Farm Size Categories Research Articles

Level of Income, Expenditure Behaviour and Poverty among Farming Community in Rural Bihar

During the mature green revolution period, i.e., 1980s the trends of agricultural sector shows a favourable growth in Bihar as compared to some major state even. However, increasing costs and declining farm income of the farming community in Bihar is not enough to cater to their farm and domestic expenditure, and hence a lot of people migrated from the state for the livelihood survive. Still Bihar is the one of the poorest state in the countryside, even a big hope for agriculture development. The present study examined the income, expenditure pattern and its distribution with poverty prevailing among the different farm size categories in rural areas of Bihar. A significant variation in the income and expenditure level of different farm-size categories was observed. It shows the underdevelopment of the state, where more than 60 per cent of the expenditure occurred on the non-durable items for the farmers. The small farmers were left with no amount of surplus compared to the larger farmers. It is a pity that about 64 per cent of the average farmers were below the poverty line in the state during 2010–11. Ensuring effective distribution, allocation and implementation of various welfare schemes in order to brace the smaller farmers is a matter of prime concern and if left unattended will drag the economy of Bihar towards ambiguous development, where there is only one source of income in the absence of industries and other sectors as well.

Strategies for Accelerated Adoption of Improved Farm Technologies and Allied Enterprises for Income Enhancement

The present study was conducted in Jagraon block of Ludhiana district of Punjab during the year 2014 to analyse the adoption of improved farm technologies and allied enterprises by the farmers. A sample of 210 farmers was selected, representing all the farm size categories in a cluster of four villages. The data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule. It was found that agriculture in these villages was characterised by small land holdings with prevalence of rice-wheat cropping system with lesser adoption of subsidiary enterprises and over dependence on farm mechanisation. Strategies for adoption of recommended farm technologies and allied enterprises include the intensification of extension activities supported with institutional credit, creating marketing and agro-processing facilities. Integrated farming system is advocated as an option for income enhancement of marginal and small farmers. Rural unemployed youth should be imparted vocational trainings to facilitate adoption of allied farm enterprises. Marginal and small farmers must be encouraged to use farm machinery on custom hiring basis to curtail the input costs.

Incidence and Determinants of Poverty among Marginal and Small Farmers-A Case Study of Kaithal District

The present paper attempts to examine the incidence of poverty among marginal and small farmers in rural areas of Kaithal district of Haryana. For the purpose of the present study, one village has been selected from each development block of the district on random basis. A representative proportional sample of 173 households comprising the marginal and small farmers has been taken for the survey. The incidence of income based poverty shows that by taking the poverty measure of 50 per cent per capita income of the state, 98.14 per cent of total farming population is living below the poverty line. On the basis of the World Bank's Extreme poverty measure of $1.25 per person per day, 87.10 per cent of the sampled farm population is living below the poverty line. The incidence of consumption based poverty shows that by taking the 50 per cent of per capita consumption expenditure of the state as poverty line 94.62 per cent of total farming population is living below the poverty line. On the basis of the World Bank's Extreme poverty measure of $1.25 per person per days 84.26 per cent of the total farming population is living below poverty line. Incidence of poverty among the marginal farm-size category is more than that of the small farm-size category. The family-size, farm-size, number of earners, per capita income from subsidiary occupations and per capita expenditure on education are the main determinants of income based poverty. The number of dependents, income, education level and repayment of loans are the main determinants of consumption based poverty.

Eco-efficiency of cotton-cropping systems in Pakistan: an integrated approach of life cycle assessment and data envelopment analysis

