Loading...
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.
Browse
9 results
Search Results
ThesisItem Open Access Impact of Crop Insurance Scheme in selected districts of Bihar: A micro level study.(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Kumari, Mrinali; Singh, K. M.At micro-level investigations have been made to estimate the adopters and non- adopters of crop insurance scheme in East Champaran and Sheohar districts of Bihar. The study was based on primary data obtained from adopter and non-adopter of crop insurance. These districts were selected as the highest number of adopter of crop insurance were found in East Champarn district and lowest number of adopter of crop insurance in Sheohar district of Bihar. Further, twenty five adopters and twenty five non-adopter of crop insurance were selected randomly from each of the two selected district. In this way, altogether 100 respondents (50 adopter and 50 non-adopter of crop insurance) were selected for the investigation in the present study. The study revealed that the large proportion of both adopter and non-adopter farmers belonged to the age group 45 years and above 40.00 per cent in case of adopter and 44.00 per cent in case of non-adopter. Majority of respondents were secondary education in both adopter and non-adopter categories i.e. 32.00 and 28.00 per cent respectively in both the districts as a whole. Income level, in both the districts, the adopter of crop insurance constituted more than the non-adopter of crop insurance irrespective of the annual income except for the highest income group (more than 150000), were found to be 14.00 percent in case of adopter and 32.00 per cent in case of non-adopter in both the districts as a whole. It was also tried to know the willingness to pay insurance premium by adopters of crop insurance. It was found that only 8.00 per cent of the respondents were willing to pay crop insurance premium in East Champaran. Similar trend was observed in Sheohar district. It was also found that most of the respondents got credit from non-institutional source i.e. private money lenders who charged high interest. They did not go to the governmental institutions due to lengthy process and were time consuming. Satisfaction level of the respondent was also worked out and it was found that most of the marginal farmers of both the districts were un-satisfied (44.00 per cent) and among small this percentage was as high as (52.00 per cent). Overall satisfaction level of both the districts under study was equal (16.00 per cent). It was also attempted to know which socio-economic variable play an important role in adoption and non-adoption of crop insurance. For this purpose discriminant analysis was carried out. The criteria for evaluation the relative contribution of each variable as discriminator between two groups are the values of standardized canonical co-efficient, structure co-efficient. It was found that among eight factors, five made positive impact and three negative to discriminate between adopter and non-adopter. The standardized co-efficient for awareness (b=0.847), satisfaction level (b=0.583) and income level (b= -0.329) are the highest contributors. To find out the constraints to adoption of crop insurance, Garrett ranking technique was used and it was found that lack of capacity to pay premium was common in both districts at second most important. However, shorter period of time allowed by the banker for applying for crop insurance was rank first in East Champaran and in case of Sheohar district the rank first given to tedious and time consuming procedures for crop insurance.ThesisItem Open Access Value Chain Study of Rice: A Comparative Study of Bihar and Karnataka States, (India)(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Pavithra, A. S.; Singh, K. M.The present investigation was aimed for analyzing comparative value chain addition of rice production and marketing in Bihar and Karnataka States,(India). The study was based on primary data collected from 300 stakeholders selected using simple random sampling method from two purposively selected districts East Champaran and Davangere of Bihar and Karnataka, respectively, duly categorized into paddy growers, paddy wholesalers, millers, rice wholesalers, rice retailers and consumers. In the study, farmers were the first value adding actors, farmers could earn on an average of the gross return per hectare was Rs 44,641.8 (East Champaran) and Rs 1,32,117.26 (Davangere) by cultivating paddy. The farmers sell produce after meeting their family consumption and a little quantity was left with them as marketable surplus. They added value of Rs 115.71 per quintal by drying, Rs 86.77 per quintal by selling in markets and Rs 127.27 per quintal by storing (speculation) of produce to sell in future in case of East Champaran district and in case of Davangere district, the value addition was comparatively