International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension

International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 6 (11), pp. 001-013, November, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Revisiting the synergy between no-till and roundup ready soybean technology

Edwin Clifford Mensah* and Ramin Cooper Maysami

Department of Economics, Finance and Decision Sciences, University of North Carolina, Pembroke, One University Drive, P. O. Box 1510 Pembroke, NC 28372, USA.

Accepted 20 January 2018

Abstract

The objective of this study has been to identify the factors that influence the concurrent adoption of no-till technology and roundup ready (RR) soybean technology. Using data from a survey of 610 soybean growers in the United States and a two-equation probit model, our results reveal that ignoring the simultaneous nature of the decision to use no-till and RR soybean technologies could lead to the mis-specification of the model and hence our ability to reveal and understand the factors that influence the concomitant adoption of these technologies will be obscured by the inconsistent estimates that will result.

Key words: Probit, soybean, concomitant, technology, adoption.

International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 6 (7), pp. 001-011, July, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Crop diversification by poor peasants and role of infrastructure: Evidence from West Bengal

Utpal Kumar De* and Manabendu Chattopadhyay

¹Department of Economics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 793022, India.

²Economic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 B.T. Road, Kolkata, 700108, India.

Accepted 10 April, 2018

Abstract

The question of sustainable income and employment in the rural areas seems to be very much dependent on the degree of diversification of land use towards cultivating various crops. In view of this, crop diversification has been an important issue of agricultural development not only in India, but also in other parts of the world. In India, the growth of area under cultivation in different states remained stagnant in the current decades and the growth of yield of various crops has reached the saturation level. Efforts are now being made in different regions of India to cultivate those crops, which are remunerative and environment friendly. To examine this, an attempt has been made in this paper to study intensively, the nature and extent of crop diversification in West Bengal, a rice-growing state of India, for the period of 1970 to 2005. A number of explanatory factors have been considered to explain this phenomenon. Our findings, primarily based on official data, suggest that marginal and small farmers play a positive role in crop diversification and that has been supported by the growth of various infrastructure networks during the period under consideration.

Key words: Crop diversification, farm size, agro-infrastructure, robust regression, median least squares, West Bengal.

International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 6 (6), pp. 001-009, June, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Evaluating agricultural policies of local governments in Indonesia after the implementation of regional autonomy by principal component analysis

Tomohide Sugino

Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, 50 Phaholyothin Road, Ladyao, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +66-2-561-4743, +66-2-940-5755. Fax: +66-2-940-5949.

Accepted 11 February, 2018

Abstract

Regional autonomy was implemented in Indonesia since 2001, in which most of the authority including agricultural policies was delegated to the local governments. This study evaluated the quality of the agricultural policies in local governments using principal component analysis. The survey was conducted with the local agricultural offices in 89 regencies in Indonesia to collect data of the office budgets, number of office staff and diversity of policies. The survey results showed that there was significant disparity of office budgets, number of office staff and diversity of polices among the regions. Several regencies succeeded in improving the quality of agricultural policies, especially by increasing the diversity of policies. Considering the difficulty of increasing revenue and personnel under the severe economic conditions, the most realistic way to improve the quality of local agricultural policies was improvement of personnel performance of the local governments so that they could develop the innovative ideas based on local resources for agriculture development by optimally using local resources.

Key words: Policy diversity, decentralization, local government revenue.

International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 6 (5), pp. 001-012, May, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Welfare enhancing growth rates in food grains production: A district level comparison of an Indian state

Atanu Sengupta* and Chandan Kumar Maity

Burdwan University, Burdwan, West Bengal, India. West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited, West Bengal, India.

Accepted 13 January, 2018

Abstract

Maharastra is one of the progressive states in India but it has been reported to be a deficit state for long when one considers to major pursuit of economic activity, which is agriculture. In the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze welfare aspect of growth performance of agriculture of the Maharastra State for the period from 1970/71 to 2005/06 by using Kakwanie’s (1997) growth parameters. Based on aggregated district level data on area, production and yield of food grains, the study reveals considerable variations in district wise growth rates. For the overall period of study, food grains production in most of the districts of the State recorded a deceleration of growth in respect to all agrarian parameters. A periodisation analysis as suggested by Kakwani (1997) concludes that the growth performance in Mahasrastra agriculture is highly unequal. The new policy changes have failed to bring about a shift in this pattern so as to enhance the economic wellbeing of the people.

Key words: Agricultural growth, welfare, underdeveloped economy, growth diversity, Kakwani’s growth parameters.

International Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension ISSN 2329-9797 Vol. 6 (4), pp. 001-014, April, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Essence of crop diversification: A study of West Bengal agriculture during 1970 - 1971 to 2004 - 2005

Bidyut Kumar Ghosh

P.C. Mahalanabish School of Management, Mankundu, Hooghly, West Bengal, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +919679980249.

Accepted 22 January, 2018

Abstract

Initiation of some institutional and technological changes mainly the Operation Barga and the introduction of high yielding varieties during the eighties turned West Bengal into a progressive food grain producing state in India. But of late a decelerating tendency in West Bengal agriculture has been noticed especially in terms of growth production of major crops and also the total agricultural production. In this circumstance diversification of agricultural activities appears to be an important contributing factor towards the enhancement of total agricultural production and productivity. The study revealed that the cropping pattern in West Bengal in terms of allocation of acreage had been skewed towards food grain. However, during the last fifteen to twenty years some important crops (boro rice, potato, oilseeds, especially mustard) emerged as the main crop for the farmers. The cropping pattern turned against pulses, coarse cereals and sugarcane. It was also found that in the cropping pattern changes the expansion effect could explain 54.69% of the gross cropped area and the remaining 45.31% of the gross cropped area was due to the substitution effect.

Key word: Crop diversification, growth, crop concentration, expansion effect, substitution effect.