Size Of Land Holdings Research Articles

Environmental Reliance Traps and Pathways – Theory and Analysis of Empirical Data From Rural Nepal

Existing theoretical and empirical work on poverty traps does not in detail investigate interactions between environmental reliance and socioeconomic factors over time. A string of studies has documented that environmental products provide rural households with both subsistence and cash income and that high environmental reliance is often associated with poverty. These studies are snapshots and do not allow an understanding of environmental reliance dynamics – are households trapped at high levels of environmental reliance, what factors enable movement from high to low reliance, and how are such movements associated with total household income? Here we develop and present a theory of environmental reliance traps that allows analysis and explanation of changes in household-level environmental reliance over time. We propose operational parametric and non-parametric models for empirical investigation of the theory and employ these using an environmentally augmented three-wave panel household income and asset dataset (n = 427, pooled n = 1212) from Nepal. We found no evidence of an environmental reliance trap in the study population, meaning that all households converged on a single long-term environmental reliance equilibrium point. Households with high environmental reliance moving down toward the equilibrium (n = 358) have low income and asset endowments; while households with low environmental reliance moving up toward the equilibrium (n = 854) are better off, in terms of both income and assets. The approach identified the poorer households that make a living from harvesting substantial amounts of environmental products The probability of being a high-downward moving household is negatively associated with the size of landholding, market access, and female headship, and positively associated with the household head being born in the village and belonging to the most common caste. We argue that the identification of environmental reliance pathways can simultaneously inform interventions aimed at environmental conservation and poverty reduction.

Deforestation Trajectories on a Development Frontier in the Brazilian Amazon: 35 Years of Settlement Colonization, Policy and Economic Shifts, and Land Accumulation.

We examine deforestation processes in Apuí, a deforestation hotspot in Brazil’s state of Amazonas and present processes of land-use change on this Amazonian development frontier. Settlement projects attract agents whose clearing reflects land accumulation and the economic importance of deforestation. We used a mixed-method approach in the Rio Juma Settlement to examine colonization and deforestation trajectories for 35 years at three scales of analysis: the entire landscape, cohorts of settlement lots divided by occupation periods, and lots grouped by landholding size per household. All sizes of landholdings are deforesting much more than before, and current political and economic forces favoring the agribusiness sector foreshadow increasing rates of forest clearing for pasture establishment in Apuí. The area cleared per year over the 2013–2018 period in Apuí grew by a percentage more than twice the corresponding percentage for the Brazilian Amazon as a whole. With the national congress and presidential administration signaling impunity for illegal deforestation, wealthy actors, and groups are investing resources in land grabbing and land accumulation, with land speculation being a crucial deforestation factor. This paper is unique in providing causal explanations at the decision-maker’s level on how deforestation trajectories are linked to economic and political events (period effects) at the larger scales, adding to the literature by showing that such effects were more important than aging and cohort effects as explanations for deforestation trajectories. Additional research is needed to deepen our understanding of relations between land speculation, illegal possession of public lands, and the expansion of agricultural frontiers in Amazonia.

Socio-economic analysis of farmers facing asymmetric information in inputs markets: evidence from the rainfed zone of Pakistan

Information asymmetry plays an important role in the non-adoption of modern agricultural inputs like improved seeds, pesticides and fertilizers etc. Therefore, this study investigated the role of farmers’ socio-economic attributes and farm level characteristics in avoiding asymmetry of information in agricultural input markets (i.e. exaggerated prices and low quality). The approach captures the farm level heterogeneity and complexity that may help the authorities in strengthening existing market regulations to control price and quality disparities. We analysed 395 randomly selected farm households using multinomial logit model. We found that farmers with large landholding size are less likely to face quality and more likely to face price information asymmetry. Farmers with higher education, more physical assets and better access to other sources of information are less likely to face both quality and price information asymmetry. Borrowers as compared to purchasers are more likely to face information asymmetry on prices of agricultural inputs. Non-adopters of improved agricultural technologies are more suspicious of information asymmetry than adopters. The paper thus provides evidence that the socio-economic dynamics of information asymmetry can have an important influence on wide spread adoption of technology. Paying more attention to farm level heterogeneity and complexity would help to develop general market management plan and improve the adoption of technology by farmers.

