Major Producing States Research Articles

Impact of Government Initiatives on Total Factor Productivity of Pigeon Pea Cultivation in India

Background: India is the largest producer as well as consumer of pulses in the world due to higher relance of their people on vegetarian sources of proteins, however, we have been dependent on import of pulses for meeting our demand for pulses over several decades. As a strategy to be self-reliant in pulses production two important initiatives were taken by the government of India viz. implementation of Accelerated Pulses Production Program (A3P) and inclusion of pulses in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM-Pulses) during 2010-11. Pigeon pea has tremendous medicinal and pharmacological properties and uses in addition to the good quality source of proteins. Significant improvement observed in production and productivity of pigeon pea after the A3P and NFSM-Pulses was questioned for its Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth. Methods: This study was designed to assess impact of A3P and NFSM-Pulses on TFP of Pigeon pea in major Indian producing states. TFP was estimated with the help of Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) using Data Envelopment Analysis Program (DEAP) version-2.1 in five states of India viz., Gujarat, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra and UP which contribute more than three-fourth pigeon pea production in India. Result: TFP change in period-II (after A3P and NFSM-Pulses) was invariably higher than the TFP change in period-I (before the initiatives) in all the studied states. It indicates that these government initiatives contributed to the enhancement of production and productivity of pigeon pea with the support of better technology adoption rather than just led by higher use of inputs.

Growth performance of Major Indian cereals: State level analysis

Cereals are the major staple food, covering about 80 percent of the cropped area in India. In this study, the trends and growth in the area, production, and productivity of major cereals in major producing states of India were analyzed by using secondary data for a period of 22 years from 1994-95 to 2015 16. Compound annual growth rate and instability index were worked out which revealed that among total cereals, not only area under fine cereals (Rice and Wheat) has shown tremendous increase but their share has also increased from 68 to 75 percent, whereas on the other hand coarse cereals (Maize, Jowar, and Bajra) area has declined at -1.12 per cent during the study period. Maize had shown a positive growth rate in the area whereas Jowar and Bajra showed a negative growth rate in the study period. The productivity of major cereals in all states increased significantly. Required production to meet the expected demand is possible only through productivity improvement, as the possibility of area expansion under cultivation is almost nil. Hence, there is greater potential to improve the yield of major cereals crops through biotechnology and genetic engineering, and thus improve farmers’ income.

Energy use efficiency in soybean crops in different regions of Brazil

The soybean crop in Brazil has been growing in area and productivity in recent years and the analysis of its energy efficiency is very important to guarantee the sustainability of the production system. Assessment of energy efficiency (EE) enables the evaluation of the sustainability of agrosystems, as well as decision-making regarding the reduction in production costs and negative environmental impacts. In this context, the objective of this study was to assess energy efficiency of soybean in different regions of Brazil. For this purpose, 29 areas of soybean across the major producing states were assessed. Energy inputs and outputs of agricultural operations and/or agricultural inputs were calculated by multiplying the amount used by their calorific value or energy coefficient at each stage of production. Energy efficiency was calculated as the ratio between the total output energy and the total input energy during the production process. For every MJ of energy consumed in the production of soybean crop, 6.1; 6.7; 7.1 and 7.2 MJ of energy were produced in the form of grain, respectively in the areas assessed in the Midwest, northeast, southeast and south regions of Brazil. Generally, the main energy expenditure on soybean cultivation in different regions of Brazil was with fertilizers, seeds and herbicides. The adverse weather conditions of the year / harvest evaluated in the south-central region of Brazil resulted in low soybean yields and consequently resulted in lower energy efficiency in these regions. The evaluation of energy efficiency in soybean crops to be representative must be carried out in different regions and edaphoclimatic conditions.

Morphological, cultural and physiological characters of Fusarium solani causing wilt of cluster bean

Cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.], commonly called guar is an important legume crop belongs to family Fabaceae. It is cultivated mainly in the rainy season and major producing states in India are Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and to a limited extent in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Cluster bean is a highly commercial, industrial and medicinally important leguminous crop due to presence of glactomannan gum in endosperm of seeds. The crop is known to suffer from many diseases which are responsible for its inferior quality and poor yield resulting in severe economic losses to the country as it is an important cash crop with a great potential for foreign exchange. In recent years Fusarium wilt of cluster bean has assumed a serious problem and causing considerable yield losses. Although wilt diseases has assumed importance in Maharashtra, no systematic work has been carried out so for the disease may appear in an epidemic form in future and may threaten the cultivation of cluster bean. Present studies were undertaken with objectives viz., isolation, identification, symptomatology, pathogenicity test, morphological, cultural and physiological characteristics of wilt disease. In cultural studies, it was observed that the test pathogen Fusarium solani shows maximum radial growth on Richard’s media and good sporulation was recorded on Richard’s, PDA and V8 juice agar media. In physiological studies, it was observed that the maximum growth and sporulation of Fusarium solani ranged from 25 °C to 30 °C and grew well from pH levels 6.5 to 7.

