Suchergebnisse

In 2020, the Union government enacted three new farm laws to address the structural weaknesses inherent in the sale, marketing and stocking of agriculture produce in the regulated/wholesale markets. This has provoked serious discussion, criticism and even protest, especially in Punjab and Haryana to the extent that the Supreme Court put them on hold for some time. This paper assesses the farmers' awareness and perceptions about these laws based on a large survey of households carried out during 2020 across five eastern states – Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal. The probit and multinomial regression models are used to examine the socio-economic factors that influence the farmers' awareness and perceptions about usefulness of the ordinances. The findings reveal that about 50 per cent agricultural households in eastern India are aware about the new farm laws; they hardly possessed any knowledge about the contents therein. Several socio-economic factors among farm households correlate significantly with the awareness of the new farm laws and holding opinions about their usefulness. These include the size of landholding, level of education of the household head, awareness of government programmes, and visits to Kisan Melas. The findings of the study suggest that the governments (centre and state) should make efforts to demystify the ordinances to farmers, traders and other stakeholders and generate confidence among them about a competitive agri-marketing environment. ; PR ; IFPRI3; IFPRI-ICAR; DCA; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance ; SAR; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Lockdowns induced by COVID-19 have threatened food security in most developing countries. Four weeks after the country went into lockdown, we carried out a telephone survey of roughly 2,600 rural households in eastern India, one of the poorest regions of the world. The aim was to provide rapid evidence on the status and determinants of food insecurity and to understand the coping strategies adopted by rural households during the pandemic. Using comprehensive telephone survey data from 2,599 households, we estimated the status of food insecurity using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. We found that roughly 98 percent of rural households reported a negative income shock after countrywide lockdown was imposed. We further observed that about 46 percent of the sampled households were moderately food insecure and 25 percent were severely food insecure. We also observed regional differences in the extent of food insecurity. The results of the Poisson regression indicate that households that belong to lower social strata and have less land and fewer years of education are more likely to suffer from food insecurity. The results also indicate that households which are receiving government assistance are more likely to be food secure. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI5; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; DCA ; SAR