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Central Agricultural University, College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Umiam
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ThesisItem Open Access Socio-economic study on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Ri-bhoi district of Meghalaya.(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-07) Shaikhtabrez; Choudhury, AnjuThe Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year, to a rural household whose members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Per capita annual income of Meghalaya is `60,966, which is less than all India average of `77, 524. This scheme is mainly for rural people and Ri-Bhoi district has more than 90 percent of rural population. Ri-Bhoi district, consists of marginal workers (95.59%), cultivators (96.49%) and agricultural labours (92.03%) respectively. As marginal workers work less than six months in a year and they don’t get employment all-round the year, MGNREGA has a great potential to fill the gap. Taking this into consideration, the present study was undertaken with the objectives. 1. To evaluate the impact of MGNREGA on income, expenditure and assets of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. 2. To study the constraints faced by the beneficiaries. Multi stage random sampling technique was applied for the present study. Meghalaya and Ri-Bhoi was chosen purposively. From the district, two blocks viz., Umsning and Umling was also chosen purposively. Two villages from each block as 90 respondents (beneficiaries and non beneficiaries) were selected randomly from the four villages. To attain the first objective, personal interview was carried out for both the beneficiaries and non beneficiaries.To find the constraints faced by the beneficiaries two FGD was conducted in two villages of each block. It was followed by conducting PRA tools such as constructing seasonal calendar and social map. There was increase in income (20.79%), which was statistically significant and significant increase in expenditure of food items like cereals, pulses, vegetables, oil, meat milk and it’s by products, sugar,salt and spices, and non-food items also like cooking, electricity, transportation children education, medicine, cloths, and ceremony or function after getting wage from MGNREGA. There was significant difference among the expenditure of food items like vegetables, fruits and grocery, fermented pickle, egg, dry fish and sea food and non-food items like medicine between beneficiary and non-beneficiary. There was increase in the purchase of farm implements and household assets like T.V, mobile phone, bike, LPG connection and livestock as mainly pigs after employment get from MGNREGA. The non-beneficiaries were advanced in using television, radio, mobile phone, bike and LPG connection than beneficiaries. There is no significant difference in the income between the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. In case of expenditure also there is no significant difference, except in vegetables, fruits, others and medicine. No records entered in job card, demanded 100 days of work is not provided, delay in payment of wages and inappropriate work season were the major constraints faced by the beneficiaries.ThesisItem Open Access Consumer behaviour of tourists for agri-products in Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-07) Krishna, Kunchum Suresh; Feroze, S. M.Meghalaya, a famous hill station received 61.62 per cent of the total tourist inflow in the North Eastern (NE) states in 2015. The state is also known for fruits viz., pineapple, khasi mandarin and banana which are organically produced. These fruits along with other agri-products, which are highly preferred by the tourists, are sold at different tourist spots and along the NH-6. Tourism linked food marketing in the state generates opportunities for the farmers in direct marketing of their products as well as it provides income and employment opportunities to the stall owners and vendors.Consumers now increasingly demand specific attributes while purchasing agricultural products. Hence, the present study was conducted in Meghalaya to study the consumer preferences, identify the personal traits influencing preference and estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for agri-products. A total of 220 tourists were personally interviewed at 44 stalls located at different tourist spots and along the NH-6. To find out the factors influencing consumer preference for different agricultural products binary Probit Models were used. Factor analysis was performed to group the similar personal traits that affect the preferences. Tobit Models were used to find out the factors affecting consumers’ WTP. The results revealed that the tourists preferred pineapple the most among different agri-products available at the stall or with the vendors. Local pickle products were mostly preferred by the tourists from NE states. Taste and freshness were perceived to be the important product attributes that influenced the consumer preferences. Factor analysis clubbed the consumers’ personal traits into three factors related to health and environment concern, marketing mix and food safety. WTP was highest in case of pineapple, followed by orange, bamboo pickle, banana and chilli