This study investigates the balance between economic and environmental performances of cotton cropping systems in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Eco-efficiency analysis was performed using Data Envelopment Analysis to integrate economic and environmental performances, which were assessed through life cycle assessment. All 169 cotton cropping systems were individually analyzed. Special attention was paid to farm size as a possible factor of performances variation. The results show that pesticides and fertilizer use, field emissions, field operations and irrigation are the main sources of environmental impacts. It reveals that production of 1 kg of seed cotton delivered at farm gate generates a global warming potential of 3–3.4 kg CO2e and requires 5–6 L of water. Eco-efficiency estimates of small, medium and large sized farms computed on per hectare basis are 0.86, 0.74 and 0.78, respectively, and 0.51, 0.52 and 0.50 respectively when computed on the basis of kilogram of seed cotton. No significant differences of eco-efficiencies per functional unit were observed across farm size categories. Small farms' higher profits counterbalance their significantly higher levels of eutrophication, and balance its overall eco-efficiency with other farm categories. A trade-off analysis tried to identify the farms that would epitomize sustainable cotton production; it shows that it is almost impossible to combine high economic return with low environmental impacts under current context. However some recommendations have been formulated with regards to pesticides and fertilizers use, which may be significantly reduced with no effect on yield, and potentially reduce environmental impacts.

Impact of national food security mission-pulses on legumes production performance in Punjab, India

Punjab predominantly being an agrarian state contributes maximum of wheat and rice to the central pool. Renowned researchers are continuously emphasizing on the diversification of Punjab agriculture. In order to promote pulse production in the country, National Food Security Mission-Pulses programme was started in 2007-08. The present investigation was undertaken in district Ferozepur, selected under NFSM-pulses. The analysis of primary data revealed that the area and production of pulses increased on all the farm size categories with maximum increase in area on small farms. The study emphasized to develop efficient marketing mechanism for pulses to widen their production base.

Farm Structure And Efficiency In The Hungarian Agriculture

Abstract It has long been the subject of empirical researches to examine the technical efficiency on farm (micro) level. Two main methods are most often used in the empirical literature: the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) based on linear programming, and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) introduced by Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt (1977). The present study aimed to investigate the technical efficiency of farms involved in agricultural activities in Hungary using the DEA-method and the data from the Hungarian FADN database. The technical efficiency was examined based on legal forms, farm size categories and the type of farming between 2001 and 2013.

A comparison of farming practices and performance for wheat production in Haryana, India

An extensive stratified survey was conducted in two different wheat growing seasons in all districts of Haryana (India) to evaluate current agronomic practices and assess performance in wheat production with the purpose of identifying where farmers can make further changes in practices. The survey involved 116 villages (927 farmers) in 2008 and 103 villages (823 farmers) in 2010. Different sized farming operations from each village were surveyed to represent all socio-economic categories of farmers. Agronomic inputs (tillage method, fertilizer practice, variety choice, time of sowing, irrigation, and rotation practice) and yield data are presented as mean data, and individual farmer's information is represented by regression tree (RT) analysis to highlight primary associations between cropping management and wheat yield and the technical efficiency (TE) measure. TE was calculated using the key agronomic variables obtained from the survey, and the farms with the highest TE values were assessed as having the superior ‘best practice’ technology. In the districts where the rice–wheat rotation was adopted, there was an overall higher level of TE. Where rice–wheat rotation is the main cropping practice (for example in Kaithal and Kurukshetra), many of the farmers have adopted zero tillage farming methods, with one third of farmers in Kaithal using zero tillage for planting wheat. In contrast, in Sirsa district where cotton was favoured by the farmers as their monsoon season crop, there were no farms where zero tillage was practised. Also, there was also no zero tillage farming where the pearl millet/cluster bean rotation was used as the monsoon season crop. In most cases farmers use a two applications of nitrogen fertilizer applied post-emergence, particularly in the rice–wheat and cotton–wheat districts. The survey also showed that application of potassium fertilizer and use of zinc is regionally specific and this is consistent with the soil maps that show the potential for deficiency of these nutrients in Haryana districts. Sowing in the rice–wheat districts was mostly at the recommended time in early November. The highest number of irrigations occurred in the districts using the pearl millet–wheat and cluster bean–wheat rotations where sprinkler irrigation is the main application practice. The analysis of TE provides a useful comparison when the 5 different farm size categories are separated. There was no difference in TE with farm size, suggesting the message concerning best practice for wheat production is available to and adopted by farmers irrespective of scale of operation. This analysis highlights where extension messages could be focused, whether for zero tillage in the non-rice districts, management of macro-nutrients, or the targeted use of micronutrients.

