Marketable Surplus Research Articles

A Comment on “The Welfare Impacts of Commodity Price Volatility: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia”

This comment discusses the robustness of the policy implications of Bellemare, Barrett, and Just's paper, “The Welfare Impacts of Commodity Price Volatility: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia” (2013). Bellemare, Barrett, and Just present a theoretical and empirical approach to the estimation of willingness to pay for food price stabilization that accounts for the covolatility of prices, making a significant contribution to the literature. However, in the course of applying their model to data from rural Ethiopia, the authors make an empirical assumption in the treatment of zero‐valued income households that produces a distortion in the distribution of household budget shares. This comment identifies the consequences of this assumption for the estimated relationship of poor and wealthy households' willingness to pay for food commodity price stabilization, and shows the results one would obtain under a different, distribution‐preserving treatment of zero‐valued income. The key finding is that the distributional benefit incidence of food price stabilization found in Bellemare, Barrett, and Just (2013) is reversed when the budget share of marketable surplus is calculated over observed, as opposed to mean, household income where available.

Commercialisation of mopane worm (Imbrasia belina) in rural households in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) have been identified as a key source of income for rural households. In South Africa, mopane worms (Imbrasia belina) have become an important source of food and cash income for rural people living in or near the mopane woodlands. However, the continued over-exploitation and commercialisation has implications for long term management of the mopane woodlands in the northern parts of South Africa. This study used a cross-sectional dataset collected from a survey of 120 households in Limpopo province in an effort to identify socio-economic factors influencing mopane worm commercialisation and intensity of commercialisation. The Household Commercialisation Index (HCI) and the Double Hurdle Model were used for the analysis. Result shows that about 63% of mopane worm harvested is sold within a production year which implies high level of commercialisation. The result of the Double Hurdle Model showed that gender, education, household size, quantity harvested, social capital, distance, transportation and information impact on households’ decision-making to commercialised mopane worm. Furthermore, household age, gender, education, exogenous income, price, quantity of marketable surplus, absence of institution/law and transportation are statistically significant factors influencing the intensity of mopane worm commercialisation in the study area. This therefore suggests that, in order to achieve a balance between sustainable harvesting of mopane worm and improving the livelihoods of the rural poor that depends on it for food and income, there is a need for policy makers to focus on the dynamics in household socio-economic conditions. Implications for policy were discussed.

Agricultural marketing by smallholders in Kenya: A comparison of maize, kale and dairy

Research has demonstrated that commercializing smallholder agricultural production is one of the effective ways to boost farmer incomes, employ labor, and stimulate rural economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, but this differs by commodity. We use panel data covering over a decade to estimate output supply functions for smallholder farmers in Kenya, and compare these among three commodities with distinctive product attributes: maize, kale and milk. We find that despite improved market access over the decade, there is little discernible growth in market participation except in the case of milk. A minority of households consistently sell from year to year and market concentration remains high across all the commodities, indicating that production is largely subsistence. Nevertheless, there is greater market orientation and less market concentration in kale and milk than in maize. For all the commodities, market participation is strongly associated with access to land, productive assets, technology use, expected prices and rainfall amount and reliability. We argue that broad-based smallholder market participation can only be realized through interventions that raise smallholder production of marketable surpluses through raising productivity, and this cuts across even the high value sub-sectors such as horticulture and dairy. Also essential alongside such interventions are strategies to improving market access by reducing transaction costs.

Crop Diversification and Land Productivity in Odisha: Role of Rural Infrastructure

The present study examines the role of rural infrastructure, and some other factors like seed, fertiliser, marketable surplus and rural credit in crop diversification and land productivity in an eastern Indian state, Odisha. By using district-wise cross section official data for the year 2011-12, an index for rural infrastructure is prepared with help of the Principal Components Analysis, and crop diversity index is measured by the Entropy Index. An attempt has also been made to examine the regional divide in crop diversification and land productivity vis-à-vis rural infrastructure. The study observes that rural infrastructure has significant positive impact on land productivity. However, along with high yielding variety paddy, infrastructure contributes to concentration rather than crop diversification. In addition, the study also observes persistence of regional divide in infrastructure, which may be considered as a major concern having wider implications. However, due to limitations in data, such inferences need micro-level verifications before generalisation.

