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ThesisItem Open Access Magnitude and determinants of indebtedness among farm households in Nadia district of West Bengal(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2015-07) Ray, Susweta; Anil KumarThe present study, conducted in Nadia district of west Bengal was based on primary data collected from 80 sample farmers for the period from March, 2014 to February, 2015. The study primarily aimed at assessing farmers’ preferences for the sources of credit; loan utilization pattern; magnitude of indebtedness among farm households; to identify the factors influencing indebtedness and to examine the repayment performance of farm households. The sample was drawn by following PPS method based upon land size classes. Simple statistical tools and regression technique were used to achieve the objectives of the study. The results of the study revealed that out of 80 farm households, 79 households (98.75 per cent) availed loan during the study period. Almost all the farmers borrowed short term loan while only 8.75 per cent farmers were found to borrow term loan. Among different sources of institutional credit co-operative banks were the major sources of credit across the land size classes, followed by commercial banks and regional rural banks. Farmers were found to be solely dependent on institutional sources for short term as well as term credit. Farm households, especially those who belong to marginal and sub-marginal classes, relied on non-institutional credit sources for meeting their consumption needs. The most preferred non-institutional sources were friends and relatives followed by professional money lenders and traders. The overall diversion of loan was found to be 10 per cent. The loan utilization pattern between productive and non-productive purposes showed that a major portion of crop loan availed was directed towards payment of labourers and irrigation, whereas that of the term loans was utilized in purchase of machineries. The major non-productive purposes in which loan was used, were repayment of old debt and ceremonies. The findings on extent and magnitude of indebtedness showed that 77 farmers (96.25 per cent) were indebted with an average outstanding amount per household of Rs. 51,455. The outstanding amount with medium and large farmers was Rs. 22,500 whereas the average outstanding loan amount were Rs. 64,091, Rs. 53,031 and Rs. 42,393 for small, marginal and sub-marginal farmers respectively. The average debt-income ratio was 0.74. The debt servicing capacity was found to be negative for sub-marginal farmers. The major factors exerting positive and significant influence on farmers’ indebtedness were observed to be average interest rate, farm loan diversion and consumption expenditure. However, farm and non-farm income and education level were found to have significant negative impact on farmers’ indebtedness. The overall rate of repayment in the study area was around 29 per cent, 45 per cent and 24 per cent for short term loan, term loan and non-institutional loan. Major policy implications emerged from the study are, (i) Farmers should be encouraged to avail institutional credit rather than non-institutional credit. (ii) Greater financial inclusion is required especially for marginal and sub-marginal farmers to restrain them from availing non-institutional credit for consumption need, (iii) Emphasis should be given to improve farmers’ income level in order to increase their debt servicing capacity.ThesisItem Open Access Assessing the impact of Kisan Credit Card scheme on profitability of crops in district Udham singh nagar, Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2015-07) Agarwal, Priyanka; Singh, H.N.Kisan credit card scheme is a landmark in the credit distribution system. The scheme was introduced in year 1998-99 with an aim to provide adequate, timely, hassle free loan amount at low cost. Present study was conducted in Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand, with the objectives to study socio-economic characteristics of the sample farmers, to examine the utilization pattern of loan taken through KCC scheme, to evaluate the impact of KCC scheme on profitability of major crops, to compute the cost of credit obtained through KCC scheme and to rank the constraints faced by beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in accessing loan through KCC. The present study utilizes both secondary and primary data; secondary data were collected from various govt. offices. For primary data, random sampling technique was followed to select 64 farmers, 32 beneficiaries (farmers taking loan through KCC) and 32 non-beneficiaries. Simple statistical tools were used to study the socio-economic characteristics, loan utilization pattern and cost of obtaining credit through KCC, Garret ranking technique was used to rank the constraints faced by the beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries in assessing loan through KCC. