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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: G V, KIRAN × End date: 2021 × Start date: 2021 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Economic Analysis of Grape Production and its Export performance of India
    (DRPCAU, PUSA, 2021) G V, KIRAN; Singh, K.M.
    The present study was carried out to assess the growth performance in area, production, productivity of grapes in India and Karnataka and export of grapes from India. The study was based on secondary as well as primary data and carried out in the Chikkabalapur district of Karnataka selected purposively considering widespread of horticulture crops, including grapes in the district. Further two talukas of Chikkabalapur, and three villages from each taluka were randomly selected. Sixty farmers from each taluka were selected randomly, thus, a total of 120 farmers was selected for detailed study. Out of these 120 farmers, 70 were growing Dilkhush variety and 50 Bangalore blue variety of grapes. The sample farmers were classified as marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha) and semi-medium (2-4 ha) based on size of orchards for detailed study. Compound growth rates of area, production and productivity of grapes for Karnataka were estimated to be 3.09%, 3.28% and 0.18%, respectively, while growth in productivity was constant during the period of investigation. At national level, growth rates of area, production and productivity was computed to be 3.0%, 2.46% and (-) 0.52% respectively. It was observed that growth rates of area, production and productivity were higher for Karnataka. India exported 253619.02 MT of fresh grapes amounting to about Rs 233765.09 during 2018-19 which was about 8.34% of total production, up from 1.95% of its total grapes production in 2000-01. The compound growth rates of volume of export were 6.08% per annum and 9.19% per annum in value term. Major export destinations from India during 2019-20 were Netherlands (36.14%), Russia 12.20%, UK (9.44%), Bangladesh (6.33%), Germany (6.28%), United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arab 5.16% and 3.55%, respectively. So far as costs and returns from the grape production are concerned; in case of Dilkhush variety, a sum of Rs. 596954.03/acre was incurred as overall establishment cost. Category-wise analysis of costs revealed that Rs 609101 /acre, Rs.596304.39 /acre and Rs.585456.71/acre incurred as overall establishment cost for marginal, small and semi-medium farmer respectively. The fixed costs contributed a major share in the overall establishment costs in all three categories of farmers. Maintenance costs incurred during gestation period were found to be Rs.120118.33 (19.72%) for marginal, Rs. 121328.61 (20.35%) for small and Rs, 122147.95 (20.86%) for semi-medium farms. Establishment costs of Bangalore Blue variety of grapes indicated the similar trend. However, establishment cost in case of Bangalore blue was higher compared to Dilkhush on account of higher plant population but maintenance cost was less as the plants were resistant to diseases and pests. Cash flows for both the varieties were found to be positive at 10% discount rate. In case of Dilkhush per acre discounted NPW was Rs.1954798 for overall farms. Farm size-wise NPWs were assessed to be Rs.2072558.30 for Marginal, Rs.1930233.03 for small and Rs.1861602.68 for semi-medium farms for the entire economic lifespan of 15 years, indicating that cultivation of Dilkhush variety was economically viable enterprise. For Bangalore blue variety results revealed that the per acre discounted NPW was Rs. 492245.56 for overall farms; Rs.506853.30 for the Marginal, Rs.505918.41 for small and Rs.463964.98 for semi-medium farms for economic lifespan of 15 years. The B-C ratios for both Dilkhush and Bangalore Blue orchards were more than one for all farms as well as for various categories, this confirmed that the grape cultivation was a profitable venture. The IRR was 42.33% for overall farms for Dilkhush and 21.66% for Bangalore blue orchards which were higher than prevailing rate of bank interest. The same trend was observed for other size groups too. A probe into technical efficiency (TE) indicated that those growing Dilkhush variety were operating at an average of 68% TE level. The elasticity associated with the seedling, fertilizers, manures and expense on labour for pruning were positively significant and the elasticities only for fertilizers and labour used for pruning were more than one indicated that one unit increase on investment on these inputs would enhance the yield of grapes by more than one unit in case of Dilkhush grapes farming. The mean TE for Bangalore blue grapes was 83% for overall farms and only manure was found to be statistically significant with elasticity more than one indicating that one unit increase in manure can boost the production by 1.28 units. Constraints reported by respondents revealed that rising costs of inputs was major problem for grapes growers followed by lack of skilled labour followed by inadequate credit availability from financial institutions, scarcity of water, climatic changes etc. As orchards require skilled labour and establishment of orchards are capital intensive and unavailability of skilled labour and credit facilities were given first and second ranks. Damages due to poor climatic conditions also damage the crops resulting poor yield hence, was ranked fifth. Other problems reported were pests and diseases, lack of timely availability of inputs, poor technical knowledge about suitable chemical use and irregular supply of electricity. Problems in marketing revealed the price fluctuation as the major constraint followed by need for proper storage due to perishable nature of the produce. Other marketing related problems were high intervention of market middlemen, inadequate processing facility and poor handling and transportation. Addressing properly the prevailing constraints in the area under investigation, yields of the produce could be boosted and respectable income could be earned by the farmers involved in the grapes farming.