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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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Subject: Agricultural Economics × Author: Mounica, Ganganapalli Chandra × End date: 2018 × Start date: 2016 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    An Economic Analysis of Oilseed Production in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2018) Mounica, Ganganapalli Chandra; Sinha, D. K.
    The present study aimed for analyzing the oilseed production in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. Five villages, namely Koccheruvu and Malkapuram from Dhone block and Katarikonda, Lakkasagaram and Tallagokulapadu villages from Krishnagiri block were selected for the purpose of the study. The three major oilseed crops in Andhra Pradesh i.e., groundnut, sunflower and castor were considered for the study. The sample size comprised of marginal (31), small (47), medium (15) and large (7) farmers and thus, respondents altogether were 100. Among them, 53 were groundnut, 19 sunflower and 28 castor sample growers. The compound growth rates of area, production and productivity of major oilseeds in the state were analyzed for 26 years, divided into 4 periods namely period-I from 1991 to 2000, period-II from 2001 to 2010, period-III from 2011 to 2016 and overall period i.e. period-IV from 1991 to 2016. It was found that area and production growth rates of groundnut were mostly negative in all the periods, but the productivity growth rates were found to be positive during period-II and III. Sunflower area growth rates declined drastically during period-III, resulting in the decrease of production even though the productivity growth rates were positive. Despite drastic shrink in the area of castor, positive production growth rates were due to comparatively large increase in the growth rates of productivity. Economics of oilseeds in the study area stated that the per hectare cost of cultivation of groundnut, sunflower and castor were estimated to be Rs.43233.88, Rs.27386.18 and Rs.18986.23, respectively. Productivity of these oilseeds were found to be 14.82, 11.75 and 14.03 quintals per hectare, respectively. Net returns per hectare were calculated to be Rs.19925.33 in groundnut, Rs.5180.33 in sunflower and Rs.33256.90 in castor cultivation. Maximum gross returns were observed in case of groundnut, however maximum net returns were obtained by castor cultivation. So far as the output-input ratio is concerned, maximum was obtained in case of castor i.e. 2.75, followed by groundnut (1.46) and sunflower (1.19). The resource use efficiency in the production of oilseeds was measured using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. It was revealed that the mean levels of technical, allocative and cost efficiency scores were 0.70, 0.67 and 0.49, respectively for groundnut crop, 0.67, 0.69 and 0.46, respectively for sunflower crop and 0.69, 0.68 and 0.47, respectively for castor crop. Most of the marginal and small farmers were less efficient as compared to medium and large farmers. The efficiency measures observed upon the possible potentials for the improvement of TE, AE and CE. An examination of the factors influencing the production efficiency of oilseeds was done using Tobit analysis. In the production of groundnut, the factors such as education and farm size were found to be statistically significant and positively related to a farm being technically, allocatively and also economically efficient. The variable seed type was found statistically significant and positively related to AE, while it was only positively related to TE and CE. Regarding sunflower production, farm size was found to be statistically significant and positively related to a farm being technically, allocatively and economically efficient. In case of castor production, education was found to be statistically significant and positively related to AE. Family size was statistically significant and positively related to TE measures but negatively related to AE. Farm size was also found to be statistically significant and positively related to a castor farm being efficient in all the ways. Further the variable seed type was found to be statistically significant and positively related to TE measures. An attempt to identify the major constraints in the oilseeds cultivation was made using Garrett ranking technique. Lack of extension services was the major institutional constraint for oilseed crops under the study as a whole. Apart from this, on the whole, pest and disease incidence and small size of the farm in the groundnut and castor cultivation, non-availability of the suitable varieties and lack of remunerative prices in sunflower were identified major technical and socio-economic constraints, respectively. In the present circumstances of declining area under oilseed crops, it seems to be an urgent task to enhance productivity through the use of modern technologies such as development of high yielding, pest and disease resistant and drought tolerant oilseed varieties. Further, the Government and non-government organizations are also required to take appropriate steps towards educating the oilseed cultivators using effective extension tools to extend the technical know-how among the oilseed cultivators, which will certainly raise the income of the oilseed growers through efficient use of resources and also make the country self-reliant in oilseed production. Furthermore, large investments in research and extension, long-term planning and execution are required to promote long-term sustainability of the oilseed production in the study region in particular and also for the state and nation as a whole.