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Review Of Agriculture

Sustaining Agricultural Trade

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | Dhanmanjiri Sathe and R S Deshpande

An examination of the trends in agri-trade for the post-liberalisation period for India shows that agri-imports have grown at almost double the rate of agri-exports. However, due to the initial higher levels, agri-exports continue to be higher than agri-imports by one and a half times for 2003-04. The implications for agri-trade from the vantage point of foreign exchange have become quite limited, but the impact on domestic agriculture has been deepening. While over the years policy has focused relentlessly on non agri-exports, the share of India's agri-exports in world agri-exports is higher than the similar share of India's total exports in world total exports. When the top 15 agri-exports are considered, we do not see any discernible change in the composition, though commodities with a lower share show higher rates of growth. India seems to have avoided abrupt disruptions in its agri-trade patterns.

Cross-Validation of Production and Consumption Data of Fruits and Vegetables

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | Jatinder S Bedi

There are wide discrepancies in the available data on estimates of production of fruits and vegetables, fresh (unprocessed) and processed, on the one hand, and their consumption, on the other. The comparison of production and consumption data (in terms of quantity and value) shows that the main causes of the discrepancies are the very high farm gate prices used for the valuation of fresh fruits and the overestimation of the quantum of fruits production. With revisions in prices and quantities, this paper re-estimates the total value of fruits production at the farm gate/ex-factory price as well as the share of processing in the production (processed and unprocessed) of fruits and vegetables. The quantity estimates turn out to be 46.6 per cent of the original estimates and the value of fruit production is 19.9 per cent of the original unrevised estimates.

Integrated Land and Water Use

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | A S Bhullar and R S Sidhu

The efficient use and management of land and water, along with their conservation, are extremely important for the sustainable growth of any economy. This paper addresses the issue of overexploitation of these natural resources in the Indian Punjab in the quest for higher productivity and income, in total disregard to their sustainability. The paper also spells out the policy agenda, aimed at an integrated system for the use of land and water to ensure the sustainable development of the agricultural sector.

Organic Cotton Supply Chains and Small Producers

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | Sukhpal Singh

Whether local producers will benefit from trade liberalisation is predicated upon their ability to enter global value chains or production networks of the lead firms. Understanding how these chains are organised, controlled and governed is the key to unravelling how the gains from these networks/chains are shared across the participants. This paper examines the issues of governance and small producer participation in the organic cotton supply chain in India with the help of a case study of a private firm. The paper assesses the prospects and ways and means of including marginal and small producers in these chains if the organic sector has to play its developmental role.

Contract Farming through Agribusiness Firms and State Corporation

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | Parmod Kumar

In order to overcome declining productivity and falling farm incomes in Punjab, the Johl Committee recommended that contract farming be undertaken to reduce costs and provide farmers with better inputs and technical know-how, thereby increasing agricultural yield. This paper compares direct contracts with agribusiness firms and indirect contracts with these firms through the state. Direct contract farming is observed to operate effectively, with positive outcomes for the farmers irrespective of the farm size. Indirect contracts seem to favour only those farmers with larger farms, who do not benefit as much as direct contract farmers.

Food Security, Agrarian Crisis and Rural Livelihoods

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | Maithreyi Krishnaraj

The livelihood of more than half of India's working population is involved in agriculture and its allied activities. Despite there being an increase in the quantity of foodgrains being produced domestically as well as in the imports of foodgrains, India has been unable to achieve food security. The group most adversely affected by this is women in agriculture: their contribution to farm labour is hardly recognised; they are remunerated poorly and they suffer from chronic energy deficiency.

Roots of Agrarian Crisis in Interwar India

Vol - XLI No. 52, December 30, 2006 | Tirthankar Roy

Agricultural growth declined in interwar India, intensifying poverty and weakening prospects for industrialisation. Historical scholarship explains poor agricultural growth mainly in terms of adverse institutions, a hypothesis that fails to account for the much better growth rates in pre-war India. A contemporary discourse suggesting the presence of environmental constraints on investment in agriculture, and sustainability of extensive growth, supplies a better account of economic history. It can also connect the past with the present, when sustainability concerns have returned.

Agricultural Institutional Credit, Indebtedness and Suicides in Punjab

Vol - XLI No. 26, June 30, 2006 | P Satish

Since the nationalisation of banks and the green revolution, institutional credit for agriculture has grown in Punjab. But the growth had not been uniform and in line with the demand for such credit. Indebtedness has also increased in the state, but a large part of the debt has been for non-productive purposes. The incidence of suicides in Punjab has not been higher than the all India average and studies reveal that while indebtedness is indeed one of the major causes of suicides, it is neither the only cause nor the main one. There is thus no direct causal relationship between institutional credit, indebtedness and suicides in rural Punjab. The problems of indebtedness as well as suicides do not merit narrow interpretation or solution, as these are only symptoms of a larger malaise. They have to be contextualised in the light of stagnation of agriculture, rising levels of rural unemployment and dissipation of economic and social infrastructure.

Farmers' Suicides and Response of Public Policy

Vol - XLI No. 26, June 30, 2006 | Anitha Gill and Lakhwinder Singh

Lower yields, rising cost of cultivation, a mounting debt burden and dipping incomes of cultivators have plunged agriculture into a crisis of unprecedented scale, the consequences of which are not just economic. The economic trauma is translating into mental trauma, and the ever hardworking Punjabis, who have emerged stronger with each difficult period, are now being forced to admit defeat to the extent of ending their own lives. Farmers' organisations, political movements and even some state-led response to this crisis have not met with success.

Measuring the Marginal Value of Water and Elasticity of Demand for Water in Agriculture

Vol - XLI No. 26, June 30, 2006 | E Somanathan and R Ravindranath

Data from a survey of groundwater sales between farmers in the upper Papagni watershed in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka suggests that raising the marginal price of electricity to somewhere near its true cost could substantially mitigate the problem of over-extraction of groundwater. This is a pilot study from a small area, so that results call for larger surveys to more reliably estimate water demand curves. Larger surveys would also enable us to examine additional issues like how efficient is water allocation in surface irrigation systems; do marginal water values vary much more between river basins than within river basins; if not, then the rationale for inter-basin transfers becomes less compelling.