Rural Non-farm Employment in Eastern India: Implications for Economic Well-being

To be inclusive, economic development in India must focus on eastern India, which has a high population growth rate, population pressure, high incidence of poverty, small landholding size in agriculture, and underdeveloped rural infrastructure. Employment diversification towards the non-farm sector in eastern India from 1993–1994 to 2011–2012 shows considerable variation by income group and farm-size. The effects of diversification—whether driven by pursuit of higher income or distress—are stratified. Estimates based on instrumental variable regressions suggest that all types of non-farm employment improve the economic well-being of households.

Agricultural Mechanization in India: A Study on the Ownership and Investment in Farm Machinery by Cultivator Households across Agro-ecological Regions

Despite the signs of distress and fatigue in Indian agriculture, the use of machines in crop operations has increased manifold in recent times. Proponents of mechanization argue that mechanization saves time and cost, and improves agricultural productivity. The Government of India has also encouraged mechanization through subsiding farm machinery and establishing custom hiring centres. Earlier studies have found significant regional variation in the spread of agricultural mechanization. Cost of cultivation data collected by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) reveal that although the share of machine labour in the cost of cultivation per hectare has increased, there exist significant differences across crops in the use of mechanical input. Empirical studies in different regions have found a significant presence of the rental market for services of agricultural machinery. However, in recent years there have been very few studies on the patterns of mechanization based on household-level data on ownership and investment in agricultural machinery and implements. Agro-ecological characteristics of a region are said to have a significant impact on the level of mechanization. Ownership of machinery is also significantly influenced by the factors such as size of landholding, access to irrigation and access to institutional credit. The pattern of investment and ownership of machinery has important implications on the profitability of farming. This article uses unit-level data from the All-India Debt and Investment Survey (NSS 70th round 2013) to study the pattern of agricultural mechanization in India based on the ownership of agricultural machinery and implements. Using ownership and expenditure data it studies the questions of recent patterns in agricultural mechanization across agro-ecological regions and land classes.

Money, Land or self-employment? Understanding preference heterogeneity in landowners’ choices for compensation under land acquisition in India

Land acquisition policies, upon which future land use patterns in India depend, are controversially tied to the question of whether to provide monetary or non-monetary compensation to affected landowners. However, turning to the preferences of landowners for answers only serves to complicate matters, as these are not homogenous on the question. This implies there is a need to identify the underlying factors giving rise to this preference heterogeneity, in order to develop more effective and efficient policy. This paper aims to address this gap using a contingent ranking experiment to study landowner disposition toward a range of compensation options, presented in a survey conducted in an ‘about-to-be-submerged’ region of a large, multi-stage irrigation project in India. Rankings were based on a selection of six compensation options, constituting different combinations of the attributes - cash, land, housing and self-employment. While the results suggest that landowners generally prefer non-monetary compensation, both the size of landholding and level of education of the landholder appear to influence the preferences for different compensation options. We find that landowners with more land or education tended to favour monetary compensation, while those with lower education or less land tended to favour housing and self-employment options. We close the text by exploring possible explanations for this specific form of heterogeneity, including access to information, to networks and capacities for income generation, and providing some reflections on the implications of these results for ensuring that rehabilitation and resettlement policies are both well targeted and effective.