Assessment of Marketable and Marketed Surplus of Rice in Relation to Farm Size

The significance of Rice is due to its multiple uses. Rice is primarily a high energy or calorie food and it contains usually 6–7 per cent protein. To meet the demand of increasing population and maintain the self-sufficiency, the present Rice production level of around 89 million tones, needs to be increased up to 120 million tonnes by the year 2020. U.P. has attained prominent position in Paddy area and production among the Indian states. In the agricultural economy of the district Etah, Paddy plays a remarkably important role. For conducting the research work, a three stage random sampling technique was adopted for selection of block, villages and paddy growers. The analysis showed that the percentage of the produce retained with the farmer reduced with the increase in the farm size. On overall, the percentage of total produce retained with farmer was 22.78 per cent of total paddy production. The percentage of quantity for family consumption was also reduced with increase in farm size. The quantity of marketable surplus both in absolute and percentage term increased with increase in the farm size. However, the quantity of marketed surplus increased in the absolute terms but reduced in percentage term with the increase in farm size.

Marketing behaviour of cumin in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan

The study pertains to Jodhpur district of Rajasthan state where cumin is cultivated extensively. The study examined various economic aspects of cumin such as assessment marketable surplus, sale pattern, and channels involved in marketing of cumin. Out of which two tehsils namely looni and falodi were selected on the basis of highest production and area. Six villages were selected randomly from selected tehsils. A sample of sixty cumin growers was selected randomly. Primary data were utilized in the study. The primary data utilized in the study were collected from the respondent farmers by personal by interviewing them with the help of a set of pre tested schedule. The marketable and marketed surplus ranged between 95 to 97% on different sized farms. The sample farmers disposed 85.74% surplus cumin seed in the Mandor regulated market and only 14.26% quantity was disposed in the villages to village traders of the surplus cumin seed, 53% was sold in the first quarter immediately after harvest (March to May) and others 47% was marketed in remaining three quarters of the year (Aug. to Feb.). Small sized farmers disposed off their total surplus cumin seed in one lot as against this medium and large sized farmer disposed off their total surplus in two and more lots. Following two marketing channels were identified in the study area for marketing of cumin. Channel I: Producer – Village trader – Wholesaler- Retailer – Consumer. Channel II: Producer –Wholesaler- Retailer – Consumer. Among these channels, 75% quantity of cumin moved through channel –II and 25% quantity was moved through channel-I.

Producer Organisations in Indian Agriculture

This article examines the role of producer organisations in improving service delivery to producers/farmers. It observes that access to technology and other farm advisory services for producers within a producer organisation or partner arrangement is much more effective than for non-partners. Perceptible changes occurred in terms of increase in net incomes for partners compared to non-partners, even though increases in yield were not always observed. Benefits arose mainly because of increase in market access, marketable surplus and bargaining power for producer organisations. Such encouraging findings support arguments for greater policy support to leverage the functioning of producer organisations for their sustenance and replication.

MARKETABLE SURPLUS GABAH DI KECAMATAN LEBONG SAKTI KABUPATEN LEBONG PROVINSI BENGKULU

The objectives of this study are to identify the farmers’ characteristics in marketable surplus of paddy context in Lebong Sakti District; to estimated the rate of marketable surplus of paddy in Lebong Sakti District; and to their with influenced factors of marketable surplus of paddy in Lebong Sakti District. The respondent so were byselected using simple random sampling with the total 70 farmers. Statistical analysis used in this study was multiple linear regression analysis with Ordinary Least Square. Based on the result of the study and discussion, in average the age of the farmers is 43.94 years old, the level of formal education was 9.16 year while 3.74 for non-formal times a year, experience in paddy farming was 14.94 years, the number of family member was 4 people, income from non paddy shell field farming was Rp 3,301,240.00 and the field area for paddy shell field farming was 0.86 Ha. The percentage of marketable surplus of paddy was 31.85% of total production. While for Non-real, the percentage of marketable surplus of paddy was 3.25% of total production in. Total production and ownership status factory had a positive influence toward marketable surplus of paddy while number of family member had a negative influence to marketable surplus of paddy.Keywords: Marketable Surplus, Paddy