Measuring Technical Efficiency of Agricultural Inputs

The increasing use of modern technological inputs like fertilizers, pesticides and manure under the condition of unstable irrigation affects the agricultural productivity. The objective of the study is to determine the technical efficiency of agricultural inputs and input–output ratio. The study is conducted in Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun districts of Jhansi division in Uttar Pradesh. The sampled farms were differentiated on the basis of soil type. In order to find the technical efficiency, the Cobb-Douglas production function method was applied in which Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimators were converted into the Corrected Ordinary Least Square (COLS) estimators. To examine the technological equality between two districts, Chow Test has been used. The selected farm size categories are marginal (up to 2.5 acre land), small (> 2.5 acre land to 5 acre land) and large (> 5 acre land).

Integrated Supply Chain Management of Vegetables in Jhansi Division of Uttar Pradesh

Objectives of the study are to examine the trends and percent growth rates for the area, production and productivity of different vegetable crops; ii) to estimate the trend for arrival and market prices of different vegetable crops; iii) to calculate the yearly arrival index for vegetables arrival in selected mandies, and iv) to judge integrated supply chain management of vegetables marketing in selected region. The study has been made on backward division of Uttar Pradesh named Jhansi division. Division comprises three districts: Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun on the basis of secondary and primary information. The secondary information is collected for area, production, productivity, arrival and market prices of tomato, brinjal, potato, onion, okra, bottle gourd, torai and cauliflower in Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun districts of Jhansi division. The primary information has been collected from Lalitpur district. There are six blocks in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh (UP) viz. Bar, Birdha, Jakhoura, Madavra, Mahroni, and Talbehat. Two stage stratified random sampling method has been adopted to collect the information from vegetables growers of three blocks i.e., Mahroni, Birdha and Jakhoura. Total 114 vegetables growers categorized marginal (up to 2.5 acre land), small (> 2.5 acre land to 5 acre land) and Large (> 5 acre land) farmers, 22 middlemen (aadatiya) and 20 retailers have chosen to complete the present study.
 In the selected study area vegetables growers were not grading their produce. They picked vegetables from field and make bora bandi to carry in mandi. On the other hand the middlemen and retailers were grading the purchased vegetables for earning maximum profit. Preferred transportation modes were tractors, buses and taxies. But for retail selling cycle and haththela were mostly used. Vegetables growers did not store vegetables in home and warehouse. In Lalitpur district tomato production was highest in 2009-10, it was 2821 metric ton (MT). It was due to rise in area. Lalitpur and Jhansi districts have potential to increase the productivity of tomato through better governmental support. Percent Growth Rates (PGR) informed regarding percentage change in present year compare to previous year. The total arrival indicated presence of vegetables in the different vegetable mandies and arrival index presented vegetables consistent presence in the mandies i.e., higher the index higher amount of quantity arrived in the mandies. Under the marketing chain management the channel II was found most favored channel in the study area as maximum (about 90%) quantity of produce was sold through this channel by small and large farmers. Though channel I was mostly liked by marginal farmers.
 Middlemen purchased vegetables at 6 percent commission on per quintal basis from producers and sold to retailer by charging 3 percent mandishulk on per quintal basis. In Jakhoura block all the selected farm size categories and in Birdha block small and large farm size categories were sold their cent percent vegetables produce to middlemen. Middlemen also provide space to keep their produce and stay at night for farmers in mandi. At some occasions middlemen also provide credits to farmers for fulfilling their agricultural and family daily needs.