Socio-Economic Profile of Farm Households in Cotton Belt of Rural Punjab

This paper examined the socio-economic profile of farm households in the cotton belt of Rural Punjab. The result revealed that as a whole, more than two-thirds fall in the working-age group of 15-59 years. The average size of the family worked out to be 5.74 and the average size of owned land holdings was 11.50 acres. The data highlights that 34.96 percent were earners, 31.39 percent were earning dependents and 33.65 percent of the persons were dependents. The major proportion (88.46 percent) of total sampled households followed Sikhism and as many as 87.50 percent were from the general category. About 23 percent of the sampled persons were illiterate and literacy levels were found to be positively linked with the size of landholdings. About 34 percent of the heads of sampled farmer households were illiterate and the majority of the heads of sampled farmer households had education below secondary level. None of the heads among marginal farmers had obtained education up to graduation level, whereas, this proportion was 7.41 for the large farmers. The study points out that overall only 11.54 percent of the sampled farm households read the newspaper. There is a need for effective measures which could enhance the educational and awareness levels of farmers and their family members for raising their levels of living.

Distribution and Determinants of Fallow Land among Farmers of Central Dry Zone of Karnataka

Farmers in dry regions of India have a high tendency for leaving their land fallow. To decipher this phenomenon, the study was carried out in the Tumkur district of the central dry zone of Karnataka. Results from the study revealed a positive relationship between the size of land holdings and land fallow. The major reason stated by farmers for leaving their fallow land was the scarcity of rainfall or irrigation, and poor land fertility status. The Tobit regression model was fitted to study the determinants of the decision of farmers to keep the arable land fallow, where, dependent variable considered was the share of fallow land in the total size of landholding of farm households. It was found that the availability of water for irrigation and family labour has a negative relationship with fallow land. Other factors determining the extent of fallow land were the distance of land from residences, poor land fertility status and availability of credit.

Status, Impact, and Factor Determining Rural Non-farm Economy of India: A Review

The rural non-farm sector (RNFS) involves a spectrum of economic activity in rural areas and encompasses all rural productive entities other than farm holdings. It has the potential to play a pivotal role in holistic and inclusive development of India’s rural areas by increasing the employment and wages of rural labour, which can reduce income inequalities. The review was carried out in order to explain the present status of RNFE state wise as well as overall to get a comprehensive view on the topic. The review study also focuses to disaggregate RNFE on the basis of gender, size of landholding and castes. Literature depicting the impact of RNFE on rural livelihoods especially in employment and poverty and factors determining it also been compiled to get an overall idea on the study.

Disparities in the Ownership of Assets, Income and Consumption Expenditure among Farm and Non-Farm Households in Hoshiarpur District of Rural Punjab

Disparities in the ownership of assets, income and consumption expenditure of households were increasing in the rural as well as urban areas of the country. The study was undertaken to examine the disparities in the ownership of assets, income and consumption expenditure among 200rural farm and non-farm sampled households in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. The reference period of the study was 2017-18. The results showed that the average value of total assets of rural farm households was 21.46 times than the average value of assets owned by non-farm households. The distribution of land was found more unequal among farm and non-farm households. A large majority of non-farm households were landless and few of them were uneconomic size of landholdings. Moreover, the average sampled farm households earned `2, 63,786 per annum from all the agricultural and non-agricultural sources, whereas non-farm households earned only 60 percent of the total income earned by farm households. The income level of artisans, agricultural and non-agricultural labour households was found very low mainly due to high rate of illiteracy, low level of education, lack of ownership of productive assets and absence of highly paid job opportunities. The average value of household assets, income and consumption expenditure of farm household was positively associated with the farm-sizes. The study concluded that there was high level of disparities not just between the farm and non-farm households but also inside the farm and non-farm households in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.