larger then East Champaran, indicating thoroughly Rs 132.85 per quintal, Rs 123.9 per quintal and Rs 165.9 per quintal of paddy, respectively. Farmers were not aware of value chain system theoretically, but practically some of them were following these methods. Paddy wholesalers were the second important key players in rice value chain. Paddy wholesalers used to collect paddy from local farmers in both districts under investigation and supplied to the rice millers in the same areas. The wholesaler added value of average Rs 65.8 per quintal and Rs 75.67 per quintal in case of both districts under study, respectively. Rice millers were the highest and important value adder in rice value chain, rice millers were added value in three stages purchasing of paddy, milling of paddy and selling of rice. Total selling cost was found Rs 36.39 per quintal and Rs 43.58 per quintal in East Champaran (Bihar) and Davangere (Karnataka) districts, respectively. The value addition by rice millers in East Champaran district was estimated about 81.21 per cent and 26.55 per cent, shared by marketing and milling, while it was 60.63 per cent and 32.95 per cent in Davangere district, respectively. Rice wholesalers were observed as the fourth actor in value chain, they gained less value addition, showing about 10.69 per cent (323.92 Rs/ quintal) and 11.05 per cent (412.79 Rs / quintal) with respect to rice purchase price, in both of East Champaran and Davangere districts, respectively. The profit earned from rice was Rs 2.38 per kg (East Champaran) and Rs 3.11 per kg (Davangere). Rice retailers were found to be final value chain actor in the rice value chain and they received less value addition among all actors. The profit earned by marketing of rice was estimated to be Rs 2.57 per kg and Rs 3.62 per kg of rice in both the districts under study. Consumers were the ultimate person who had designated position in value chain, even though they were not main actor in value chain. It was observed that the trend for last three years of area, production and productivity of paddy produce were positive and constant growth, the productivity was found to be 42.91 quintal/ha in East Champaran, whereas in Davangere district, it was observed slightly decreasing trend, it might be due to diversification from paddy crop to other cash crops/plantation crops. Lack of remunerative price, natural calamities and release of canal water and labour shortage etc. were identified as major constraints in production of paddy. Major marketing problems faced by farmers in the study area were unstable price, financial problem, transportation facility, middlemen etc. In case of paddy wholesalers, procurement and other expenses, financial problem, market instability and price fluctuation etc. were accounted for major constraints in the study area. Market fluctuation, financial problem, irregular supplies of produce, government policy were located as major constraints which were faced by rice millers in both the selected study area. The wholesalers revealed financial problem, procurement and other expenses, price fluctuation, market instability in both the district as meet from above. In case of rice retailers it was noticed that price fluctuation, financial problem, distant market, market instability, and competition were the main problems mainly faced by rice retailers, in both the study area. Some constraints were also reported by the consumers which were artificial scarcity, variation in price, and low quality of produce, adulteration, in both the districts of both the states under study. The problems/constraints as stated above might be addressed and decision steps must be taken by the concerned authorities/ officials to raise the income level of the farming community.ThesisItem Open Access Migration of Labour in North Bihar - Socio-economic factors and Impact.(Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2014) Bhushan, Vidya; Sinha, D. K.Migration from rural to urban areas has increased in recent years, especially from North-Bihar. This indicates that most of the developed regions of India have been utilising labour force of backward areas. An effort has been made to examine the labour migration with details of socio-economic factors and its impact. The study was based on primary data, carried out in three villages namely, Rasiari, Kathal, Bhagras of Kiratpur block of Darbhanga district. A sample of 60 respondents,constituting 30 migrants and 30 non-migrants. The analysis of socio-economic variables revealed that the most of migrants belonged to 30-40 years age group (40%), scheduled caste being 53.3%, medium size family accounting for 63.33% of migrants, 40% of sample migrants acquiring matric level education and 76.6% them owned less than 0.5 acre farm size. It was found that companies’ (private business organisation) labour work was considered as the main occupation for almost 50% of migrants, while