Farming Practices and Livelihood of the Coastal People of Bangladesh

The present study was designed to assess the farming patterns and farmers’ livelihood in coastal regions of Bangladesh. Three coastal districts namely, Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat located in the southwest of Bangladesh were selected to conduct the study. Fifty shrimp farmers from each district (a total of 150 farmers) were selected for necessary data collection on the basis of farm size category (i.e., small, medium and large) following stratified random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics like sum, average, percentages, etc. were derived and calculated for analyzing the data. It was found that the farming system of coastal region was mainly shrimp based. The amount of land devoted to agricultural crop cultivation was declined due to shrimp cultivation for all categories of farmers. Number of livestock except poultry and duck was decreasing due to shortage of feed. Native fish species in fresh and open water bodies were also disappearing gradually. Lower crop production was observed through surveyed region due to lower productivity of land caused by salinity. However, shrimp cultivation opened up new avenues for employment for the local people especially for women. Small farmers get higher proportion of income (75.0% of total farm income) from shrimp farming than medium (67.4%) and large farmers (73.6%). On an average, farmers’ income was increased which enhanced overall socioeconomic condition and livelihood status. In spite of various adverse impacts of shrimp farming, it can be recommended that proper planning, regulation and motivation of the farmers are needed to develop an environment friendly shrimp farming as well as to maintain sustainable agricultural production practices in the coastal regions of Bangladesh.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v24i1-2.19177 Progress. Agric. 24(1&2): 251 - 262, 2013

Determinants of indebtedness among farmers in rural Haryana

In the present study, an attempt has been made to analysis the determinants of indebtedness among the different farm-size categories in the rural Haryana. The analysis clearly shows that the highest proportion of households under debt was in Bhiwani district (81.49 per cent), followed by Sirsa (80.29 per cent) and Yamunanagar (77.78 per cent) districts. The regression coefficients for education level and income from subsidiary occupations were negatively correlated with indebtedness. The regression coefficients of family-size, farm-size, ratio of credit from non-institutional sources to that from institutional sources and expenditure on unproductive purposes were positively correlated with indebtedness.

Food, Health and Habitat Security of Rural Women in Punjab

Food security is the basic human right and is achieved if adequate food is available and accessible for all individuals at all times to live a healthy and happy life. In gender inequality, women are poorly nourished , have less access to health care and live in poor sanitary and household conditions. The main objectives of the study were: (i) To measure food, health and habitat securities of rural women in Punjab. (ii) To identify the constraints to her welfare The study was carried out in all three soil zones of Punjab. Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Bhatinda district were randomly selected from each soil zone. Multistage stratified random sampling technique was employed. Two blocks from each district and two villages from each block were randomly selected. All the cultivator households were enlisted in three different farm size groups of small, medium and large.100 women respondents from farm and landless categories were selected from each district making a total sample of 300. Primary and secondary data were collected. Components of livelihood security index (LSI) viz. food and nutrition, health, habitat were assessed by indicators selected from CARE USA/Prog. Div/PHLS. Each of the indicators was measured for availability, accessibility, quality and status on a five point ordinal scale. Food security index points to excellent aggregate mean score of 4.63 for farm category and satisfactory score of 3.61 for landless categories. Diet diversity points to satisfactory score for farm categories and poor score of 2.14 for landless categories. Habitat security points to good score of 3.89 for farm size categories and secured equilibrium with index of 2.86 for land less categories.Water availability and accessibility points to a very good index. Other indices for condition of roof, walls, and freedom of mobility show satisfactory score for both categories. Poor indices for number of rooms, floor and kitchen for the landless were the constraints. Health security points to less than satisfactory equilibrium of 2.86 and fragile equilibrium of 2.53 for farm size and landless categories respectively. Access to government hospital was a constraint in all the districts for both the categories and needs to be improved. Hoshiarpur district performed better in all three indices from all the districts studied.

Benefit-cost analysis of mentha growing vis-à-vis major competing crops in Punjab

Mentha is a seasonal cash crop grown in some areas of the Punjab state where mostly paddy-potato-mentha crop rotation is predominantly followed. The present investigation envisages to estimate the quantum of human and machine use in mentha growing and to undertake the benefit-cost analysisof mentha and competing crops. The primary data from 100 mentha growers were collected from Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts. The results of the study brought out that on all the farm size categories, about 45 per cent expenses were incurred on human labour use in raising mentha crop followedby 23 to 25 per cent on suckers, about14 per cent on machine labour, 7 per cent on fertilizer use and remaining 5 to 7 per cent on plant protection measures comprising the total variable cost. Benefit-cost analysis inferred that mentha was found to be more profitable than its major competing cropsviz. sunflower and spring maize. The study stressed on the need of insurance cover for mentha growers and price protection to prevent distress sale especially in the case of small farmers who require immediate post processing payment of their produce from the distillation unit.