Nutrient-Dense Orange-Fleshed Sweetpotato: Advances in Drought-Tolerance Breeding and Understanding of Management Practices for Sustainable Next-Generation Cropping Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Almost half of children < 5 years old living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suffer from vitamin A deficiency and 60% suffer from iron deficiency. Thus, there has been a strong commitment to breeding for, promoting awareness of, and delivering adapted pro-vitamin A rich orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in SSA during the past two decades and for enhanced iron content since 2014. This review article focuses on major breeding efforts in SSA to enhance the drought tolerance of OFSP and reviews integrated crop management practices for improved and sustained sweetpotato production in SSA farming systems. Under climate change, the frequency and severity of droughts is expected to increase. Technical issues are presented in the context of addressing challenges along the entire value chain to ensure adoption. First, the use of an accelerated breeding scheme reduced the breeding cycle from 8–10 to 4–5 years. Since 2010, 19 drought-tolerant OFSP cultivars have been released in Mozambique, 7 in Malawi, and 2 in South Africa. Moreover, research in four breeding populations using the heterosis exploiting breeding scheme (HEBS) demonstrated that within one breeding cycle of 5 years, clones with significantly higher root yield, abiotic tolerance, host plant resistance to pests and diseases, and early maturity can be produced. In the future, HEBS will be combined with greater use of modern genomic tools, new phenotyping tools, and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing. Second, beyond genetic enhancements, evidence is presented that using improved crop management systems, existing sweet potato yields can be increased 2–4 times. Current knowledge is reviewed concerning sweetpotato’s role in diverse farming systems, but integrated crop management is clearly under researched. Third, the outlook for drought tolerance breeding indicates that two distinct classes of nutrient-rich cultivars are emerging: (1) Early maturing cultivars (< 4 month growing period) that escape drought but also serve humid environments with small landholding size per capita; and (2) Medium maturing (4–6 month growing period) cultivars that avoid drought, are drought tolerant and exhibit continuous root formation. Increasing commercialization of the crop and climate change will drive demand, and the willingness of farmers to invest in improved sweetpotato crop management.

The contribution of agriculture to household dietary diversity: evidence from smallholders in East Hararghe, Ethiopia

This study explores the impact of agriculture production on food consumption amongst rural households in Babille district, East Hararghe, Ethiopia. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to analyse information on production, consumption and income in two consecutive seasons. Diets in the area are dominated by cereals, while consumption of high-value foods such as meat, eggs, fruits, vitamin A-rich vegetables and dark green leafy vegetables was found to be extremely limited, indicating a risk of nutrient deficiencies. Food consumption was assessed in terms of dietary diversity and frequency of consumption, expressed in terms of the household Food Consumption Score (FCS). Important differences were found between households in the same area, and between pre-harvest and post-harvest seasons. Households with adequate food consumption tended to produce greater numbers of crops, own more livestock and earn more cash income compared to households in lower food consumption categories. Nutritionally important foods such as groundnut, eggs and fruit tend to be sold via local markets, and production of a particular food type was no guarantee that household would consume that food. Households depend heavily on the market to supplement their own food production, with most household expenditure going towards the purchase of cereals. Regression analysis indicated that food consumption is positively associated with agriculture output, but also with other factors such as size of landholding and farm income. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the dietary outcomes for farm households in developing areas such as Babille, including a reconsideration of the balance between consumption and sale of agricultural outputs, and the need for more, and better targeted, agricultural support services.

Status of Labour households and Marginal Farmers in Bihar: A Comparative Analysis

This study is based on the longitudinal information collected in the selected villages of Bihar. The data collected during 2010-11 and 2014-15 were analyzed using descriptive and econometric techniques. An attempt was made to analyze employment generation, income of different marginal farmers and labour households and the extent of indebtedness and earning prevalent among rural labour and marginal farm households in rural Bihar. The result indicated that the average size of landholding of labour and marginal farmers increased in villages under study because some of these households purchased land from other categories of households through their meagre savings possible due to increase in employment opportunity and wages, particularly in non- farm sector in Bihar. The levels of livelihood parameter are low on labour households, but they performed impressively during the recent past. The total values of assets of labour and marginal farms’ households under study has considerably enhanced during five years due to either possession of new assets, rejuvenation, and/ or value appreciation of the existing assets. Labour households earned a higher income than marginal household in 2014- 15 due to availability of non - farm employment and grants under social security schemes. There has been significant improvement in education level, asset possession and availability of facilities. However, social security programmes seem to be more robust than economic development programmes including agricultural development. The investment in human capital or skill development in rural area will be equally important in the endeavour for alleviating poverty and improving livelihood status. The complementarities among various types of infrastructures, institutions and development programmes need to be ensured to accelerate the process of poverty alleviation and improving livelihood in rural Bihar.

