultural commodity futures and derivatives a meaningful, purposeful and vibrant segment for price risk management in the Indian agriculture.Agricultural Finance,

IN VITRO ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF FLOWER EXTRACT OF PANDANUS ODORATISSIMUS AGAINST DERMATOPHYTIC FUNGI

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity of Pandanus odoratissimus oil against dermatophytic fungi, and it was compared against the two commonly used antifungal agent's fluconazole and griseofulvin.Methods: A total of seven strains of dermatophytes were tested for antifungal activity using oil extracted from the flower of P. odoratissimus by using agar-well diffusion method and the zone of inhibition was compared with antifungal agent's fluconazole and griseofulvin. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using the tube-dilution method.Results and Conclusion: The zone of inhibition varied from 16.32 to 19.76 mm for fluconazole, 12.12–18.16 mm for griseofulvin, and 2.5–9.59 mm and 7.63–12.88 mm for 2.5 mg/ml and 5 mg/ml of P. odoratissimus extract, respectively. Epidermophyton floccosum and Trichophyton violaceum showed the lowest MIC value of 0.15 mg/ml. The results of our study have shown that the extract from P. odoratissimus can work significantly better against fungal diseases caused by dermatophytes. It was also found that it acts as a perfect alternative to the currently available antifungals such as fluconazole and griseofulvin.Â

Enhanced Water Oxidation Catalytic Performance of Graphene Oxide by Gamma Ray Irradiation Post-Treatment

Herein, we report the influence of γ-ray irradiation process on the physicochemical properties of partially reduced graphene oxide (PRGO) thin films. It is found that γ-ray irradiation at 25KGy alters the surface, chemical environment, and wettability properties of PRGO via inducing edge sites and oxygen moieties, resulting in increased water oxidation performance

Enhanced anti-corrosion characteristics of epoxy-functionalized graphene oxide nanocomposite coatings on mild steel substrates.

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This experimental investigation focused on coating of functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) on the mild steel to minimize corrosion, using a new method. Prior to the coating, the fundamental chemical and morphological structures of FGO were studied with aid of some characterization techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Various epoxy/FGO coating formulations with 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ppm of FGO were prepared and coated on the mild steel substrate, adopting dip coating method. Immersion test was carried out to observe the corrosion inhibition efficiency of the graphene. The adsorption isothermal behavior was also studied using various models and compared with the data obtained from the experimental results. From the results obtained, the formation of irregular rough patches and separation of platelets like zebra lines indicated the formation of graphene nanoparticles, as observed through morphological analysis. The occurrence of sharp peak at 24.3◦ in the XRD pattern depicted the existence of graphene in nanoscale. Electrochemical impedance (EI) and potentiodynamic polarization (PP) studies re-ported the maximum corrosion inhibition efficiency of 87% at 50 ppm concentration of epoxy/FGO. It was evident that an increasing concentration of graphene exhibited significant corrosion resistance in both studies. The bonding energy of randomly oriented graphene platelets reduced the removal of metal, delaying the crack propagation in tortuous path on the coated surface. These results established the significance and applicability of this study in various relevant industries.Peer reviewe

Forecasting technological needs and prioritizing factors in agriculture from a plant breeding and genetics domain perspective: A review

Future technologies in the domain of Indian agriculture are expected to be different from what these are now. The subject of Technology Forecasting (TF) can be resorted to identify the needs to fill the gaps in the present technological trends. As a TF exercise, Brainstorming and Questionnaire approaches were employed to envision future technological needs for one of the subdomains of agriculture, i e Plant Breeding and Genetics (PB&G). Information obtained from experts was subjected to linear combination weighted scoring method for prioritizing key factors leading to future technological needs and were analyzed using multi-dimensional scaling for identifying key agricultural dimensions

Food Price Volatility in India – Drivers, Impact and Policy Response

Volatility in agricultural commodity prices is a priority policy agenda in the ongoing debate on commodity markets vis-à-vis food inflation. The extent of volatility in food commodities has been examined by comparing different indicators. In comparison to previous two decades, food prices are volatile globally and more in rice and wheat particularly during the decade since 2000. In contrast, the extent of price volatility in absolute and relative terms for India elucidated that rice and wheat are less volatile. Plausible drivers of price volatility have been empirically verified based on the arguments in economic forums besides elaborating its impact on economy. The study also highlights the various existing price stabilisation measures and concludes with a pragmatic approach of policy interventions to encounter the rising food prices