Comparison of bulk-tank standard plate count and somatic cell count for Wisconsin dairy farms in three size categories

The objective of this study was to evaluate possible claims by advocates of small-scale dairy farming that milk from smaller Wisconsin farms is of higher quality than milk from larger Wisconsin farms. Reported bulk tank standard plate count (SPC) and somatic cell count (SCC) test results for Wisconsin dairy farms were obtained for February to December, 2008. Farms were sorted into 3 size categories using available size-tracking criteria: small (≤118 cows; 12,866 farms), large (119–713 cattle; 1,565 farms), and confined animal feeding operations (≥714 cattle; 160 farms). Group means were calculated (group=farm size category) for the farms’ minimum, median, mean, 90th percentile, and maximum SPC and SCC. Statistical analysis showed that group means for median, mean, 90th percentile, and maximum SPC and SCC were almost always significantly higher for the small farm category than for the large farm and confined animal feeding operations farm categories. With SPC and SCC as quality criteria and the 3 farm size categories of ≤118, 119 to 713, and ≥714 cattle, the claim of Wisconsin smaller farms producing higher quality milk than Wisconsin larger farms cannot be supported.

Technical Efficiency of Agricultural Farms and Capital-Output Ratio: A Study on Jhansi Division of Uttar Pradesh

The increasing use of modern technological inputs like fertilizers, pesticides and manure under the condition of unstable irrigation could be the responsible factors for increasing the agricultural productivity. The mechanical inputs like tractor power, threshers, diesel pumps, electric motors are useful to save time, money and water. These inputs increase the farmer’s income and efficiency. Present study contains the objective to find out the technical efficiency of capital use resources and capital output ratio. In order to find the technical efficiency, the Cobb-Douglas production function method was applied in which Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimators were converted into the Corrected Ordinary Least Square (COLS) estimators. To examine the technological equality between two districts, Chow Test has been used. The study is on Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun districts of Jhansi division in Uttar Pradesh. Soil type was the main criteria for differentiating the areas for sampling. The selected farm size categories are marginal (up to 2.5 acre land), small (> 2.5 acre land to 5 acre land), and large (> 5 acre land). The study finds that, in selected regions, the maximum percentage of farmers lies in 51% to 60%, 51% to 70%, 71% to 80% and 81% to 90% categories of technical efficiency. But the 61% to 70% and 71% to 80% technical efficiency categories are followed by majority of farm size categories in the selected regions. In Jhansi and Lalitpur districts, marginal and small farmers are used the different amount of inputs but large farmers are used same amount of inputs in two regions. In the case of Jhansi and Jalaun districts and Lalitpur and Jalaun districts, there is no significant difference among the marginal-marginal, small-small and large-large farm size categories in the used amount of different inputs. In selected regions, the individual shares of each input for different categories of farmers are likely to be same to raise the output.

Resistance Escherichia coli isolates to antibiotics from the organ samples originating from swine farms

Bacteria Escherichia coli (E.coli) is a ubiquitous microorganism with a different serotypes, that cause septicemia in neonatal piglets, diarrhea in suckling piglets, diarrhea and edemic disease in weaned piglets. Vaccination and antibiotic treatment are less effective ways in solving the problem, especially when the category of pig is not taken into consideration, as well as feed safety and chemical composition of feed. The resistance of pathogens depends on the farm size, production type and pigs category raised on the farm. In addition, the antibiotics used for veterinary purposes reduce their effectiveness in human medicine. Analyzing the antibiograms results obtained from the isolates of dead piglets with E. coli infection in last two years (2007-2009), it can be concluded that E. coli strains developed resistance to most chemotherapeutics. Applying bacteriological examination it was detected that the isolates of E. coli are highly sensitive to the following chemotherapeutics: Floron (86.36%), Cobactam (71%), Enrofloxacin (54.84%), Neomycin (38.71%), Gentamicin (38.71%), Lincospectin (29%), Flumequine (29%), Amoxicillin (26.66%), Colistin (17.39%), Penicillin (9.67%), Tiamulin (6.45%), Tetracycline (6.45%), Doxycycline (6.45%), Streptomycin (3.22%). Intermediate degree of sensitivity was found with: Flumequin (38.71%), Colistin (34.78%), Cobactam (30%), Tilozin (29.17%), Gentamicin (25%). E. coli strains were the least resistant to Cobactam (not detected), Floron (4.54%), Neomycin (12.9%), Colistin (13.04%), Flumequin (19.35%).