Marketing of minor millets grown in tribal Dang district of South Gujarat

Minor millets are one among the traditional group of cereal crops and are cultivated in areas where they produce a more dependable harvest compared to any other crops. The present study is an effort in this direction to study all the aspects of marketing of minor millets namely, kodra( Paspalum scrobiculatum ), finger millet(Eleusine coracana), and vari (Panicum miliare) grown in tribal and hilly Dang district of South Gujarat region. The primary data were collected with the help of well designed questionnaires consisting of 120 sample farmers, 40 farmers for each crop. To derive the results, simple average and tabular analysis were used. The total marketable surplus of kodra, finger millet and vari was 12.33, 27.01 and 159.23 qtls., respectively. The per quintal marketing cost of farmers for kodra, finger millet and vari was Rs.16.08, Rs.18.50 and Rs.20.10, respectively. The proportion of price spread was found highest in kodra (31.15 %) and the lowest in vari. (16.67 %). The market margin was Rs.314.15, Rs.277.40 and Rs.152.15 per quintal in vari, finger millet and kodra, respectively.

Strengthening Market Linkages of Farm Households in Developing Countries

AbstractFarm households in developing countries generally allocate a major portion of their resources to staple food production, mainly for self‐consumption. Hence, many of them are more or less delinked from the market. It is well recognized, however, that market participation is crucial for farm households to ensure a flow of cash income, leading to poverty alleviation and improved livelihoods. Thus, it is meaningful to understand what factors affect farm households' decision to sell food crops, which is important for strengthening their linkages with markets. The empirical literature on impacts of market linkages has seldom focused on the determinants of market participation. Using rice farm households in Bangladesh and applying a double‐hurdle model, this article demonstrates that the provision of general education and the development of agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities can strengthen the market linkages of farm households by enhancing their marketable surplus through increased production. By contrast, rainfall beyond the optimum level, drought spells, and flood incidences can weaken market linkages by reducing their marketable surplus through decreased production. Specific policies such as investment in general education are drawn up based on the findings.

Marketed Surplus of Major Foodgrains in Maharashtra

Understanding the magnitude of marketable and marketed surplus and the variables affecting are of great importance in the development of sound policies with respect to agricultural marketing, pricing and distribution of important agricultural commodities, imports and exports and overall rural and economic development. The Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI) had been conducting surveys on marketing of agricultural commodities since its inception. However, with commercialization of agriculture leading to changes in the level of production over the decades, these surveys have become obsolete and needed to be revisited. The fresh survey dealt with three crops in Maharashtra, namely tur, gram and maize and observed that marketable surplus is greater than marketed surplus which indicates that the farmers are retaining some surplus produce. Retention in case of tur was 14.86 per cent for sample farmers, while in case of gram it was 9.55 per cent. Maize was grown mainly for commercial purposes. The study also observes that maximum production losses are during harvesting, perhaps since farmers still use manual method. Bottlenecks in production and marketing must be addressed and postharvest losses minimized so that marketed surplus can increase.