non-migrants (83.4%) had farming as their main occupation. Remittances contribution was higher than 90% of total annual income of migrant households. Per household Overall annual income of migrant household was enumerated as Rs.103091.59, comparatively high than that of nonmigrant households (Rs.77492.0). Migrant household’s annual expense (Rs.56826.2) per household was comparatively low than that of non-migrant household (Rs.56976.3), It may probably be due to more expenses on agriculture and allied by non-migrant household, though infrastructure was same for both households. Larger proportion of migrants (60%) rushed to north-India viz. Haryana & Punjab, Delhi, and Rajasthan. Both types of migration occurs viz. Seasonal (short term) and long term. Inter-state male migration has been on rise over the years. The analysis of factors of migration showed that income and education exerted positive impact i.e one unit increase in income and education separately, increased the probability of migration by 99.9% and 23.1%, respectively. The negative impact was observed on migration of labour in the study area on account of several factors such as age, cultivable land, loan avail, number of dependent under study. Furthermore, it is revealed in one unit increase in age, reduced the probability of migration by 30.6%, whereas the probability of migration stepped up to 99.1% with one unit decrease in cultivable land. Impact of migration is supposed to have some influence on economic condition of migrant households. It was pointed out that that remittances received from the migrants led to higher standard of living of migrant family. It has been reported in the study that received remittances have increased the consumption of high valued food. It has encouraged the migrant family towards better education of their children. Housing conditions as well as non-farm assets of migrant households were found to improved than that of corresponding non-migrant households. Migration had also impacted positively on health care.ThesisItem Open Access Dynamics of maize production technology- A macro level study(Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2014) Shree, Neha; Sinha, D. K.The present study “Dynamics of Maize Production Technology-A Macro Level Study” has been undertaken to examine growth in area, production, and productivity of maize in the state of Bihar. The study was based on secondary data. Maize is the third most important cereal crop in Bihar next to rice and wheat. In Bihar maize is cultivated in three seasonskharif, rabi, and summer. Especially during rabi, its production is high due to optimum temperature, long photo-period availablity, better nutrients, irrigation, cultural management, less infection of diseases and pests. In Bihar, maize is cultivated over an area of around 0.65 million hectares and produces 1.55 million tonnes of maize. Major maize producing dristricts in the state are Khagaria, Madhepura, Begusarai, Saharsa and Katihar. Winter (rabi) maize is cultivated mainly in Bihar with production of 1.02 million tonnes, about 65% of the total maize production in the state. This provides unique position to Bihar state in the national maize market with most of maize processing units in north India depending highly on maize from the Bihar state for a significant period of time. With the state productivity much higher than national level, area under maize cultivation is expected to rise as the availability of good quality maize offers significant opportunities for entrepreneurs in the state. The study revealed that the area under maize crop was 882 thousand hectares in 1980-81, which decreased to 600 thousand hectares in 2011-12.Percentage share of maize crop was estimated 8.02% in 2011-12. Growth rate of area was found maximum (5.72%) in zone II during period III and growth rate of production was comparatively larger (10.42%) in zone II during period I. Further the growth rate of productivity was ascertained maximum (7.94%) during period I of zone II. Co-efficient of variation in area for different periods under study was calculated to measure the stability in area of maize crop. Across the different zones, zone I alone showed relatively stable increase in area with co-efficient of variation at 10.16 per cent during overall period i.e. period IV. Variation in area between decade II and decade I showed that the percentage change was positive in zone II (19.88%) and negative in zone I, zone IIIA, and zone IIIB. Variation in area between decade III and decade II similar to that of decade II and decade I reported that the variation in area of maize was 29.15 per cent in zone II during decade III over decade II. It is evident that for the state as a whole, variation percentage was sharply declined within decade I (-21.10%). Within decade II, variation percentage was revealed positive (9.44%) in Bihar. Variation in area of maize within decade III was