Impacts of Alternative Manure Application Rates on Texas Animal Feeding Operations: A Macro Level Analysis1

Abstract: An integrated economic and environmental modeling system was developed for evaluating agro‐environmental policies and practices implemented on large scales. The modeling system, the Comprehensive Economic and Environmental Optimization Tool‐Macro Modeling System (CEEOT‐MMS), integrates the Farm‐level Economic Model (FEM) and the Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model, as well as national databases and clustering and aggregation algorithms. Using micro simulations of statistically derived representative farms and subsequent aggregation of farm‐level results, a wide range of agricultural best management practices can be investigated within CEEOT‐MMS. In the present study, CEEOT‐MMS was used to evaluate the economic and water quality impacts of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) based manure application rates when implemented on all animal feeding operations in the State of Texas. Results of the study indicate that edge‐of‐field total P losses can be reduced by about 0.8 kg/ha/year or 14% when manure applications are calibrated to supply all of the recommended crop P requirements from manure total P sources only, when compared to manure applications at the recommended crop N agronomic rate. Corresponding economic impacts are projected to average a US$4,800 annual cost increase per farm. Results are also presented by ecological subregion, farm type, and farm size categories.

Understanding the Structure of Canadian Farm Incomes in the Design of Safety Net Programs

The effectiveness of safety net programs in meeting their purpose depends implicitly on the nature of farm profitability distributions. This study provides an empirical characterization of farm operating profit distributions and assesses the implications for Canadian safety net programs. Pooled time series data from the Statistics Canada Tax Data Program and the Farm Financial Survey is queried across a range of farm types and provinces, with quartile distributions of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) within four farm-size categories analyzed. The results show that regardless of farm type or province, there is greater variation in operating profit within a sales category than there is across the sales categories, and that the range in operating profit increases with size, revealing some very profitable small farms and unprofitable large farms. Thus, the discussion of the social value of farm stabilization programs ought not to be focused on farm size alone. L'efficacite avec laquelle les programmes de protection du revenu atteignent leurs objectifs depend implicitement de la nature des distributions de probabilites des fermes. La presente etude etablit une caracterisation empirique des distributions du benefice d'exploitation agricole et evalue les repercussions sur les programmes de protection du revenu au Canada. Des donnees chronologiques tirees du Programme des donnees fiscales (PDF) et de l'Enquete financiere sur les fermes (EFF) de Statistique Canada sont totalisees par type de ferme et par province, y compris des distributions par quartile du resultat avant interets, impots et dotations aux amortissements (EBITDA) de quatre categories de taille de ferme. Les resultats ont montre que, sans egard au type de ferme ou a la province, la variation du benefice d'exploitation au sein d'une meme categorie de ventes etait superieure a la variation du benefice d'exploitation observee entre les differentes categories de ventes et que l'etendue du benefice d'exploitation augmentait avec la taille, revelant des fermes de petite taille tres rentables et des fermes de grande taille non rentables. Par consequent, la discussion sur la valeur sociale des programmes de stabilisation du revenu agricole ne devrait pas s'appuyer sur la taille de la ferme uniquement.

A Manure Management Survey of Minnesota Swine Producers: Effect of Farm Size on Manure Application

There is a national trend for swine enterprises to increase in size due to cost efficiencies associated with economies of scale. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of farm size on manure application management for a survey of 391 swine producers in Minnesota. There was a statistically significant effect of farm size on almost all of the variables evaluated. As farm size increased: a) more manure was handled in the liquid form; b) more farms analytically tested their manure; c) more farms calibrated their application equipment; d) less manure was applied in the summer and winter months; e) broadcast manure applications decreased while injected manure increased; and f) more farms kept records of manure applications. However, while the management practices associated with the larger farms were better correlated to recommended practices, the ratio of animal units to the number of acres owned and available for manure application increased steeply as farm size categories went from small to large.