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine impact of KCC on profitability of crops. Socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries show that beneficiaries were relatively resource rich as, 63 per cent and 54 per cent of beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries owned livestock, respectively and about 75 per cent of beneficiaries and 65 per cent of non- beneficiaries owned more than seven implements. Most of the beneficiaries had farming as their primary occupation as 81 per cent of beneficiaries and 62 per cent of the non-beneficiaries had farming as their primary occupation. The cropping intensity 259.41 per cent for non-beneficiary was slightly lower the beneficiaries farms (250.70%). Beneficiaries derived 74.03 per cent and 10.39 per cent income to the total income from crop and livestock respectively. While the corresponding figures were 73.19 per cent and 7.64 per cent for the non-beneficiaries. 88 percent of beneficiaries taken loan more than Rs 2 lakhs. The loan utilization pattern shows that overall 89.24% to total loan amount was productively used while 10.76% was diverted towards unproductive use. Diverted loan amount was higher for the small farmers accounting for 28% of their average loan amount. Same figure was 20.81%, 5.60% and 1.87% for small, medium and large farmers, respectively. Paddy (Kharif) occupied 33.01 and 31.02% per cent area to the gross cropped area followed by wheat (rabi) occupying 32.86 percent and 28.74 percent area to the gross cropped area on the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries farms, respectively. It was found that average costs and net returns of beneficiaries were 10.3 per cent and 16.6 per cent higher than the non-beneficiaries for paddy crop and 6.2 per cent and 7.5 percent for wheat crop. KCC increased the net profit from wheat and paddy by Rs. 2299.85 and Rs. 2663.95 per hectare respectively. The total cost of borrowing was found to be Rs 9.19 per Rs 100/- for borrowing loan limit up to Rs. 3 lakhs and Rs. 10.59 per Rs 100/- for limit more than Rs. 3 lakhs. According to the rank given by the beneficiaries, the main constraint was getting no dues certificate and lengthy paper work, which were ranked first and second. Rank given by the non-beneficiaries shows that because of easy access they preferred to take loan from non-institutional sources. Time consuming formalities of the bank, fear of being defaulter and insistence of collateral were ranked second, third and fourth.ThesisItem Open Access An empirical study of structure and performance of institutional agriculture production credit delivery system in Madhubani district of Bihar(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2015-07) Avinash Kumar; Singh, VirendraAgriculture and allied sectors accounted for 13.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013, and about 50% of the total workforce (Economic survey, 2013).Agriculture is a dominant sector of Indian economy and credit plays an important role in increasing agricultural production, as it is the life blood of modern agriculture. The success of institutional agriculture credit delivery system depends upon the structure, progress and performance of it. The entire rural credit delivery system is not in a good shape in Bihar. A report of Expert Group of ‘Ministry of Finance’ on ‘Agricultural Indebtedness’ enlisted seven districts of Bihar among 100 ‘agriculturally less developed and distress districts of India’ on the bases of lower productivity of agriculture, lower credit-deposit ratio and low proportion of urban to rural households. The present study was conducted in the Madhubani district of Bihar, with the objectives; to examine the structure of institutional agriculture production credit delivery system, to examine the progress and performance of institutional agriculture production credit delivery system, to assess the impact of institutional agriculture production credit on net farm income, to determine the factors influencing the use of institutional agriculture production credit, to identify and rank the constraints faced by farmers in getting institutional agriculture production credit.The study was based on the data collected from 100 sample farmers (50 loanee and 50 non-loanee farmers)residing in randomly selected ten villages of five development blocks of the district pertaining to the year 2013-14. Descriptive analysis was done to know the structure; progress and performance of institutional agriculture production credit delivery system. The impact of institutional agriculture credit was estimated by comparing the costs and returns in crop cultivation of loanee farmers in before and after institutional agriculture production credit use situation. The Logit regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the use of agricultural credit; and Garrett’s ranking technique was used to rank constraints faced by the farmers in getting institutional credit. Out of total bank branches (248) operating in Madhubani district 47.98 per cent (119) branches were of CBs, 5.65 per cent (14) of CCBs and 46.37 per cent (115) of RRBs. Further out of total bank branches operating in the district about 67.34 per cent (167) branches