Articles by Anjani Kumar

The unprecedented shutdown of economic activities led to a colossal loss of livelihoods. To understand the impact of this national lockdown on rural households’ income, the paper empirically examines the determinants of reduction in their income, and the effectiveness of government’s response in mitigating their economic hardships. The study is based on a comprehensive telephonic survey of 2,599 rural households from five eastern states—Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal conducted during the lockdown period, June–July 2020. The econometric results highlight that (i) a number of socio-economic and demographic factors influenced income loss of rural households during the lockdown, (ii) the impact was relatively higher on the migrant labour, though it differed across the eastern states, and (iii) government cash and in-kind assistance under various social protection schemes were timely but requires expansion in both coverage and outreach.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme aims to provide income support to farmers for easing their liquidity needs to facilitate timely access to inputs. This study, based on 1,406 farmers of Uttar Pradesh, uses a binary choice model to examine the targeting accuracy and correlates of the spending pattern of farmers. Triple difference with matching estimators is used to identify the differential impact of the scheme on the Krishi Vigyan Kendra beneficiaries. Results show that the scheme reached one-third farmers in the first three months of its implementation, and has significantly helped those who are relatively more dependent on agriculture and have poor access to credit. Moreover, the scheme has significantly stimulated the Krishi Vigyan Kendra's impact on the adoption of modern cultivars.

The trend in milk productivity and its association with breed improvement, feeding and animal husbandry practices, and effi ciency in dairy farming at the household level are examined using the representative cost of cultivation surveys in Punjab. Although milk yield at the farm level is rising due to the increasing adoption of cross-bred cattle and changing composition of animal rations, evidence is found to support the argument to popularise cross-bred technology for realising a higher milk yield. However, the rising trend in milk yield coexists with declining effi ciency levels in milk production.

Using nationally representative household-level data, the structure of milk markets is examined and the factors that determine the Indian dairy farmers’ choice of milk-marketing outlets are identified. The analysis of participation in various milk-marketing channels indicates that dairy farmers, irrespective of their asset-status, sales volume, and socio-economic status, prefer to sell their output through cooperatives and government agencies, even if these offer lower prices compared to the local traders. Concomitantly, of the various direct-to-consumer outlets, cooperatives are more inclusive and largely transcend the boundaries of caste and land size. Of the various economic factors that influence farmers’ choice, the access to institutional credit is critical in driving sales through the formal milk-marketing channels.