Fragile Human Capital Causes Poverty in North Bihar: Some Empirical Evidences

Various components of human development of poor households have been studied in North Bihar. The data has revealed that a higher proportion of females are chronically energy deficient than of males in the rural areas. The prevalence of chronic energy deficiency (CED) has been reported in both poor and non-poor households. The incidence of illiteracy and non-enrolment in schools have been found higher in the poor households, whereas the rate of completion of schooling has been observed comparatively high in the non-poor households. The study has further indicated low stake of poor households in the management of rural organizations. The analysis of determinants of poverty has suggested that level of poverty could be reduced through higher investments for the improvement of educational and nutritional status of the rural poor as well as launching of more rural development programmes. The study has observed that targeting of rural poor households in formulating strategies and implementing development programmes warrant special attention. These factors need to be addressed immediately for increasing their capability and skill so that they could be able to get out of poverty sphere. The improvement in social and human development aspects has been the per-requisite for implementation of any programme for poverty attenuation in Bihar.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Securities Regulation -- Fraud to Include Nondisclosure

Bihar has a large agrarian economy of over Rs 250 billion with more than 80 percent of rural population subsisting on farming. Agricultural work force increased more than two-fold from 126 lakh in 1981 to 265 lakh in 2006 whereas net sown area declined by about one lakh hectares and gross cropped area has been stagnating at 80 lakh hectares during the period. Due to increase in number of agricultural labour force in Bihar, per agricultural worker annual real productivity (at 1980 prices) has declined from Rs 1977.00 in 1980-81 to Rs 1278.00 in 2005-06. Among the major states in India, Bihar is at the lowest ladder in terms of proportion of institutional loan to total loan disbursement to farmers. The high indebtedness to money lenders may be an important reason for indifferent attitude of farmers towards lending institutions, resulting in low investment and low productivity in Bihar. An assessment of the situation at ground level indicates that recourse to non-institutional credit continues to dominate as far as rural areas and agriculture sector are concerned. The study recommends interest rate on co-operative agricultural loans be reduced to 3 per cent in Bihar for benefit of farmers. It will motivate farmers to approach cooperatives for agricultural loans who are still not inclined to contact commercial bank branches. Agricultural insurance offers protection against losses caused by fluctuations in the output of a crop from one year to another or from one crop season to another. Its objective is to stimulate and support the production of principal crops in the country. Providing financial support to farmers in the event of crop failure, it makes farmers credit-worthy for the next crop season. It has been observed that the majority of small and marginal farmers, as well as tenant farmers and farm laborers bear the brunt of crop failure. However, the performance of National Agricultural Insurance Scheme has also been unsatisfactory in Bihar. Despite change in form of crop insurance scheme and establishment of Agricultural Insurance Company Ltd. the regional disparities in crop insurance still persist. It is accordingly recommended that a campaign be launched in rural areas to create awareness among farmers about crop insurance involving, inter alia, non-loan taking farmers because a large number of farmers are still not in a position to avail crop loan facility from institutional agencies in Bihar

A Study of Organized Milk Marketing in Bihar

The milk producers have been deprived of their due share in increased consumer’s price of milk in Bihar. Almost two times increase in the processing cost and profit margin to milk unions might be due to inefficient use of milk plants and perhaps cheap availability of labour resource. The smaller dairy cooperative societies in general and medium sized in particular performed comparatively better in collection of milk from their members. The average collection of milk in lean (slack) period went down as low as 35 percent as that of flush season because of several reasons. Hence, there is an urgent need to make available required technology and input to farmers for growing green fodder in slack season. An arrangement is also required to be made to supply milk for marriage parties in rural areas, which will help in sustaining the supply of milk to the dairy cooperative societies. Producer’s share in consumer’s rupee declined during the period under study, which needs to be increased by efficient management of Dairy plants and marketing system

