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Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa

In the imperial Gazetteer of India 1878, Pusa was recorded as a government estate of about 1350 acres in Darbhanba. It was acquired by East India Company for running a stud farm to supply better breed of horses mainly for the army. Frequent incidence of glanders disease (swelling of glands), mostly affecting the valuable imported bloodstock made the civil veterinary department to shift the entire stock out of Pusa. A British tobacco concern Beg Sutherland & co. got the estate on lease but it also left in 1897 abandoning the government estate of Pusa. Lord Mayo, The Viceroy and Governor General, had been repeatedly trying to get through his proposal for setting up a directorate general of Agriculture that would take care of the soil and its productivity, formulate newer techniques of cultivation, improve the quality of seeds and livestock and also arrange for imparting agricultural education. The government of India had invited a British expert. Dr. J. A. Voelcker who had submitted as report on the development of Indian agriculture. As a follow-up action, three experts in different fields were appointed for the first time during 1885 to 1895 namely, agricultural chemist (Dr. J. W. Leafer), cryptogamic botanist (Dr. R. A. Butler) and entomologist (Dr. H. Maxwell Lefroy) with headquarters at Dehradun (U.P.) in the forest Research Institute complex. Surprisingly, until now Pusa, which was destined to become the centre of agricultural revolution in the country, was lying as before an abandoned government estate. In 1898. Lord Curzon took over as the viceroy. A widely traveled person and an administrator, he salvaged out the earlier proposal and got London’s approval for the appointment of the inspector General of Agriculture to which the first incumbent Mr. J. Mollison (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Bombay) joined in 1901 with headquarters at Nagpur The then government of Bengal had mooted in 1902 a proposal to the centre for setting up a model cattle farm for improving the dilapidated condition of the livestock at Pusa estate where plenty of land, water and feed would be available, and with Mr. Mollison’s support this was accepted in principle. Around Pusa, there were many British planters and also an indigo research centre Dalsing Sarai (near Pusa). Mr. Mollison’s visits to this mini British kingdom and his strong recommendations. In favour of Pusa as the most ideal place for the Bengal government project obviously caught the attention for the viceroy.

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20211
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Subject: Agricultural Economics × Author: B N, MALATHESH × Start date: 2021 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    AN ECONOmIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF ARECANUT IN TUMKUR DISTRICT KARNATAKA
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2021) B N, MALATHESH; Kumar, Amalendu
    The present study aims at studying an economic analysis of production and marketing of arecanut in the district of Tumkur (Karnataka). The primary data was obtained from 120 farmers spread under 9 selected villages of three taluks on the basis of higher acreage under arecanut cultivation. The study also utilized data of 30 intermediaries like traders, pre-harvest contractors, wholesalers, processors, cooperatives, itinerant traders and retailers from three selected taluks of Tumkur district of Karnataka by conducting interviews with individual respondents. Multistage type of sampling was used to select the ultimate sample and the data required were collected based on the records and recalls of the sampled respondents. The compound annual growth rate of arecanut area in Karnataka as well as India has encountered a positive rate of growth which was 2.1595 and 1.3040 respectively. The growth rate was statistically significant in Karnataka as well as India at 5% level of significance. The compound growth rate for production was observed 3.1744 and 2.2235 in Karnataka and India in the same order and was statistically significant in both the cases at 5% level of significance. The compound annual growth rate of Productivity (kgs/ha) registered an increasing and positive growth rate with 0.9955 and was statistically significant at 5% level of significance in Karnataka and 0.9076 in India which was statistically significant at 5% level. The study finds that in the state and country the arecanut area, production and productivity registered positive growth rate. The analysis of costs and returns reveals that the cost of establishment consists an initial investment in the first year and various fixed costs and Variable costs involved during the gestation period (upto fifth year from planting). The total cost of establishment borne by small, semi-medium and medium farms were Rs.7,83,925.36/- per ha, Rs.8,21,516.80/- and Rs.8,71,610.18/- per ha in the same order. The investment was somewhat higher in medium plantation (Rs.8,71,610.18/- per hectare) than small plantation (Rs.7,83,925.36/- per hectare). The total annual cost of maintenance of arecanut plantation was worked out Rs.2,86,487.95/- per hectare, Rs.2,80,184.43/- per hectare and Rs.2,83,719.86/- per hectare in the same order for small, semi-medium and medium arecanut plantation farm. The NPV on small plantation was found (Rs.16,72,097/-per ha) which was more than the semi-medium (Rs.11,55,033/-per ha) and medium (Rs.9,56,872.7/-per ha) plantation. It might be because of the higher realization of returns in case of small plantations with compared to other farms. The IRR on medium plantation recorded (16 %) was lesser than semi-medium (17.15%) and medium plantation (18%). The lending rate in banks are usually 10 per cent (commercial banks) for the long-term loans and the IRR was found to be greater than the lending rate in all the three types of gardens which depicted that arecanut enterprise had a good repayment capacity in the long run. The analysis established the relationship between higher the rate of return higher the investment and vice versa. The Benefit-cost ratio was worked out and seen to be 1.56, 1.51 and 1.50 in case of small, semi-medium and medium farmers but higher return again observed in case of small farmers. On the basis of analysis concluded that small garden owners gained more from the investment on the arecanut plantation than that of other sampled categories of farmers. The Pay back period was found to be 7.67 years,7.76 years and 8.60 years in case of small, semi-medium and medium plantation. Majorly three marketing channels were observed in the study area. The farmers sold their produce to the traders, cooperatives and the pre harvest contractors in first, second and third channel respectively. For Per quintal of arecanut, the producer’s share in consumers rupee was observed highest in case of channel 2(50.26%) as compared to channel 1 (47.79%) and channel 3(41.22) and the price spread was noticed to be maximum in channel 3 (Rs.48,468.76/-) than channel 1(Rs.42,524.41/-) and channel 2 (Rs.39,552.82/-). In the value addition aspect, the processors are the major actors with incurred highest cost for the areca nut value addition. The major constraints faced by the growers in arecanut cultivation was erratic supply of electricity with 66.17 Garrett mean score, followed by non-availability of skilled labours during peak season, high initial investment, demand on high wage rate, water scarcity, high cost of inputs, poor knowledge on improved varieties and poor knowledge on pest and disease management with mean score of 59.54, 54.04, 48.35, 46.88, 43.60, 41.59 and 39.81 respectively. The prime constraint faced by the growers in marketing aspects was high intervention of middlemen with Garrett mean score of 60.75 and the constraint encountered by the market intermediaries are commercial grading and cleaning with the mean score of 62.25. The overall analysis indicates that some of the constraints are powerful barriers in production and marketing as reported by the sampled respondents.