Analysis of Total Factor Productivity of Chickpea in Major Producing States in India

Present study was taken up with the aim of analyzing the impact of inputs on productivity performance in chickpea crop. By adopting Divisia chain Indices methodology, TFP indices were calculated along with growth rates and determinants of TFP. The findings of the study revealed that the visible positive TFP growth rates in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are due to area expansion under chickpea crop than technological intervention. Whereas, in undivided Andhra Pradesh, technology and managerial inputs have contributed to meaningful TFP growths. Apart from traditional inputs, road density was found to be an important source of growth in TFP in the study area. The increased inputs cost and quantity used in chickpea crop has resulted in increase in the cost of production in the selected states during the study period 2005-13.

Contemporaneous and Granger causality among US corn cash and futures prices

AbstractThis paper examines contemporaneous and Granger causality among US corn futures and seven cash prices from major producing states for January 2006–March 2011. Causal flows from futures to cash prices are identified with contemporaneous and in-sample Granger causality tests but not with the out-of-sample Granger causality test. While no interstate in-sample or out-of-sample Granger causality is found, contemporaneous causal linkages are revealed. No causality from cash to futures prices is determined.

THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FOOD CROP PRODUCTION IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

The Earth's temperature is rising as a result of increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. As the Earth warms, currently wet regions are expected to receive more rainfall, and currently dry regions receive less. Nigeria and indeed Northern Nigeria is not an exception. Crop production is one of the most vulnerable systems and heavily affected by climate change in Nigeria and more particularly in the Northern part of the country where the presence and prevalence of drought is mostly felt. Crops are mostly flooded and are rendered less productive by flood, in addition to extensive dependence on rainfed farming coupled with high poverty level of the people of the region. Major crops cultivated in the region include groundnuts, beans, cotton, soybeans, sesame, cashew nuts, mango, cassava, yam, gum arabic, maize (corn), melon, millet, , plantains, rice, sorghum, bananas, yams, pepper, coffee, carrots, sugarcane, soybeans, with major producing states of soybeans as Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Kwara, Jigawa, Taraba, Borno, Benue, Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau, Zamfara and Abuja FCT are now facing yield depreciation. Most of these crops are facing problems such as flower abortions, wrong flowering and fruiting time and generally low yields due to the effects of climate change. As rainfall becomes more variable, farmers no longer are able to rely on their knowledge of the seasonality of climatic variables. It is recommended that, series of awareness in terms of seminars, symposiums, farmers field days should be conducted to the farmers to enlighten them on the knowledge of modern techniques of crop production, such as the use of early maturating seeds, drought resistance varieties and more especially the use of irrigation in order to boost crop production in the region. Weather focused information should be made available to the farmers in the form of short message (SMS) in addition to informing them on weather both in print media.

Forecasting oilseeds prices in India: Case of groundnut

Oilseed crops contribute 13 per cent of the country's gross cropped area and 10 per cent of the value of all agricultural produce. Groundnut is the major oilseed crop accounting about 30 per cent of the total oilseeds cropped area in the country with a production share of about 36 per cent. Prices of groundnuts are highly volatile, hence farmers need a reasonable forecasting of harvest period price to decide on the acreage under groundnut. Hence, the present study aimed to build a model to forecast the groundnut prices and applied to forecast kharif harvesting season prices in major producing states viz., Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The prices were forecasted by using the time series data of monthly average prices for the period of 11 years (January 2006 to December 2016). ARIMAmodel introduced byBox and Jenkins (1970) which is the most widely used amongst time series models was used for predictions. R2, RMSE, MAPE, MAE and normalized BIC these parameters were used to test the reliability ofmodel. Model parameters were estimated by using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences software. In India kharif season groundnut is harvested during the period of September to December. Forecast shows that market prices of groundnut, would be ruling in the range of ` 3,760 to 5,520 per quintal in kharif harvesting season (2017-18). Hence, using ARIMA model to forecast groundnut prices is very useful not only to farmers but in policy formulation and also in promoting efficiency of groundnut marketing. The farmers are advised to take marketing decision accordingly.