FARMER’S DISTRESS AND AGRARIAN CRISES IN INDIA: CAUSES AND WAYS FORWARD

Agriculture in India is referred to as “Gamble of the monsoon”. It has been observed that among Indian states. In recent years, many farmers in India have committed suicide, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka record for high suicide rates due to indebtedness of agricultural households. Maharashtra accounted for the maximum share of farmer suicides and Karnataka second. Cultivators are more prone to commit suicide compared to that of Agricultural Labourers. The study found that the high poverty states have the highest farmers committing suicide. Among the cultivators, bankruptcy or indebtedness are the major factors leading to purposive killing of farmers killing themselves. The study is based on secondary data. The data such as number of cultivators, agricultural labourers by age, gender and size of landholdings have been collected and been used for further analysis. Indian States are categorized into low, middle and High Poverty states based on ‘combined poverty line’ estimated by Suresh Tendulkar. Also the farmers are divided into four groups according to size of landholdings (marginal, small, medium and large farmers) for clear analysis. Simple statistical tools such as averages, Coefficient of Variation and percentage are used to analyze and interpret the data. Out of 39.8 percent of total working population in India 21.7 percent of population are engaged in agricultural activities and are in distress and committing suicide which triggers a major loss to India’s Human Capital resource. The study also shows that high rates of suicide are recorded in Maharashtra (34.1 percent) and Karnataka (12.5 percent) and therefore farmers’ suicide is high among the high poverty states of India. KEY WORDS: Agriculture, Farmers, Cultivators, agricultural Labourers, Suicide, Bankruptcy, High and Low Poverty States, Factors.

Impacts of Livestock Holdings on Households’ Decision to Participate in Wood Fuel Production from Dryland Forest (Case study in Dire Dawa; Ethiopia)

This study examines the influence of livestock holding on households’ decision to participation in wood fuel production from dryland forest. Survey data were collected from 160 households in Dire Dawa administration council of Oromia state, Ethiopia following a snowball sampling technique. Binary logit regression model and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the impacts of livestock holding on households’ decision to participation in fuelwood production from dryland forest. The estimation of the model indicates that livestock and size of arable land holdings were significant factors in determining households’ participation in wood fuel production. An increase of one unit in livestock holding leads to the probability of participation in wood fuel production of households decreased by 0.118 units while the land size has a negative impact on the participation of wood fuel production. When land size increased by 1 hectare the probability of participating in wood fuel production will be decreased by 0.9 units. The mean of wood fuel producers’ livestock holding was about 5.84 TLU and 10.67 for non- wood fuel producer which indicates the negative correlation of livestock holding and wood fuel production. Thus the study concludes that households with large livestock less likely to participate in wood fuel extraction from dryland forest. Promoting sustainable livestock production with appropriate grazing plan can have a significant role in dryland forest conservation and sustainable forest management.

Relative Economics of Menthol Mint Cultivation with Existing Competitive Crop Combinations in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Area of Uttar Pradesh