pickle. Hence, fruits like pineapple and orange which are produced organically in the state have good potential to fetch high prices as they are preferred by the health concerned tourists. Organic labelling may be an added feature to be adhered in future.ThesisItem Open Access Value chain analysis of dairy industry in Nagaland(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-07) Chale, Sedeno; Choudhury, AnjuThe dairy industry in India has gone through a sea change, transforming itself from import-dependent and unorganized industry to a self-reliant and well organized industry. Dairy industry is one of the fastest expanding industries in India. Milk production in India has shown a rising trend ever since the inception of Operation Flood Programme in 1970-71. India ranks first in milk production; achieving an annual output of 165.5 million tonnes during 2016-2017.The per capita availability of milk in India was 355 grams per day during 2016-17. However, the situation of the dairy industry in Nagaland is in contrast to the national scenario. The per capita availability of milk in Nagaland during 2016-17 was 91 g/day which was much below the National availability. Local demands for milk and milk products continue to increase, which has been met through imports. Hence, the present study was conducted to estimate the costs and returns from milk production and to identify the structure of local dairy value chain and key actors’ role in the study area and to assess the value addition at different levels of the dairy value chain. To meet the objectives of the study both primary as well as secondary data were collected. Primary data were collected from 100 respondents in the selected villages using pre-tested structured schedule through personal interview for the calendar year 2017-2018. The costs and returns, marketing costs, marketing margin, producer’s share in consumer’s rupee, price spread, marketing efficiency and the value addition of milk were estimated to attain the objectives. The average milk yield per milking cow was 5.02 and 1.70 litres per day for crossbred and local cows respectively. The overall average daily net maintenance cost per milking animal was `143.26 and `53.32, while the net return was `77.70 and `16.86 for crossbred and local cows respectively. Three marketing channels were identified viz., Channel-l (Producer → Consumer) was the most efficient and prominent as 63.35 per cent of the marketed surplus was disposed off through this channel. Also, some margin or profit was gained by the stakeholders at every stage of the each channel through value addition process. The study also inferred that there is a need to manage the value chain in such a manner that the risks and profits are equally shared among the stakeholders. The study concludes that rearing of dairy animals is a profitable venture which can ensure the livelihood security of producers, provide margin to intermediaries and at the same time ensure the consumer’s nutritional security.ThesisItem Open Access Economics of tea cultivation in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2019-03) Wangnow, Nowang; Sethi, BinodiniArunachal Pradesh is the leading non-traditional tea growing state of the north eastern region. At present, there are 62 registered big tea gardens (above 10.12 ha), 50 registered small tea growers and around 4,500 unregistered small tea growers in the state. The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has been encouraging tea cultivation among the farmers under the Chief Minister's Mission Mode Project (MMP) and tea industry in the state is ready for a revolution with more farmers taking up tea cultivation. Therefore, the present research was required to study the trend of tea production, to work out the cost and returns, and to identify the constraints faced by farmers in the cultivation of tea. To achieve the objectives of the study, both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were obtained from sample households through personal interview with the help of pre-tested structured schedule. Secondary data were collected from various publications and journals. Multistage random sampling technique was applied for the present study. Arunachal Pradesh was selected purposively for the study. Tirap district was selected purposively. Deomali and Khonsa block were selected purposively on the basis of having the highest area under tea in the district. Two villages from each block were selected randomly, viz., Borduria, Kaimai, Namsang and Doidam. Thus, a total of 80 respondents were selected from these villages adopting simple random sampling without replacement method. To study the trend of tea production, Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) was computed; for economics of production, Cost concepts, Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Pay Back Period (PBP) were used and for identifying the constraints in tea cultivation, Garrett’s ranking technique was used. The Compound growth rate computed reveals that the area, production and productivity of tea in Arunachal Pradesh have increased by 9.61 per cent, 21.20 per cent and 10.56 per cent respectively; during the period 2000-01 to 2014-15.The establishment cost of tea garden was calculated to be `35980 per ha and the highest cost incurred was on planting materials (35.83%). The