Cotton Price Forecasting in Major Producing States

India is the largest cotton producing and second largest cotton exporting country. India accounting about 26% of the world cotton production. It has the distinction of having the largest area under cotton cultivation in the world with about 11–12 million hectares and constituting about 40% of the world area under cotton cultivation. Cotton is a global crop with high price fluctuation, which depends on the global business cycles. It is a mostly used as raw material for apparel and cloth industry. In addition to production risk cotton farmers encounter high price risk. Thus, it is important to forecast the cotton prices for the benefit of farmers as well as millers who purchase the cotton. The present study is aimed to forecast the prices of cotton of major producing states of India. The time series data on monthly price of cotton required for the study was collected from the AGMARKNET website from January, 2006 to December, 2016 to forecast prices for kharif 2017–18 year harvest months. ARIMA model was employed to predict the future prices of cotton. Model parameters were estimated using the R programming software. The performance of fitted model was examined by computing various measures of goodness of fit viz., AIC, SBC and MAPE. In Kharif season the cotton crop is harvested during December to January. Forecast shows that market prices of cotton, would be ruling in the range of ` 4,600 – 4,900 per quintal (medium staple cotton) in kharif harvesting season, 2017–18.

Forecasting Oilseeds Prices in India: Case of Groundnut

Oilseed crops contribute 13 % of the country's gross cropped area and 10 per cent of the value of all agricultural produce. Groundnut is the major oilseed crop accounting about 30 per cent of the total oilseeds cropped area in the country with a production share of near about 36 per cent. Prices of groundnuts are highly volatile, hence farmers need a reasonable forecasting of harvest period price to decide on the acreage under groundnut. Hence, the present study aimed to build a model to forecast the groundnut prices and applied to forecast kharif harvesting season prices in major producing states viz., Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The prices were forecasted by using the time series data of monthly average prices for the period of 11 years (January 2006 to December 2016). ARIMA model introduced by Box and Jenkins (1970) which is the most widely used amongst time series models was used for predictions. R2, RMSE, MAPE, MAE and normalized BIC these parameters were used to test the reliability of model. Model parameters were estimated by using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences software. In India kharif season groundnut is harvested during the period of September to December. Forecast shows that market prices of groundnut, would be ruling in the range of ` 3,760 to 5,520 per quintal in kharif harvesting season (2017-18). Hence, using ARIMA model to forecast groundnut prices is very useful not only to farmers but in policy formulation and also in promoting efficiency of groundnut marketing. The farmers are advised to take marketing decision accordingly.

Market Integration of Major Cotton Producing States in India

Market integration of agricultural product has been widely used to indicate overall market performance. Hence the study was under taken to test market integration of wholesale prices of Cotton among major Cotton producing states in India. The major states selected for the study were Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states. Results revealed that, all the Cotton price series are non-stationary at level and become stationary after first differentiation confirms that all the price series are integrated of same order [I(1)]. From market integration results, we can say that, all the Cotton state markets under study are co-integrated and converge to long run equilibrium.

An Economic Analysis of Sugarcane Cultivation and its Productivity in Major Sugar Producing States of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra

An effort has been made in this study to examine the trends in area, production, productivity, costs, returns and profitability of sugarcane and to determine the factors which are contributing toward productivity of sugarcane in major sugar producing states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. It has been observed that area expansion has significantly contributed towards increased production of sugarcane but productivity has remained stagnant. Cost of cultivation of sugarcane also witnessed increasing trend and due to much higher use of inputs, it was found to be higher for Maharashtra than Uttar Pradesh. However growth of value of output has outpaced the growth of cost of cultivation and thus rising trend of profitability was observed and was higher for Uttar Pradesh as compared to that of Maharashtra. The study found the positive and significant contribution of human labour, machine, fertilizers, insecticides and size of plot towards productivity of sugarcane and thus efficient management of these inputs can certainly led to increasing the productivity of sugarcane in India.

