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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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Author: A.N., Neer Somakka × End date: 2021 × Start date: 2020 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    An economic analysis of black pepper production in India, Karnataka and Kerala states
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) A.N., Neer Somakka; Sinha, D.K.
    The present study aims at studying the economic analysis of black pepper production in India, Karnataka and Kerala states. The primary data were collected from 120 black pepper growing farmers from six randomly selected villages of Kodagu district of Karnataka and Wayanad district of Kerala by conducting interview of individual respondents through appropriate schedules. The secondary data were collected from various published and unpublished sources. The data related to area, production, productivity, export and import of black pepper were collected for the period of 1989 to 2017. For detailed analysis, the whole period was divided into two sub-periods i.e., period I (1989-2002), period II (2003-2017). Data related to direction of trade was collected for the period 2009-2017 and for domestic pepper prices from 1995-2018. The analysis of growth rate of area of black pepper in India showed a negative growth rate during Period II with -6.14% which was significant at 5% level. Overall period showed a trend of -0.94% with only positive growth of 1.70% during Period I. Shift of land into non farming lands, wilt devastation as well and dying of old and senile farms might be the reason behind declining area. When the production rates were compared between years, both period II and Overall period showed a negative growth trend of -1.00% and -0.43%, respectively. With the fall in area under black pepper, even the production rates fell drastically. Productivity of black pepper showed a promising positive growth rate in period II with 5.14% despite its negative rate of -0.31 in Period I. When the trend in area, production and productivity of black pepper in Karnataka was examined, it was observed that, during overall period rates of area, production and productivity were a stable positive of 11.40%, 14.83% and 3.51%, respectively. During the period I the productivity showed a negative growth rate of -2.20% but increased in next period to 3.90%. Growth rate of production increased over the years from 9.98% during Period I to 10.73% in Period II. Introduction of better and improved varieties in the state and proper management of wilt might have been the reason for positive growth. Individual districts of the state showed a promising positive growth rates in area, production and productivity, with Kodagu district topping in the list. The growth trend of Kerala revealed the crumbling fate of black pepper in the state. Overall period showed a negative rate in area, production and productivity with -2.31%, -2.47% and -0.16% respectively which was statistically significant at 95% level of probability. There was a drastic change from positive to negative growth in area from period I to period II from 1.39% to -8.97%. The main reason behind this was the decline in pepper vines due to spread of wilt in major parts of Kerala. Even though productivity showed a positive growth in period II with 5.05%, with the efforts to retain the vines by farmers through better application of fertilizers. Major producing districts of the state showed negative growth rate over the years. Idukki and Wayanad which were the most pepper producing districts showed negative growth rate in area, production and productivity. When the annual growth rates of two leading states i.e. Karnataka and Kerala were compared, it was evident that Karnataka which was the second among Indian states in black pepper production has acquired top position and on the other hand, production and productivity of pepper in Kerala state drastically declined over the years. Kerala being prone to natural calamity in recent years has lost millions of vines to floods, heavy rain falls as well as bacterial and fungal disease, it is also affected by pollu beetle which was observed as major menace in gardens. In case of international trade, compound annual growth rates of export of pepper was estimated positive at 0.04% and significant at 5% level of probability. whereas the growth rate of import was positive and significant at 12.69%. With Vietnam emerging as one of the most powerful pepper exporters, India has slipped to fourth position among top exporting countries. Cuddy Della Vella’s index and co efficient of variation was found high for productivity in Period II, production of Period I and area of Period II. Lowest variation was found during period I with regard to area followed by period I in case of production. In case of state wise instability, the highest variation was found for productivity by Karnataka with 67.92% followed by production of black pepper in Karnataka. Instability indices of international trade was analysed and revealed during overall period of export and period I of import showed maximum co-efficient of variation as well as maximum Cuddy Della Vella’s index. First order Markov chain analysis helped in understanding the direction of trade of black pepper. The direction of trade of export showed that, USA being one of the major importers of Indian pepper revealed zero retention capacity. Germany proved to be the most loyal and emerging importer with 40% retention. Whereas the direction of trade of imports showed that Srilanka retained its 100% exporting value and was ahead of other nations, followed by China with 51%. Socio economic analysis of farmers from Kodagu district of Karnataka revealed that majority of sample farmers were in the age group of 36-50 years (43.33%), with literacy level up to graduation (86.66%), and lived in medium size group families (58.33%). They had farming as their main occupation (60%) and possessed on an average of 2-4 hectares (60%). They earned their main income from farming (60%) of about 3-5 lakhs per annum (75%).Socio economic analysis of farmers from Wayanad district of Kerala indicated that majority of sample farmers were in the age group of 50 and more years (43.33%), with literacy level up to graduation (88.33%), and lived in small sized families (67.33%). They had farming combined with service as their main occupation (81.66%) and possessed on an average of 2-4 hectares (76.66%). They earned their main income from farming and services (71%) with about 3-5 lakhs per annum (76.66%). Non-timely availability of inputs like planting material, fertilizers, agrochemical etc, non-settlement of land documents in govt offices, problems in obtaining benefits from the spice board due to absence of title of land, inadequate finance to run the gardens. lack of adequate processing facilities were the major production and financial constraints faced by sample farmers of Kodagu district of Karnataka and Wayanad district of Kerala.