GUJARAT   AGRICULTURE              

                                                    

Estimated Marketing Surplus in Gujarat Agriculture by Munish Alagh ; Published by Academic Foundation ; Pages 120 ; Price Rs. 795/-

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Munish Alagh is the  author of two books on agricultural economics. He won the Chimanlal Patel Award for the best research paper among teachers of the Gujarat University. He has to his credit a number of valuable papers in reputed economic journals.

The book under review is a unique and thorough study of  the  profound parameter of  agricultural marketable surplus of food grains. He has selected Gujarat and brought out  clearly the impact of the expansion of irrigation and investment in modern technologies especially by large farmers and the crucial role played by stronger market agencies.

The author attempts to answer the question—Does agriculture in a market dominated business environment as in Gujarat base itself on government sponsored efforts?. Is there any scope for individual networking and has the networking and enterprise of individual farmers any role?

The study was sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Agriculture in Gujarat is market-dominated but the efficiency of the market and especially institutions and inputs is still debated. Alagh focuses on select variables and how effective agricultural institutions have been in transforming agricultural markets in the State. He examines the role of institutional infrastructure and socio-economic factors in influencing household marketable surplus decisions. The study encompassed 359 farmers and covered five districts—Vadodara, Panchmahals, Kheda , Junagadh and Banskantha. The food grains selected for study are wheat, bajra and tur.

The study revealed that  marketed surplus—output ratio was on the lower side as the farmer insured minimum amount of thirty per cent of the overall output for his own consumption. How does one go about to reduce this percentage?. There is a crying need to increase “ storage, seeds and pest removal”. This calls for more efficacious government machinery and active staff participation.

A lot of publicity is given for the impact of Sardar Sarovar but the author found that though large farmers having electric tube wells in catchment areas have become more prosperous, the actual impact of Narmada Project is limited to a few areas.

The farmer will not get a good return unless the Government marketing and storing facilities perform efficiently and the stocks are being purchased and sold and then used efficiently for domestic consumption as well as for exports. What is absolutely essential is a good marketing mechanism, a stocking mechanism and a storing mechanism that offer succour to the farmers. We ought to have institutions and institutional factors working in a manner that makes agriculture more efficiently networked and institutionally established.

The book has four chapters. Chapter One is an introduction which describes the methodology, concepts and also reviews the relevant literature. The study covers districts with maximum production of wheat, bajra and tur. The author explains concepts behind production choices, cost of production, trade possibilities and the factors determining them. Marketable surplus is a normative concept which represents the surplus which the farmer has available with himself once the genuine requirements of the farmer’s family consumption, payment of wages in kind, feed, seed and wastage have been met. Marketed surplus is that part of marketable surplus marketed by the producer.

The second chapter is a macro overview of agriculture in Gujarat—which comprises 33 districts. The growth performance for major crops reveals that the post-liberalisation phase—post 1991—was marked by  improvement in yield levels for all the major food crops, groundnut and cotton. Commercialisation process and crop diversification towards non-food crops—cotton, spices, horticulture are positive developments.

Chapter Three is an empirical analysis which describes some characteristic features of the sample households and facilitates greater understanding of the socio-economic backdrop of the population. To give two samples. Use of farm machines is constrained by considerations of profitability ; a large amount of expenditure on tractors, tube wells and threshing machines was seen by farmers indicating prosperity. A greater proportion ( 60 per cent ) of households sell in local market across farm sizes. However, about 40 per cent of households sell in distant markets. The farmers generally prefer local markets. Half of the medium farms and three quarters of large farms have access to credit. The advantage of co-operative credit is largely taken by medium and large farmers.

The fourth and final chapter offers the summary and conclusions. The message is loud and clear that if storage, seeds and pest-removal are stepped up and the farmer is given ever greater support by more enthusiastic government machinery and officers the food security of the farmers can increase.

The book is replete with information on all parameters. There is also a valuable bibliography.

This volume is a useful addition to the literature on the subject.

P.P.Ramachandran

14 / 05 / 2017