operational costs consist of intercultural operation, weeding, pruning, drain management, fence maintenance, tipping, plucking etc., and was observed to be increasing from the first year up to the peak harvesting years. Economic analysis of data shows that the total variable cost was higher than the total fixed cost and per hectare cost of cultivation of tea was costlier in the first year as compared to the later years. This was due to adding-up of the establishment cost. The tea garden started giving returns from the third year onwards and the returns per hectare increased as the tea plants matured. The Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Pay Back Period (PBP) were found to be `82768, 1.52 and 6.2 respectively. Problems of diseases and pest attacks were rated as the major constraint by the farmers, followed by non-availability of finance and lack of proper marketing. Tea plantation as an enterprise is a source of income and employment for the population in the study area and the government must encourage people to take up the activity on a large scale for commercial purpose.ThesisItem Open Access Valuation of Alder based farming system in Nagaland(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-07) Ozukum, Limasunep; Feroze, S. M.Valuation of the environment is necessary for achieving greater sustainability, assessing management efficiency and make possible to include the non-measurable environmental impacts in terms of cost benefit analysis. Hence, the present study was conducted to measure the monetary value of the goods and services provided by the alder based farming system (AFS) at Khonoma village under Kohima district in Nagaland. To study the AFS, two FGDs were conducted in the village and in each FGD, 30 farmers practicing the AFS participated. The area under AFS at Khonoma is approximately 900 ha where the farmers practiced total 23 combinations of different crop mix but three crops mix (potato – maize + naga garlic) were followed by majority of the farmers. The current fallow period reduced from 10-20 years to 5-7 years due to the transition from subsistence farming to commercial farming and population pressure. Direct market price and preventive expenditure method under the revealed preference approach was used to measure the economic value of the goods and services provided by the system. The estimated number of alder trees per farm was 88 and the density was 183 alder trees/ha. The farmers harvested on an average of 7.99 m3 of firewood per farm and the estimated gross return from firewood was `17033.00/farm and `35485.42/ha. The estimated value of the goods (biomass) provided by the system was `38948.74/farm and `3.86 lakh/ha. The estimated value of the nitrogen (N) contributed naturally by the alder trees was `3208.95/farm and `7073.70/ha. If urea would have been applied in the absence of the alder trees, the estimated cost of lime to ameliorate the soil due to the application of urea would be `10656.00 to `12835.80/farm and `22200.00/ha to `26741.25/ha and the estimated associated average environmental damage cost from emission of N2O would be `14.86/farm and `32.53/ha. The total value of the services provided by the alder trees at Khonoma ranged from `14936.81/farm to `17169.61/farm and `30521.59/ha to `35171.82/ha. Hence, it can be concluded that the system sustained for decades due to its importance in terms of goods and services it provides, and the villagers of Khonoma understand it. Thus, the AFS has the potential to be replicated in other jhum areas through dissemination of knowledge on alder tree management.ThesisItem Open Access Performance of agriculture in Sikkim: assessing the satisfaction of farmers(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University - Imphal, 2019) Gamoh, Minam; Feroze, S. M.The performance of the agricultural sector is often judged by the performance of the macro economic variables viz., growth in agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its share in country’s GDP while overlooking the humane side of the production process. But, the question of wellbeing of the farmers matters for the real development as they are at the centre of production process. Sikkim is the first state in the country declared as an organic state in 2016. This is a partial deduction of the negative externalities from the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Hence, the present study was carried out to assess the performance of agriculture sector of the state at macro level and to understand and quantify the satisfaction derived by the farmers from farming and overall life situation. Analysis of secondary data revealed that the share of agricultural Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to GSDP and Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in agriculture decreased over the years indicating the declining importance of agriculture in Sikkim’s economy, though the percentage of people depending on it has remained substantial. The net sown area decreased due to use of land for other purposes. The existing number of agricultural markets in the state was much lesser than the requirement. Hence, use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose should be discouraged and policies need to be initiated to attract capital and for strengthening marketing infrastructure. To