Resistance status of sugarcane grown in Nigeria to ratoon stunting disease

Sugarcane is an important widely cultivated crop in Nigeria. Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli, causing ratoon stunting (RSD), is the most economically damaging bacterial diseases of sugarcane globally. Presence of RSD was not confirmed in Nigeria; thus, the reactions of sugarcane to RSD in Nigeria are unknown. Thus, the study evaluated sugarcane germplasm grown in major producing states for resistance to RSD. L. xyli subsp. xyli inoculated and uninoculated sugarcane varieties comprising susceptible (CP72-1210), moderately resistant (CP80-1743), most commonly grown (Co957, Co997, SP71-6180, Co62175, chewing cane, B47419, Co6806) and locally bred (NCS001, NCS002, NCS003, NCS005, NCS006, NCS007, NCS008, ILS001 and ILS002) were evaluated in the screenhouse for both plant and ratoon crops. Resistance of the varieties to L. xyli subsp. xyli was determined using numbers of colonized vascular bundles (CVB) (highly resistant (HR) ≤5 % to highly susceptible (HS) ≥65 %) and cane yield loss (HR ≤5 % to HS ≥50 %). Varieties ILS002, NCS001, NCS007, SP71-6180 (≤28.2 % CVB; ≤10.0 % yield loss) and Co957 (≤10.0 % yield loss) were moderately resistant. Yield loss for plant crop and ratoon crop ranged from 2.6–41.7 to 5.4–42.1 %, respectively, and were significantly correlated (r = 0.94). In plant crop and ratoon crop, CVB significantly correlated with yield loss (r = 0.94, 0.88, respectively).

English

This study was aimed at investigating trends, instability, and regional variations of maize production in major producing states of India. Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), Cuddy Della Valley Index (CDVI), and decomposition analysis were used to examine the data ranging from 1980 to 1981 and 2011 to 2012. The study revealed that area under maize in India has increased from 5.89 to 9.19 Mha and production has increased from 6.49 to 21 Mt between the period TE 1981 to 1982 and TE 2011 to 2012. Such increase in production of maize has been possible mainly due to increase in yield from 1,100 to 2,279 kg/ha. For all India, area has expanded at 1.88% per annum between 1982 to 1983 and 2011 to 2012, while yield increased at a rate of 2.28% per annum during the same period. As a result, production of maize has risen by 4.2% per annum. The area expansion of maize was the highest in Maharashtra (9.19%) followed by Karnataka (7.98%). Production increase of maize was also the highest in Maharashtra (12.24%), which is followed by Karnataka (8.48%) and Andhra Pradesh (8.68%). The growth of yield in Andhra Pradesh was the highest (3.99%) followed by Maharashtra (2.80%). The study witnessed that maize is in the winning ground in India at country level more specifically in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar*, Gujarat, MP*, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh* as increase in yield coupled with decline in instability. The decline in instability and increase in yield in these states might be due to the adoption of modern varieties of maize as also evidenced from the decomposition analysis where yield effect was observed to be the major driver of growth in maize production. More over the expansion of maize in the high potential areas might also bring about increase in yield in the country. Key words: Maize, growth, instability, decomposition, area effect, yield effect.

Cradle to farm gate life cycle assessment of strawberry production in the United States

The goal of this study was to develop a cradle to farm gate life cycle inventory and assess the environmental impacts of strawberry production in four major strawberry producing states of the United States: California, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon, representing 99% of the United States strawberry production. Life cycle environmental impacts depend strongly on geographic location and production practices. Data for California and North Carolina strawberry production were collected in collaboration with agricultural economists from those states using the “LCA Extended Enterprise Budget” Excel sheet (version 4.11). Data for Florida strawberry production were collected from the state's existing enterprise budget (a detailed accounting of production costs and returns which estimates profitability of an enterprise). Data related to Oregon strawberry production were obtained through interviews with strawberry producers. OpenLCA software was used to conduct life cycle assessment for strawberry production. Missing unit processes for production of agricultural machinery, pesticides, fertilizers and materials were modeled based on existing literature. In order to better assess the sustainability of strawberry production, three metrics encompassing nitrogen productivity, phosphorous productivity and fossil energy productivity were introduced. Global warming potential for California, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon strawberry production was estimated to be 1.75, 2.50, 5.48 and 2.21 kg CO2-eq per 1 kg of strawberry, respectively. The difference between LCA results was due to variation in yield and management practices which depend on geographic location. Plastics, fuels and fertilizers were the inputs with the highest contribution to environmental impact categories. California strawberry production scored the highest on three sustainability metrics mainly due to having the highest strawberry yield.

English

Despite significant advances in the Brazilian agriculture, the logistics costs, particularly transportation and storage costs continue to act as the main barriers that limit the potential of the Brazilian agribusiness. This study analyzes the logistics efficiency of the main flow routes for Brazil’s agricultural production and exports - in particular, corn production and exports, among the major producing states and the main ports of Brazil. For this purpose, we develop a performance measurement system based on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) using four models for efficiency analysis: financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth. Tthe efficiency of the main routes was calculated using the data envelopment analysis (DEA). Our results suggest that the routes from Mato Grosso state to Santarem port using a road-waterway intermodal transport system were the most efficient on three of the four criteria. Thereafter, the relative efficiency of all main Brazilian routes was analyzed based on the four criteria, establishing the references and developing a standard model to evaluate other logistics systems. Key words: Data envelopment analysis, corn, logistics index, route analysis.