Food Price Volatility in India – Drivers, Impact and Policy Response

Volatility in agricultural commodity prices is a priority policy agenda in the ongoing debate on commodity markets vis-à-vis food inflation. The extent of volatility in food commodities has been examined by comparing different indicators. In comparison to previous two decades, food prices are volatile globally and more in rice and wheat particularly during the decade since 2000. In contrast, the extent of price volatility in absolute and relative terms for India elucidated that rice and wheat are less volatile. Plausible drivers of price volatility have been empirically verified based on the arguments in economic forums besides elaborating its impact on economy. The study also highlights the various existing price stabilisation measures and concludes with a pragmatic approach of policy interventions to encounter the rising food prices

Investigation of the Transient Behavior of a Cantilever Beam Using PVDF Sensors

In this paper, a PVDF film sensor was used to measure the transient responses of a cantilever beam subjected to an impact loading. The measurement capability of a PVDF sensor is affected by the area of the PVDF film sensor and the signal conditioner (charge amplifier). The influences of these effects on the experimental measurements were investigated. The transient responses for the dynamic strain of the beam were measured simultaneously by the PVDF sensor and a conventional strain gauge. The resonant frequencies of the beam were determined by applying the Fast Fourier Transform on transient results in the time domain of the PVDF sensor and the strain gauge. The experimentally measured resonant frequencies from the PVDF sensor and the strain gauge were compared with those predicted from theoretical and FEM numerical calculations. Based on the comparison of the results measured for these two sensors, the PVDF film sensor proved capable of measuring transient responses for dynamic strain, and its sensitivity is better than that of the strain gauge. Furthermore, almost all the resonant frequencies can be obtained from the results of transient responses for PVDF film

Insights into interdisciplinary approaches for bioremediation of organic pollutants: innovations, challenges and perspectives

Modern industrialization has originated a tremendous industrial growth. Discharge of industrial effluent is a critical threat to a safe environment. Removal of various pollutants from industrial wastewater is obligatory for controlling environmental pollution. Bioremediation using biotechnological interventions has attracted greater attention among the researchers in the field of control and abatement of environmental pollution. This review is aimed to introduce methods for bioremediation on the removal of organic pollutants from industrial wastewater that have been discussed, and the kinetic models that are related to it have been introduced. In addition, biotechnological interventions on bioremediation of pollutants have been discussed fingerprinting of microbial sp. present at polluted sites. Microbial electrochemical technologies such as a green technology for the removal of pollutants from industrial effluents and simultaneous resource recovery from industrial waste have been discussed to generate up-to-date scientific literature. This review also provides detailed knowledge gaps, challenges and research perspectives related to the topic.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Econometric modeling of tobacco exports in the milieu of changing global and national policy regimes: repercussions on the Indian tobacco sector

IntroductionTobacco, an important commercial crop, plays a crucial role in farmers' incomes and livelihoods to a sizable population and contributes significant exchange earnings to the Indian economy. Currently, India is the second-largest tobacco producer after China, with a production of 758 million kg (13% of global production) and exports of ~190 million kg of tobacco (9% of global tobacco export volume). However, there are uncertainties surrounding the tobacco sector, such as growing public health and environmental issues associated with tobacco production and consumption and changing national and international tobacco-related policy regimes. In this context, the current study investigates the determinants of tobacco exports and geographical shifts in export destinations over the years.MethodsThe statistical models employed are co-integration, and vector error-correlation models to test the short-run and long-run dynamics relationship between tobacco exports and the explanatory variables, and the Markov chain approach to find out geographical shifts in export destinations.Results and discussionThe econometric model estimated the relationship between the tobacco export volume with domestic production, export price, and global demand for Indian tobacco, and investigated the geographical shift in export destinations of tobacco in the context of changing global and national policy regimes on the sector. The econometric modeling framework confirms that there exists a statistically significant relationship between Indian tobacco export demand, domestic production, export price, and world demand for Indian tobacco. The geographical shift was evident in major export destinations during the post-WHO-FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) regime. The model findings direct that India should take advantage of the export price, and global demand for tobacco as India ratified WHO-FCTC; there is no scope for horizontal expansion of the area under tobacco. This modeling framework aids as a tool to direct and explore the possible options with a greater emphasis on export-centric farming system in tobacco production by augmenting crop compliance and quality to meet the standards of international markets