ascertained low as much as only 3.63 per cent. Analysis of inter-decennial variation in area of HYV maize reported that variation in area under HYV of maize between decade III and decade II was positive (4.23%) in zone II but in all other zones, the estimated variation percentage were negative. For the state as a whole, intra-decennial variation in area of HYV maize showed that variation percentage increased to 20.96% within decade III as compared to decade II. Among various problems of maize processing industries, erratic power supply was observed as the most severe problem with average score of 84.00 in Garret ranking, followed by problem of lack of technical knowledge, lack of improved machinery and lack of popularization of product with average scores of 61.00 , 57.80 and 56.60, respectively.ThesisItem Open Access Production and Marketing of Honey in Samastipur District of Bihar- An Economic Analysis(Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2014) Mehrotra, Sneha; Mishra, R. R.The present study aims at analysing economic aspects related to production and marketing of honey in Samastipur district of Bihar. The study is based on primary data collected from 60 beekeepers spread over four randomly selected villages of two randomly selected blocks of Samastipur district of Bihar by interviewing individual respondents who were classified into small, medium, and large beekeepers on the basis of number of bee colonies. The average age of beekeepers was observed to be around 36 years. More than three-fourths (76.67 per cent) of the sample beekeepers belonged to medium families having 5 to 7 members. Larger proportion of beekeepers were educated upto secondary level. Majority (66.67 per cent) of the respondents were from backward caste. On an average sample beekeepers owned 2.15 acres of land. As many as 37 out of 60 beekeepers practiced stationary beekeeping all of whom were small beekeepers while 23 of them practiced migratory beekeeping most of whom were either medium or large beekeepers. An average beekeeper household raised 1.4 cattle and 0.7 buffalo. Majority (65.00 per cent) of the beekeepers were engaged in farming and livestock rearing apart from beekeeping and 28.33 per cent of the beekeepers earned their livelihood from crop production and beekeeping. It was observed that total cost, gross income, net income and honey production per bee colony increased with increasing size of apiary. However, cost of production per kg of honey was found to be 34.88, 26.19, 31.92 and 38.54 in case of stationary beekeepers (small apiary), migratory beekeepers (small apiary), medium beekeepers and large beekeepers categories, respectively. Total cost, gross income, net income and honey production per bee colony were found to be higher in case of migratory beekeeping i.e. 905.71, 5850.88, 4945.17 and 34.71 kg, respectively. On the contrary, cost of production was higher ( 34.88/kg) in stationary beekeeping. The analysis indicated that migratory beekeeping was more efficient than stationary beekeeping. B:C ratio was higher for larger size apiary and migratory mode of beekeeping i.e. 5.50 and 6.46, respectively. The share of producer in consumers’ rupee was observed to be lower in channel I (33.05 per cent) than that in channel II (49.21 per cent). It was further observed that total marketing cost was higher in channel I ( 65.22) as compared to that in Channel II ( 62.97). Marketing efficiency for channel I was estimated as 0.49 which was less than that for channel II i.e. 0.97. Hence, channel II was found to be more efficient in comparison with channel I. Lack of knowledge with respect to management of apiary, shortage of beehives and forage, diseases of honey bees, financial problem, lack of proper adoption of technological know-how and lack of skilled man power, lack of beekeeping equipment and materials and death of colony were major constraints in production of honey. Major marketing problems faced by beekeepers in the study area were lower price of honey, problem in management during extreme conditions, transportation problem and lack of proper storage facilities. Measures suggested for improvement by the beekeepers were the need for provision of better marketing facilities and spray of ash dust around beehive stand for some pests.ThesisItem Open Access Performance of WSHGS in Bihar with respect to the Saharsa district.(RAU, Pusa (Samastipur), 2013) Singh, Kumudini; Mishra, R. R.ThesisItem Open Access Income and employment pattern in the rural areas of Hajipur (Vaishali district): a micro approach.(RAU, Pusa (Samastipur), 2013) Kumar, Jay Prakash; Mishra, R. R.ThesisItem Open Access Economics of production and marketing of mushroom in Pusa block of Samastipur district(RAU, Pusa (Samastipur), 2013) Arjun; Sinha, D. K.ThesisItem Open Access Micro level study of Economics of Production and Marketing of principal Vegetable crops in North Bihar.