Market Behaviour, Arrivals, and Price Behaviour of Cumin in Mandor Market of Jodhpur District, Rajasthan

The present study was conducted in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. Two tehsils, namely Looni and Falodi were selected on the basis of highest production and area. Six villages were selected randomly from the selected tehsils. The present study was carried out to ascertain the marketable surplus, sales pattern, market arrivals, and prices in the cultivation of cumin crop. Primary as well as secondary data were utilized in the study. The marketable and marketed surplus ranged between 95% to 97% on different sized farms. The sample farmers disposed of 85.74% surplus cumin seed in the Mandor regulated market, and only 14.26% of the surplus cumin seed was disposed in the villages to village traders. 53% was sold in the first quarter immediately after harvest (March to May), and the remaining 47% was marketed in the remaining three-quarters of the year (August to February). Small-size farmers disposed off their total surplus cumin seed in one lot as against the medium and large-size farmers, who disposed off their total surplus in two and more lots. It was noted that 63% of the cumin produce arrived in the first quarter (March-May) of the year. The arrivals were 17.93%, 8.54%, and 10.02% in the second, third, and fourth quarters. Farmers got 10.36% higher price by selling cumin in the second quarter over the post-harvest season (peak season or first quarter). Sale of cumin in the third and fourth quarters of the year was not found to be advantageous. The correlation coefficients between monthly wholesale prices and arrival of cumin in the corresponding months and in the subsequent months were -0.578 and -0.588, showing that there existed an inverse relationship between the two. The value of the correlation coefficients was estimated to be higher for the subsequent months than for the corresponding months. The value of the correlation coefficients between yearly arrivals and prices of cumin were negative in four years and was positive only in one year out of the five year study period.

Effect of Price and Non-price Incentives on Production and Marketable Surplus of Food Crops Supply in Ghana

Aim: This study examined food crop farmers’ supply responsiveness to selected price and non-price variables. Study Design: Cross-sectional design Place and Duration of Study : The study was carried out in Ejura Sekyeredumasi District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana and data was collected in November 2013. Methodology: A simple random sampling technique was used to sample 250 farmers for the study. Structured questionnaire was used to solicit information from the sampled farmers on production and marketing of maize and cassava. The study used a modified Nerlovian supply model to analyse the data in order to assess farmers’ supply responsiveness to selected price and non-price variables. Results: The results of the study revealed that food crop farmers respond favourably and promptly to incentive package (price or non-price factors) and this reflected in farmers’ output and farm management practices. Conclusion: The study provides evidence to support price incentives and non-price factors on food crop supply response. It suggests that a strong complementary policy instrument involving price and non-price factors will provide a fillip to agricultural productivity.

Marketable surplus, pattern and constraints faced by smallholder dairy farmer in Punjab

The present study examined marketed surplus, disposal pattern of milk and constraints faced by smallholder dairy farmers in Punjab. For the purpose Amritsar district was selected and a sample of 80 dairy farmers consisting of 20 dairy farmers each from landless (LL), marginal (MR), small (SM) and others (OT) categories were selected from two blocks and four villages of Amritsar district. It was found that milk production, consumption and marketed surplus has direct relationship with farm size. The average production of milk was 27.55, 37.05, 40.95 and 45.2 litres/day for LL, MR, SM and OT dairy farm and per capita availability of milk was 690, 843, 869 and 935 gm/day which was quiet above the national average of 290 gm/day and minimum recommendation of ICMR of 250 gm/day. On an overall basis 11.26, 6.40, 7.40 and 18.12 litres of milk/day was sold by sample households through dairy cooperatives, private milk processors, milk vendors, consumers and halwaiis. Except MR farmers rest all of the selected dairy farmers sold their produce through modern milk marketing channels which includes milk cooperatives and private milk processor in the study area. Thus SM holder dairy farmers have equal access to modern milk marketing channel in the study area. Various constraints ranked by dairy farmers as costly feed and fodder ranked first followed by lack of A.I. and veterinary facilities in village. The lack of organized milk marketing was at the bottom of the constraints identified by dairy households. The sample dairy farmers faced all the constraints with almost equal intensity irrespective of the size categories.