were operating in rural areas, whereas 31.45 per cent (78) branches and 1.21 (03) per cent branches were found to be operating in semi urban and urban areas, respectively. The banking facility was not satisfactory in the district in general and rural areas in specific, as the bank density in the district was very poor (18049 persons per branch) as compared to the national average bank density (about 12000 persons per branch). The target set for disbursing agricultural credit increased more than three folds since last five year from Rs.256 crores in 2009-10 to Rs.890 crores in 2013-14, but the performance in achieving these targets remained fluctuating between from about 69 per cent to 98 per cent during above said period. Thus the achievement made by the CBs and RRBs were satisfactory, whereas the achievement made by CCBs was very low in the district during last five years .The target set and achievement made in issuing KCCs by bank in Madhubani district were found to be increasing in absolute term, but the performance of banks in achieving the targets as a percentage of target was found to be continuously decreasing in the district over a period of six years from 2009-10 to 2014-15.Out of the target set under ACP by SLBC for all banks operating in the district to advance credit towards priority sector and non-priority sector, the highest target of Rs.155698 lacs (71.62 per cent) was set for priority sector, whereas the same set for non- priority sector was Rs.61703 lacs (28.38 per cent). Further, among the priority sectors the highest target of Rs.120630 lacs (77.48 per cent of target of priority sector) was set for agriculture sector followed by micro and small enterprises (Rs.21673 lacs i.e. 13.92 per cent) and other priority sector (Rs.13395 lacs i.e. 8.60 per cent). The average CD ratio achieved by all banks operating in the district was 30.71 per cent, which was not only lower than the state level CD ratio (46.51 per cent) and national level CD ratio (78 per cent), but also lower than the stipulated norm of 60 per cent set by the RBI. The farmers were obtaining more output and realized the better price for their output conversely getting higher net income from cultivation of paddy, wheat, maize and potato in after credit use situation. It can be inferred that the institutional credit support extended to the farmers allowed them not only to use more inputs, but also substitute the inputs for one another. Further, credit enabled the farmers not only to obtain higher yields, but also fetch better price for their produce and higher net returns from the crops grown by them. It was observed that the use of agricultural credit is a function of farming experience, family size, land holding size, annual income, distance from bank, membership of cooperative and use of mass media. The logit analysis reveals that the variables like family size, use of mass media had positive influence on the decision of farmers regarding the use of institutional credit, while the factors like farming experience, annual income and membership of a cooperative had a negative influence on the same. All variables together had a significant impact on the decision of using institutional agriculture production credit, as the Chi-square statistic was 109.33 and R2 value was 0.8865, which was statistically significant. The farmers reported that the most severe constraint faced by farmers in getting institutional credit was lack of awareness about the benefits of institutional credit with Garratt’s score 72.74, followed by illiteracy (72.12), involvement of bribe (71.92) and difficulty in opening bank account (71.28). The results of the study suggest that there is need to expend banking facilities in rural areas, the banks need to increase the ratio of rural branches by mobilizing more funds to agriculture sector. To make flow of credit hassle free towards agriculture sector the banks need to adopt innovative measures, like Kisan Credit Cards. There is need to re-orient the agriculture credit policy and strategy to provide larger credit accommodation to realize higher returns from agriculture. Also there is need to create a farmers friendly environment so that farmers can avail the credit facility to tap the untapped potential of agriculture sector. There is also need to initiate awareness campaign to aware the farmers about benefit of institutional agriculture credit, they are also need to be educated about procedure and practices of banks so that they can escape themselves from any unfair expenditure like bribe or under table dealingsThesisItem Open Access Farm household vulnerability and coping mechanisms for climate change: a study of Kumaon division of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2015-07) Arya, Alka; Srivastava, S.K.Climate change is one of the most serious global environmental challenges of the present century. The present study was conducted in Kumaon division of Uttarakhand, with the objectives to examine the socioeconomic status, to identify and prioritize the effect of climate change, to examine the farm household vulnerability, to examine