A Study of Organized Milk Marketing in Bihar

The milk producers have been deprived of their due share in increased consumer’s price of milk in Bihar. Almost two times increase in the processing cost and profit margin to milk unions might be due to inefficient use of milk plants and perhaps cheap availability of labour resource. The smaller dairy cooperative societies in general and medium sized in particular performed comparatively better in collection of milk from their members. The average collection of milk in lean (slack) period went down as low as 35 percent as that of flush season because of several reasons. Hence, there is an urgent need to make available required technology and input to farmers for growing green fodder in slack season. An arrangement is also required to be made to supply milk for marriage parties in rural areas, which will help in sustaining the supply of milk to the dairy cooperative societies. Producer’s share in consumer’s rupee declined during the period under study, which needs to be increased by efficient management of Dairy plants and marketing system

Wholesale Milk Markets: A Study of Market Integration in Indian Markets

Market integration is an important determinant of responsiveness and behavior of the markets needed to formulate price policies. Indian wholesale milk markets are correlated with varying degrees of integration. Paper uses monthly wholesale prices of milk for the period from April 1997 to December 2009 for 5 major market centres viz. Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Kanpur. Prices were converted into real prices by deflating with wholesale price index of all commodities. Extent of integration among different markets is tested using method and procedure for testing co-integration suggested by Johansen (1991, 1995), and Johansen and Juselius (1990) and Engle and Granger (1987). Results reveal that milk markets of Kolkata and Mumbai are critical to sustaining long-run equilibrium which had strong bearings on the prices of other three markets viz, Delhi, Kanpur and Chennai. The speed of error correction for Kolkata and Mumbai markets are relatively faster than that of others and Kolkata and Mumbai markets can reinstate the long-run equilibrium quickly if appropriate error correction measures are taken

A Study on Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies at Farm Level in Bihar

Among socio-economic, technological and managerial reasons, ineffective transfer of farm technology is 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

A Socio-Economic Study on Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies in Bihar, India

Technology adoption has been the main obstacle in realizing agricultural potential in the country in general and Bihar in particular. The present study focuses on level of adoption, access of farmers to farm technology, quality of modern technology, access to agricultural extension institutions and problems faced by extension officials in transfer of farm technology. It has been observed that the coverage of agricultural development programmes is limited to few villages, however, line department still dominates in spreading of modern agricultural technology. 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, a comparatively high level of adoption on small and medium farms was observed. Hence, there is no relationship between size of farm and adoption of modern varieties of seeds in Bihar. Inadequate staff, infrequent supervision and lack of conveyance facility are some other factors responsible for poor transfer of technologies in Bihar

Male Worker Migration and Women Empowerment: The case of Bihar, India

Migration of population has been a recurrent phenomenon since the dawn of human history. Though its form has changed but it remains a dominant event in the global social system. In modern days also people migrate from underdeveloped areas to the developed ones in search of better opportunities. Several theories have been propounded to explain the occurrence of migration. A number of social, cultural, economic, spatial, climatic, demographic factors induce migration. Among them, the economic factors are considered as the primary reasons for inducing migration. Migration of male labour force from Bihar has increased during last two decades which prompted us to analyze its consequences on efficiency of input in agricultural production, livelihood through remittances and also the empowerment of women left behind at place of origin. It was observed that the efficiencies of human labour and irrigation in rice production were higher than non-migrant households and statistically significant, indicating rational use of these two critical inputs on migrant households in Bihar. The migration seems to have helped in judicious use of human labour at native place due to migration of surplus labour force for gainful employment to destination of migration. Remittances have been utilized for meeting consumption needs, improved livelihood, better education to children and better health care facilities which help in overall improvement in livelihood on migrant households in Bihar. Migrant households also preferred to save money to meet their requirements in unforeseen situations. It can thus be infered that migration may be one of risk-coping strategies for the weaker sections of the society and has helped developing the saving habits among migrant households. The allocation of remittances on agricultural inputs could have increased if proper infrastructure facilities were present in rural areas for faster dissemination of modern agricultural technology for increasing agricultural production. Level of women employment has increased on migrant households, particularly on poor households; however, work load of women has also increased. It has been observed that role of women of migrant households changed from unpaid female labour to managers of the household, however, they face problem in management of fund, technology and input-output marketing. There is a need to launch a programme for their training to improve their knowledge in financial, technological and marketing management