The study was undertaken to examine the relative economics of menthol mint production with existing competitive crop combinations in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve area of Uttar Pradesh. Data were obtained through administrating of a pre-tested, well-designed survey schedule and questionnaire from 400 farmers during the agriculture year 2018-19. To accomplish the objectives of the study both descriptive analysis and project appraisal technique have been applied to study the socio-economic status of farmers along with the profile of their farm and analyze the cost, return behavior and relative profitability. The study unveiled that about 62.50 per cent farmers were having the educational qualification level of primary to postgraduate and remaining of 37.50 per cent farmers were deprived of schooling. More than three fourths 384 of the sample farmers (96.00%) have perceived the agriculture as their main occupation, whereas only (4.00%) of them (16 families) have selected the agriculture as their secondary occupation. The average landholding size of the respondents has been found to be 2.39 acres, which are slightly less than the national average landholding size of a household. The larger area (38.50%) is covered under the combination of paddy-mentha-maize (42.50) followed by paddy-mustard-mentha (32.60%), sugarcane (22.65%) and paddy-wheat-maize (6.25%).The majority of the respondents had the medium level of mass media exposure, extension contact and having a high level of social participation. As the annual rate of returns from investment were affected by adoption cropping pattern, method of production and prices of input and output. It is observed that some competing crops performed better in terms of total and net returns over the cost of cultivation. It is also observed that the benefit-cost ratio mentha performed better and found noticeably higher than that of other existing competitive crop combinations. Moreover, among the three major cropping patterns,the maximum net return was obtained from Paddy-Mustard-Mentha accounted for ` 69.81K and B-C ratio was 1:1.62, it implies that farmers invest single rupee on deployed resources has been received 1.62 rupees additional as profit, it is also implied that marginal efficiency of recourses used and allocation considered as satisfactory level.

Cost-Benefit Analysis Across different Landholding Size of Contract Farming:An Empirical Study for Select Districts in Karnataka

Cost-Benefit Analysis Across different Landholding Size of Contract Farming:An Empirical Study for Select Districts in Karnataka

Financial Inclusion and Farmers: Association between Status and Demographic Variables

Financial inclusion is an excellent tool for empowerment of farmers. The current study examines the level of financial inclusion and study the association between various demographical variables and financial inclusion among the farmers. A survey of 360 farmers across Prayagraj district was conducted, this survey found that 71.4% of farmers had his bank accounts while 23.6% of farmers were actively using their bank accounts in past 3 months and only 10.6 % of farmers were taken loan from banks or other formal financial institutions. The survey shows that farmers were financially inclusion: as 72.8% have poor financial inclusion, 19.2% have fair financial inclusion, and only 8.1% have sound financial inclusion. The farmers had not sufficient financial literacy. Further analysis shows that gender is not associated with degree of financial inclusion while other demographic variables i.e. education qualification, family income, age group and size of landholding is closely associated with degree of financial inclusion.

Dynamics and determinants of farm household income in Bihar: evidence from panel data of selected villages

The study is undertaken to analyze the farm household income, income sources, economic inequality, and determinants of income of farm households in Bihar which is based on five-year panel data (2010–11 and 2014–15). Findings of the study show that the income level of farm households in the selected villages of Bihar is low, but exhibited an impressive annual growth rate of 6% from 2010–11 to 2014–15. The income level showed a positive relation with the size of landholding. Further, the sources of household income are quite diverse, and cultivation contributes only one-fourth to the total income of farm households. The level of remittances showed signs of decline, while the share of transfer payments and non -farm activities increased from 2010–11 to 2014–15. Inter- and intra-class inequality in farm household income is also prominent but diminishing with time. Farm assets, diversification, and education level have turned out to be important drivers of farm household income. These findings have significant implications and call for holistic rural development strategies for enhancing farmers’ income.

Determinant Factors in Adopting Certifications Among Coffee Growers in India

Certified coffee production is an opportunity for the cultivator to differ his product. In any case, the quantity of certified producers is still comparatively very less. So as to contribute to the spread of accreditation among ranchers, the purpose of this research work is to distinguish the components that decide its reception, based on a sample of certified and non-certified cultivators from Karnataka and Kerala in India. Quantitative information was dissected through logistic regression. Results demonstrated that three factors were critical in clarifying the accreditation reception: membership in the organization; source of income from different yields as well as the size of landholding. These outcomes extend the current information about coffee certifications and can manage activities to build the number of certified producers.