Feed and Fodder Value Chains in Bihar: Some Empirical Evidences

Livestock production, especially dairy, has long been an important activity for smallholder and resource-poor farmers in India, both for household nutrition and income. Most of the livestock are kept in mixed farming systems, where crop residues, mainly cereal straws have been an important feed resource. India is deficient in the supply of fodder, resulting in very low levels of productivity that limit marketable surplus of milk. In Bihar State, over 50% of the land area is planted to rice, and rice straw along with wheat straw and some pulse residues form the main animal feeds. Recent studies in the Indo-Gangetic Plain have highlighted the problem of insufficient fodder and the poor nutritive value of fodder, a problem which becomes more acute in the more eastern parts of the region where agricultural resources–particularly arable land and water–become scarcer. Fodder scarcity affects most farmers but is particularly acute for landless and those with access to only small area of land. Chronic feed deficit is the major constraint to animal production in Bihar. Most of the dairy farmers are smallholders having one or two local-breed milch animals, which are raised on crop residues and natural pastures with under-employed family labour. Feeding grains, oil cakes and green nutritious fodder are generally restricted to some crossbred cattle. The feed and fodder deficiencies, in fact, have been the main limiting factors in raising livestock productivity. The present study is an attempt to look into various issues of feed and fodder markets and the role of various stakeholders in fodder value chains.

Understanding the Fodder Markets for Sustainable Development of Livestock Sector in Bihar-A Rapid Appraisal Approach

Livestock is an integral part of rural economy in Bihar and fodder is a critical input for livestock development. Data shows that there exist a huge gap between demand and supply of fodder (both dry as well as green). Most part of the south Bihar comprising of agro climatic zones, IIIA and IIIB are fodder surplus because of cultivation of paddy and wheat under assured irrigation facilities. Agro climatic Zone I and Zone II are fodder deficit and mostly depend on fodder surplus regions for their fodder requirement. In order to promote fodder production and requirement it is imperative for the Government to come forward and develop fodder storage facilities at different locations in different regions, so that farmers could store fodder to ensure its availability throughout the year.Due to lack of adequate storage facilities and space producers are forced to dispose the fodder in excess of their marketable surplus and therefore many times marketed surplus exceeds the actual marketable surplus in this way.Institutional support in the form of credit and creation of fodder banks in different fodder producing as well as deficit areas for maintaining buffer stock is essential. Fodder markets are highly unorganized and informal and the role of public sector/govt. in its marketing is virtually negligible. Most of the fodder markets are running on different places do not have any dedicated market place.. Most of the fodder markets are operating along the roadsides and have no legal credentials. This becomes one of the reasons of exploitation of people who are involved in this business. It is envisaged that establishment of dedicated and legal market places would help fodder trade a great deal and also check corrupt practices and exploitations of poor producers and traders. Fodder is a bulky item, which makes its trading cumbersome and handling difficult. Some traders use compressing machines to make fodder blocks. It is important to develop some cost effective and efficient fodder compressing machine for ease of handling and transportation as well as cost saving.Quality control of manufactured compound feed and concentrates is also essential. Most of the traders and consumers feel that there should be a mechanism to ensure quality of manufactured feed and nutritional supplements. Development of technology for cost effective and nutritive feed is requires urgent attention and here Public sector R&D can play an effective role. This can also be done in public-private partnership mode.

Socio-economic and institutional factors constraining participation of Swaziland's mushroom producers in mainstream markets: An application of the value chain approach

ABSTRACTMushrooms have been cultivated in Swaziland since 2001 as part of a long-term programme that seeks to improve rural livelihoods through commercial production of non-conventional high-value commodities. Despite the availability of niche markets, and various forms of support received by producers, Swaziland is still a net importer of locally consumed cultivated mushrooms. This study uses a value chain approach to identify the underlying factors constraining local production and producers’ participation in mainstream markets. Understanding the nature of these constraints and how they can possibly be alleviated is very important from a policy perspective as this process will inform the formulation of improved market access strategies required to achieve the programme's overall objective. The results indicate that availability of marketable surplus is affected by production constraints emanating from lack of access to key inputs and services, which are centralised and fully controlled by the government. While producers currently attain higher gross margins (in absolute value and as a proportion of consumer price) compared with other actors in alternative marketing channels, their efforts to participate more profitably in mainstream markets are hampered by poor value chain governance and lack of vertical coordination, subjecting both producers and buyers to various forms of transaction costs. In attempting to address the identified constraints, this study calls for privatisation of key services, allowing the government to assume a monitoring role. Further recommendations are also made towards institutionalising and strengthening collective marketing under different options, which reflect producers’ socio-economic status and the prevailing institutional environment in Swaziland.