the coping mechanisms used by farm households in response to climate change and to identify the determinants of coping mechanisms used by farm households in response to climate change. The present study utilized both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected for the year 2013-14 through the survey of sample households. For primary data, multistage stratified random sampling technique was followed to select 45 farmers from different altitudes of hill region and 60 farmers from different farm size group of plain region of the Kumaon division. To examine the socio economic status, effects of climate change and coping mechanisms used by farm households, descriptive statistical tools were used. Vulnerability indices have been constructed to examine the vulnerability status of farm households. Logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants of coping mechanisms used by farm households in response to climate change. The average operational holding of plain region (2.90 ha) is found more than seven times high as compared to hilly region (0.38 ha). In Kumaon division number of male members (2.24) has been found slightly higher than the female members (1.83). More than 50 per cent area to total cropped area devoted to subsistence food grains. Numbers of buffaloes per households (0.68) was highest in total livestock population. Annual income of farm households of plain region (Rs. 217747.90) appeared 3.5 times more than the annual income of hill farmers. Crop production appeared as the main source of income in plains (74.80 per cent) while service sectors (55.25 per cent) dominate in the hill region. All the farmers across the hills as well as plains observed that the unpredictability of weather and problem of uneven rainfall have been increased as compared to the previous years. Farm households of hills (95.55 per cent) are found to be more affected by the increase in temperature as compared to that of plains (38.33 per cent). Rabi season crops have been found more affected due to climate change as compared to the Kharif season crops. In the Kumaon region farm households of hills are found vulnerable (0.38-0.81) as compared to that of the plains (0.22-0.70). In plains 61.67 per cent of farm households belonged to ‘moderate’ vulnerable status while in hills only 20 per cent of the farm households were moderate vulnerable. In hills 71.11 per cent of farm households are found highly vulnerable while, in plains only 31.67 per cent of farm households are highly vulnerable. In hills 8.89 per cent of households belonged to ‘very high’ vulnerable status while, in plains none of the farm households belongs to ‘very high’ vulnerable status. In plains 6.67 per cent farm households belong to ‘low’ vulnerable status while, in hills none of the farm households belongs to ‘low’ vulnerable status. In overall Kumaon division 48.57 per cent of the farm households belongs to ‘high’ vulnerable status, followed by 43.81 per cent farm households belongs to moderate’ vulnerable status and 3.81 per cent households belongs to ‘low’ as well as ‘very high’ vulnerable status in the society. Wide gap observed between the vulnerability of marginal and large farm households in the plains. On overall basis the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand falls under ‘high’ vulnerable status in terms of ecological security, economic efficiency and social security. It is found that in hills, very less number of farmers are using coping mechanisms against the adverse effect of climate change. The main coping strategies that are observed to be adopted by the sample farm households are irrigation practices to overcome the problem of water insufficiency (mainly in plains and low hills), planting different varieties of the existing crops to increase the production and to reduce the burden of pest and diseases, and use of chemicals to reduce the infestation of pest and diseases in the crop plants. In hills out of seven identified variable six variables i.e. age of household head, size of land holdings, on farm income of the family, literacy rate, access to information and access to credit were found to have significant and positive impact on the probability of using coping mechanisms against adverse effect of climate change, while in plains six variables i.e. age of household head, size of land holdings, on farm income of the family, family size, access to information and access to credit had positive and significant impact on the coping mechanisms. On overall basis in Kumaon division six variables viz., (age of the household head, on-farm income of the family; size of land holdings, literacy rate, access to information and access to credit) are found to significantly influencing the probability of using coping mechanisms by farm households against adverse effect of climate change.ThesisItem Open Access Farm household vulnerability and coping mechanisms for climate change: a study of Kumaon division of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2015-07) Arya, Alka; Srivastava, S.K.Climate change is one of the most serious global environmental