study farmers’ satisfaction focus group discussions were followed by personal interviews covering total 70 farmers in East Sikkim and South Sikkim districts of Sikkim. Two approaches viz., receipt-expenditure approach and self-rating approach were applied. About 55.71% of the respondents had deficit farm receipts over its basic expenditure. Similarly, the self-rating approach also revealed that only 47.14% and 38.57% of the farmers were satisfied at farm input and output indicators, respectively, but when the subjective indicators related to farming were included, about 71.43% farmers were found to be satisfied at farming. Majority of the respondents (80%) were satisfied at their overall life due to their satisfaction at indicators included in life situation dimension. The inner happiness outweighed the shortcomings in income. Binary logit model revealed that ownership of livestock, cultivation of high value crops, subsidiary occupation, social group, land holdings, family size were the factors influencing the probability of being satisfied. Level of satisfaction at farming can be improved through premium pricing of organic produce and development of effective bio-pesticides.ThesisItem Open Access Economics of solar powered pumping system in major crops of Rajasthan: a comparative study(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2019-02) Meena, Narendr Kumar; Singh, RamUnder different types of irrigation systems viz., diesel, electric and solar irrigation system kinnow cultivation has been practiced as a major fruit crop by the farmers. Many of the inputs are being used in kinnow production but irrigation plays an important role. Energy requirement for pumping the water is through diesel and electric irrigation system but continuous, sustainable, portable and uninterrupted source of irrigation remains a greater challenge to the farmer due to sky touching fuel prices on one hand and in the clean environment saga of the other. The solar powered irrigation is economically viable and promising option to irrigate the crops. Hence, this investigation was undertaken to work out the cost and returns, resource use efficiency, economic feasibility of kinnow cultivation under diesel, electric and solar irrigation systems and examined the constraints in adoption of solar powered irrigation. A total of eight villages was selected, four each from the Sri-Ganganagar and Bikaner districts of the state Rajasthan as highest number of solar units are installed to irrigate the kinnow orchard. A total of 240 kinnow growers were selected and categorized into three groups viz., solar irrigation system (160 farmers), diesel irrigation system (40 farmers) and electric irrigation system (40 farmers). Primary data was collected for the crop year 2016-17 on well structured and pre- tested through individual interview schedule method. Cost concepts, Cobb-Douglas production function, Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, NPV, PB, BCR and BEP and Garret’s ranking technique were applied to analyze the household data. It is summarized that the establishment cost of kinnow orchard has been worked out of 362646, 462497, 444323 and 830303 under diesel, electric and solar irrigation systems (with and without subsidy), respectively. The operational cost was found to be increased with the age of the plants. The gross cost has been observed lowest under solar irrigation system (with subsidy) compare to other irrigation systems. The net returns of kinnow cultivation with solar irrigation system (with subsidy) was proved to be more profitable compare to other irrigation systems due to no energy cost of fuel and electricity. The allocative efficiency of kinnow cultivation was revealed that family labour, hired labour and fertilizer were found to be more than one signifying that there was further possibility to increase the use of inputs under solar and diesel irrigation systems. Similarly, family labour, hired labour, machine labour and irrigation were also observed to be underutilized signifying that there is additional possibility to increase the use of inputs in order to give more returns under diesel irrigation system. The LCC of solar system was found to be more economical choice over the diesel and electric irrigation systems. All the economic efficiency indicators of the solar irrigation system have shown higher comparative to two other irrigation systems. The major constraints faced by respondents in adoption of solar system were in-adequate subsidy, high initial investment, non-availability of quality spare parts etc.ThesisItem Open Access Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change: a study of rice farms in Manipur.