Perceptions of Farmers about Adoption of System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Rice is one of the most important ingredients of food basket and staple food for population in India. The indiscriminate use of resources particularly, water and fertilizer are creating serious challenges by degrading natural resource base. Also, the productivity of rice has started stagnating in major producing states. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) was innovated in 1980s’ and was designed to increase the productivity of rice with optimum utilization of water and other inputs and to ensure food security for the billion plus population of the country. This paper aims to analyze the perceptions of growers about biotic and abiotic stresses faced by the producers in cultivation of paddy in an agriculturally advanced state of Haryana. It also seeks to highlight the benefits of the SRI system in terms of yield, cost and net returns in some states. The primary and secondary sources of data are used to fulfill these objectives. Findings show that biotic and abiotic stresses impact yield of paddy across all farm sizes in Haryana. The SRI system is being considered as a solution to these problems. Further, we have established on the basis of secondary data that adoption of the SRI system by paddy growers in some states has increased yield and returns per unit of land. Therefore, pragmatic policy initiatives are urgent to popularize the SRI system in Haryana in order to increase the profitability from cultivating paddy and to save the precious resources.

Growth performance and trade direction of Indian fish products

The present study analyses the growth performance of production and export of fish products and its trade direction. The results of the study revealed that fish production of India has registered a annual growth rate of 3.8 per cent. Among the major fish producing states, Chhattisgarh has witnessed highest compound growth rate of 15 per cent per annum. The vast production base offers India has tremendous opportunities for enhancing surplus exportable quality fish products. During 2014, India exported about 983.756 million tonnes of fish products to South East Asian countries. Frozen shrimp is the major export value item accounting to the value of 19368.3 crore rupees. It can be observed that among the fish products, dried fish has registered a highest growth rate of 21 and 26 per cent per annum in terms of quantity and value respectively. It can be further noticed that South East Asia has been the most stable market among the major importers of Indian fish products as reflected by the higher probability of retention of 0.85 whereas Japan has shown the least retention probability of 0.36 which has only retained 36 per cent of its share in export.

Herbicide resistance in cereal production systems of the US Great Plains: A review

The US Great Plains comprise the major cereal producing states in the country. In the US, wheat (winter and spring wheat) was grown in 45 million acres in 2014, with a total production of 55 M metric tons. Wheat after chemical fallow (W-F) dominates > 90% of the dryland cropping systems of the Northern Great Plains of the US, where soil moisture (< 300 mm of average annual precipitation) is often the limiting factor for continuous cropping. In the Central Great Plains of the US, wheat-corn/grain sorghum-fallow (W-C/G-F) is a common dryland rotation. An over-reliance on herbicides for weed control in these no-till cropping systems has resulted in weed shifts and escalated cases of resistance evolution in weed populations to single or multiple site-of-action herbicides. Early detection, increased awareness of socio-economic implications of herbicide-resistant weeds, and adoption of diversified weed control tactics would mitigate the further evolution of multiple herbicide-resistant weed biotypes in cereal production systems.

Growth and instability in area, production and productivity of turmeric in selected states in india

India is popularly known as the “Spice Bowl of the World” for production of variety of spices with superior quality. Turmeric is called as Indian saffron and it is one among the important commercial crop grown in India. India is the largest producer and consumer of turmeric in the world. India contributes about 78 per cent of the world production and a major supplier of turmeric to the world with more than 60 per cent share in turmeric trade. In the last three decades Indian agriculture witnessed so many policy and technological changes. In this context an attempt is made in this study to examine the growth and instability in turmeric production in terms of area, production and yield in selected states of India. The components of change in average production and change in variance of production were also computed and analyzed with the help of decomposition analysis. The growth and instability in turmeric production in India have been examined using secondary data for the period of 32 years, from 1979-80 to 2010-11. This study is confined to five major turmeric producing states in India viz., Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka and Kerala. These five states contributed 72 percent of area under turmeric and 82 per of total turmeric production of the country. It is found that all the selected states registered significant growth in area, production and yield of Turmeric, except in the case of area in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, production in Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Orissa and yield in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Kerala. It is also foundfrom the analysis that the instability in area was reduced in Andhra Pradesh, production instability was reduced in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, yield instability was reduced in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It can be concluded from the above analysis that liberalization measures introduced in 1991 is a mixed bag and its impact on agriculture sector, particularly on Turmeric Cultivation would vary from state to state.