Improving Income from Coconut Cultivation through Farm Level Value Addition – An Analysis

Coconut cultivation in India is mostly in small and marginal land holdings. Farm level coconut processing for value addition is one of the options for risk reduction and improving the income from such holdings. This study was conducted during 2009-10 with the objectives of analyzing the profile of farm level processors as well as the constraints faced by those who have adopted minimal processing at the farm-household and community levels. It was found that 63.3% of the respondents were of middle age group, literate, low income group and 80% of them were women. The experience in coconut value addition was for 8 years or less. Further, the entrepreneurship behavior of the respondents was found to be positively and significantly correlated with the credit availed, annual income and investment made. The analysis on the utility of the training programmes indicated need for reorientation of training curricula in terms of project preparation techniques, communication/marketing skills etc. The value addition obtained per nut was found to vary from Rs.0.5 to Rs.15 depending on the products. The constraints and suggestions for improving farm level value addition were also furnished as perceived by the respondent farmers. The study showed that there is tremendous potential for farm level value addition for utilizing the marketable surplus of coconut locally. The importance of providing further technical support to those involved in value addition was also revealed by the study.

Perceived Constraints in Livestock Service Delivery by Dairy Cooperatives: A Case Study of Western Maharashtra, India

Livestock service delivery by Dairy Cooperatives in developing countries like India is getting attention from the past decade. However, due to competitive market players, these cooperatives are able to handle only about 17 per cent of the marketable milk surplus. Hence, there is an urgent need to study the factors hindering availability and effectiveness of livestock service delivery. Keeping this in view, an earnest effort was made to study the perceived constraints of farmers and cooperative staff in livestock service delivery of Dairy Cooperatives in Western Maharashtra. To obtain the suggestions in this regards, the study also summarized the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of Gokul Dairy Cooperative. A pretested interview schedule was used to collect data from 150 dairy producer members and 35 cooperative staff which included veterinarians, para-veterinarians and secretaries of village level cooperatives. The study reported that Gokul Dairy Union delivered 46 livestock services under seven heads, viz. animal health care, breeding, production and management, feed and fodder production, extension, marketing and other services. Dairy farmers and cooperative staff perceived that constraints in livestock service delivery included human resource, financial, policy related and administrative constraints. Among various constraints, high cost of concentrates, non remunerative price for milk, procedural complications for insurance and subsidy and high cost of medicine and treatment were the major constraints in service delivery. SWOT Analysis revealed that, the cooperative had strong and weak sides with respect to livestock service delivery. Hence, to expand proven initiatives and strengthen good practice there is a need to improve upon the quality of the services and reduction in cost of services delivered so that farmers would be more content with the services of dairy cooperatives.

Política de desenvolvimento, produção camponesa e os desafios da agroecologia - DOI 10.5216/ag.v4i12.12784

The process of modernization of agriculture has increased the homogenization of production patterns to the detriment of local characteristics of traditional farmers. This has led to a breakdown of symbolic values of cultural and social reproduction based on relation to the land. The traditional logic of production considered that the function of the land was to supply the basic needs of subsistence, in conjunction with a marketable surplus. For the Government, in commit to the advancement of the capitalist system, these peasants had no relevance in terms of economic growth and needing new techniques to be increased in order to fit into the trading circuit, with increased income in the production unit and the resulting debt. Thus, there were representations conflicts between two logics, which led to serious consequences for the Brazilian peasantry. In this context, agroecology is presented as a theoretical perspective and an alternative of resistance from the peasantry to continue producing and living in the countryside.