(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2019-02) Laitonjam, Nivetina; Singh, RamClimate change has been felt and experienced in India. Over the years, there is increasing trend in temperature and rainfall is erratic (IPCC, 2007). The changing climate is also noticeable in North Eastern Region (NER). In past years, there were occurrence of drought and flood. In 2006 and 2009, there was severe drought in the whole NER including Manipur (Das et al., 2009) but recently during 2015 and 2017, there was flood in Manipur (Zutshi and Verma, 2017; Chakraborthy and Joshi, 2016). The changing climate and the climatic extremes (drought and flood) mostly affect the agriculture sector as it depends on rainfall and temperature but adaptation can reduce the negative impact and increase benefit (Reilly, 1999). With this scenario, the present study assessed the extent of household vulnerability to climate change, studied the adaptation strategies, analyzed the different factors determining adaptation and to calculate the cost and benefit of adaptation strategies. The study was conducted in Imphal East and Churachandpur district of Manipur where a total of 200 farmers were drawn randomly using probability proportional to size sampling. To achieve the objectives, vulnerability indices were worked out using indicators of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity; binary logit model was used for accessing the factors determining adaptation to climate change and partial budgeting was used to calculate the cost and benefit of adaptation strategies. In Manipur, there was increasing trend in annual rainfall during 1975-2013 but it was insignificant. In minimum and maximum temperature there was significant increase during 1975-2013. Manipur experienced extreme climatic variability viz., moderate wet, very wet and extreme wet on one side and moderate dry, very dry and extreme dry on the other. The vulnerability indices revealed that households in Imphal East district fall in high vulnerability category due to high exposure and sensitivity to climatic variability. During low rainfall, Strategy D1 followed by Strategy D2 were the major adaptation strategies take on by the rice growers in Imphal East district while in Churachandpur district, majority of farmers implemented Strategy D5 and D6. Majority of farmers in Imphal East followed Strategy F1 followed by Strategy F2 during heavy rainfall or flood while in Churachandpur district, majority of farmers implemented Strategy F5 and F6. Among the different adaptation strategies adopted by the farmers during drought, Strategy D1 and Strategy D5 were the most economically feasible strategy in Imphal East and Churachandpur district, respectively. During flood, the farmers adopting Strategy F3 and Strategy F6 received the highest net benefit in Imphal East and Churachandpur district, respectively and these strategies were the most economically feasible one among the different strategies. The study recommends the implementation of only economically feasible strategy among the different strategies for drought and flood situation in the study area.ThesisItem Open Access Crop diversification and its impact on farming households of Manipur: a micro-level study(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2017-11) Aheibam, Monika; Singh, RamDiversification of crops towards high value crop is no more a novel concept to the farming communities of the landlocked state Manipur. It is often suggested as a viable solution to stabilize and raise farm income, increase employment opportunities, nutritional security, conserve and enhance natural resource base when combined with the comparative advantage of the region. Taking into consideration, the gains associated with crop diversification, the present study analyzed the extent; identify the factors and impact of crop diversification at household level. A sample of total 200 households were selected from four villages of Kakching C.D. block, Thoubal district and five villages of Ukhrul C.D. block, Ukhrul district using PPS. Simpson Index of diversification was used to find out the extent of crop diversification while Tobit model was adopted to identify the factors influencing crop diversification. Heckman Sample Selection Model was used to estimate the impact of crop diversification on household’s food and nutritional security. The study found that about 58 per cent of the total households in Thoubal district had high level of crop diversification followed by medium level while in case Ukhrul district about 41 per cent of the total households exhibit high level of crop diversification followed by low level. The significant factors that drive households’ decision to diversify crop in Thoubal district were farm size, dependency ratio, availability of tools and machineries, access to fertilizer, availability of HYV or improved seeds, access to irrigation facility, farming information and market distance whereas, in Ukhrul district, age of the household head, family size, education of the household head, access to plough, access to farming information, training attended and market distance were the significant drivers affecting crop diversification. The study also found that households with sample average characteristics who selects into diversification secures 4.36 per cent higher food security than a household drawn at random from the population with the average set of characteristics. But challenges like labour shortage, inadequate availability of inputs, lack of irrigation facility, proper storage, and marketing facility which will favor or increase crop diversification are still prevalent in different regions of the state due to varied topographical and climatic difference within the state. Hence, improvement of infrastructure (regulated markets, storage, roads) as high value crops are perishable in nature, distinctive location specific inputs, infrastructures and extension services can enhance crop diversification at household level.
