Inequality in Food Grains Production in Maharashtra:
A Study of Vidarbha Region
-- Sanjay Rode
Maharashtra has inequality in terms of district domestic products. The inequality is also reflected
in variations in productivity and production of agricultural commodities across different regions of
the state. Such difference is observed because of soil, climatic conditions, use of fertilizers, etc.
Post-Green Revolution farmers have been using the high yielding varieties of seeds, pesticides,
insecticides, fertilizers, and irrigation facilities. Therefore, the yield of the major crops has considerably
increased in the Post-Green Revolution period. But yield of crops has not increased all over Maharashtra. In
the Vidarbha region, the yield of all major crops except cotton has declined after Green Revolution.
But yield of almost all crops has increased in Western Maharashtra. It has been observed that the
farmers of lower yield areas usually suffer high cost of cultivation. Thus, farmers must be given more
information about crop cultivation, climate change, water management, and use of fertilizers. The construction
of farm ponds and check dams through NREGA will improve irrigation. Further, small farmers must
be given priority in the formulation of agricultural policy, as this will help to improve the yield of
various crops.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Farmers' Education and Profit Efficiency in Sugarcane
Production: A Stochastic Frontier Profit Function Approach
-- Rangalal Mohapatra
In a globally competitive environment where everything is commercialized, agriculture is no
exception. The role that education of the effective head of the farm household, education of the family of the
farm household and their experience plays, in addition to the primary inputs, in improving the
profit efficiency of the farm household has been empirically tested for the primary data collected from
200 sugarcane farm households in Orissa. The results of the joint estimation of parameters of profit
function and the inefficiency components suggest that 93% differences in the efficiency scores are due to
profit inefficiency, and profit inefficiency reduces significantly with higher education. The mean efficiency
is 79% and more than 80% of the farmers achieve 70-99% profit efficiency. A grassroots level
farming practice awareness program both by government and private agencies as well as the reorientation
of the formal education curriculum toward farm-oriented curriculum are highly recommended.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Economics of Rubber Production in the Nontraditional Area of Goalpara District in North-East India
-- Dharmendra Nath and M P Bezbaruah
Rising demand, steep rise in the price of synthetic rubber and reduced supply from some
previously dominant rubber-producing countries have contributed to a sharp rising trend of the price of
natural rubber over the last decade. The price rise has naturally induced steps for increased production.
In India, the scope of further area expansion in traditional areas being limited, there has been some
effort to extend rubber plantation to nontraditional areas, such as Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya in
the northeastern part of the country. The present study on rubber production in Goalpara District of
Assam is induced by the necessity to examine the economic viability and sustainability of the activity in
such nontraditional areas. Backed by the Rubber Board, rubber production in Goalpara has
recorded impressive growth. Investigation at the farm level shows that the rate of returns on investment in
rubber is highly impressive under the prevailing price scenario and remains economically viable
and sustainable even at much worse price scenarios. The fact that small and marginal landholders,
especially from tribal communities, are the majority participants in the rubber plantation in the district,
implies that this new form of economic activity has contributed significantly to economic empowerment at
the grassroots. However, there are some ambiguities regarding ownership of land holdings under
group growers, which need to be sorted out to avoid long-term adverse consequences on land use in the district.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Willingness to Buy Genetically Modified Foods: An
Analysis of Plant and Animal Origins
in the US
-- Venkata S Puduri, Ramu Govindasamy and Isaac Vellangany
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) invoke emotions ranging from outright refusal to
lukewarm acceptance within and across nations. In order to gauge the perception of and attitude toward
GMOs in the US, a random sample of 1,201 adults was interviewed using Computer-Assisted
Telephone Interview (CATI) system between May 4, 2004 and June 14, 2004. The computational framework of
this interview was to capture the relationship between socio-cultural-demographic and knowledge
factors determining acceptance of GMOs based on both plant and animal origin. There is a
widespread acceptance of plant-based biotechnology in comparison to genetic modification of
animal-based food products.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