(Rajendra Agricultural University, 2011) Kumar, sandeep; Yadav, R. N.;Vegetable is known as the most essential item in our daily meal as it contains all the necessary nutrients of balanced diet. A good quality of vegetables also has medicinal as well as aesthetic value. Besides this, in agricultural business, it is also considered as remunerative crops which provide comparatively better return to farmers within short period. The present study is an attempt to examine the economics and marketing of principal vegetables in North Bihar. In present study detail study has been made to assess the importance of vegetables in cropping pattern, economics of its production, production efficiency of different factors, seasonal variation in arrivals and prices of vegetables and producer’s share in consumers’ rupee in vegetable marketing. For the study, multistage stratified random sampling technique was used for selection of the sample. North Bihar having large part of operational holdings under vegetable crops was selected purposively as study area and from North Bihar, two districts Vaishali and Samastipur we also selected in the same pattern. Further, from each district one block that is, Mahua from Vaishali and Dalsingsarai from Samastipur were selected randomly and from each block three villages which make total 6 villages were also selected randomly. Finally, from these six villages, 20 sample farmers from each village consisting all the three size groups that is marginal, small and medium were selected randomly for the study. Primary data was collected by survey method with the help of schedule and questionnaires. Cobb-Douglas production function technique was used to examine the efficiency of the factors of production. Similarly exponential trend equation and Shepherd’s formulae were also used to work out compound growth rate and marketing efficiency of vegetables. Findings of the study reveal that vegetables alone constituted, on an average 16 percent of the operational holding which was nearly 18 percent under marginal, 15 percent in small and 6 percent in medium farm which indicates inverse relationship between farm size groups and area under vegetables. Economics of major vegetable crops indicates that total cost per hectare of cultivation of cauliflower accounted to be Rs.36019.00 out of that operational cost was nearly Rs. 25669.00 and 10350.00 showing 71 percent and 29 percent of the total cost respectively. Under different size groups of farms more or less similar percentage of operational as well as overhead charges of total cost was seen. Input-output ratio over cost C under cauliflower cultivation was found more than one on all farms as well as on different size groups showing economic rationality of the cauliflower cultivation in the study area. It is worth mentioning that along with cauliflower all the other vegetables like cabbage, brinjal, tomato, onion and vegetables of cucurbitaece family etc recorded input-output ratio over cost C more than one showing economic viability of vegetable cultivation in the study area. Net return obtained over cost C in case of all vegetables were also accounted to be quite high which prompted farmers of the study area to go for vegetable cultivation and earning better return per hectare. While analyzing the production efficiency of different factors of vegetable production, it was observed that in case of cauliflower regression coefficients of the variables like area of the crop, bullock labour, machine labour and seed were found to be positive and significant at one percent level of probability which indicates that these variables played an important role in cauliflower cultivation. In other vegetable crops also most of the important factors were found positive and significant at one percent level of probability indicating their major role in cultivation of concerned vegetables. In the study, attempt has also been made to estimate the variation in arrivals and prices of vegetables in the market. The study reveals that generally arrivals of the vegetables were found comparatively larger during the harvest period as compared to the months when concerned vegetables were not harvested. The prices of vegetables vary inversely that is when arrival was high; prices were low and vice-versa. In marketing of vegetables, in the area four marketing channels were identified that is (i). Channel I: Producer → Consumer (ii). Channel II: Producer →Retailer → Consumer (iii). Channel III: Producer → Commission Agent → Retailer → Consumer (iv). Channel IV: Producer → Commission Agent →wholesaler→ Consumer. Further, it was observed that there was inverse relationship between the arrivals of various vegetables in the market and their prices, producer’s share in consumers’ rupee and marketing efficiency decreased with increasing length of marketing channels. On the other hand total marketing cost increased with increasing length of marketing channels.