challenges of the present century. The present study was conducted in Kumaon division of Uttarakhand, with the objectives to examine the socioeconomic status, to identify and prioritize the effect of climate change, to examine the farm household vulnerability, to examine the coping mechanisms used by farm households in response to climate change and to identify the determinants of coping mechanisms used by farm households in response to climate change. The present study utilized both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected for the year 2013-14 through the survey of sample households. For primary data, multistage stratified random sampling technique was followed to select 45 farmers from different altitudes of hill region and 60 farmers from different farm size group of plain region of the Kumaon division. To examine the socio economic status, effects of climate change and coping mechanisms used by farm households, descriptive statistical tools were used. Vulnerability indices have been constructed to examine the vulnerability status of farm households. Logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants of coping mechanisms used by farm households in response to climate change. The average operational holding of plain region (2.90 ha) is found more than seven times high as compared to hilly region (0.38 ha). In Kumaon division number of male members (2.24) has been found slightly higher than the female members (1.83). More than 50 per cent area to total cropped area devoted to subsistence food grains. Numbers of buffaloes per households (0.68) was highest in total livestock population. Annual income of farm households of plain region (Rs. 217747.90) appeared 3.5 times more than the annual income of hill farmers. Crop production appeared as the main source of income in plains (74.80 per cent) while service sectors (55.25 per cent) dominate in the hill region. All the farmers across the hills as well as plains observed that the unpredictability of weather and problem of uneven rainfall have been increased as compared to the previous years. Farm households of hills (95.55 per cent) are found to be more affected by the increase in temperature as compared to that of plains (38.33 per cent). Rabi season crops have been found more affected due to climate change as compared to the Kharif season crops. In the Kumaon region farm households of hills are found vulnerable (0.38-0.81) as compared to that of the plains (0.22-0.70). In plains 61.67 per cent of farm households belonged to ‘moderate’ vulnerable status while in hills only 20 per cent of the farm households were moderate vulnerable. In hills 71.11 per cent of farm households are found highly vulnerable while, in plains only 31.67 per cent of farm households are highly vulnerable. In hills 8.89 per cent of households belonged to ‘very high’ vulnerable status while, in plains none of the farm households belongs to ‘very high’ vulnerable status. In plains 6.67 per cent farm households belong to ‘low’ vulnerable status while, in hills none of the farm households belongs to ‘low’ vulnerable status. In overall Kumaon division 48.57 per cent of the farm households belongs to ‘high’ vulnerable status, followed by 43.81 per cent farm households belongs to ‘moderate’ vulnerable status and 3.81 per cent households belongs to ‘low’ as well as ‘very high’ vulnerable status in the society. Wide gap observed between the vulnerability of marginal and large farm households in the plains. On overall basis the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand falls under ‘high’ vulnerable status in terms of ecological security, economic efficiency and social security. It is found that in hills, very less number of farmers are using coping mechanisms against the adverse effect of climate change. The main coping strategies that are observed to be adopted by the sample farm households are irrigation practices to overcome the problem of water insufficiency (mainly in plains and low hills), planting different varieties of the existing crops to increase the production and to reduce the burden of pest and diseases, and use of chemicals to reduce the infestation of pest and diseases in the crop plants. In hills out of seven identified variable six variables i.e. age of household head, size of land holdings, on farm income of the family, literacy rate, access to information and access to credit were found to have significant and positive impact on the probability of using coping mechanisms against adverse effect of climate change, while in plains six variables i.e. age of household head, size of land holdings, on farm income of the family, family size, access to information and access to credit had positive and significant impact on the coping mechanisms. On overall basis in Kumaon division six variables viz., (age of the household head, on-farm income of the family; size of land holdings, literacy rate, access to information and access to credit) are found to significantly influencing the probability of using coping mechanisms by farm households against adverse effect of climate change.