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Mrutyunjay Swain ¹, Mamata Swain ²

Affiliations
1 Agro-Economic Research Centre, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar - 388 120, Gujarat, IN
2 School of Social Sciences, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, IN

Abstract

The paper assesses the major role played by the institutional support system such as government safety-nets, non-governmental and community based insurance mechanism in mitigating the drought risk and vulnerability in the region. Before assessing the effectiveness of the institutional supports, the paper critically analyses the factors that led to gradual refinement of drought management policies and programmes with special reference to western Odisha. The role played by Centre-State relationship and power equations in implementation of programmes for drought management has been critically examined. The study is based on secondary data analysis and the findings of a field survey on 139 households. The institutional support system to withstand drought in effective manner was found to be weak in the study region. Though a gradual improvement in drought management policies was observed and every major drought induced some qualitative improvement to the relief approach, the nature of Centre-State relationship and influence of pressure groups was found to play a key role in the sanction of funds and implementation of the development schemes for drought risk reduction. A large number of developmental programmes have been implemented in the drought-prone study region, but the benefits of these programmes reached very less proportion of rural households and these programmes have not sustained due to lack of long-term vision, poor quality of implementation and insufficient people's participation. Furthermore, the community based organisations were found to be more effective in earlier periods compared to the present.

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Raghunath Sahoo ¹, Mamata Swain ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Management Studies, Apex Institute of Technology and Management , Pahala, Bhubaneswar-752101, Odisha, IN
2 Department of Economics, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack-753003, Odisha, IN

Abstract

Common Property Resources (CPRs) play a significant role in the life and livelihood of rural poor, for whom income and employment generation opportunities from private land are limited. In this paper, an attempt has been made to determine the contributions of CPRs to rural household income and their fuelwood and fodder requirements in four villages in Keonjhar district of Odisha from 1 April, 2012 to 31 March, 2013. The study covered 200 households (120 poor households and 80 nonpoor households) comprising landless and agriculture labourers, marginal and small farmers (poor households), and medium and large farmers (non-poor households) from four villages of two different sample blocks. The study reveals that encroachment, implementation of various developmental programmes and over exploitation resulted in degradation of CPRs, leading to livelihood crisis situation for the rural poor. Even now apart from their shrinkage and degradation, CPRs meet substantially the total requirements of fuelwood and fodder of both poor and nonpoor households. It has been found that the income and employment opportunities from CPRs among poor households are more than non-poor households in the study area, but not in absolute terms. Measures are required to ensure retention, regeneration and sustainable utilisation of CPRs to provide livelihood security to the CPR-dependent rural communities.

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Mrutyunjay Swain ¹, Mamata Swain ²

Affiliations
1 Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad -380 015, IN
2 Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 305-8572, JP

Abstract

The paper analyzes the nature of contractual arrangements, interlinkages and imperfections observed in the rural credit market today in drought prone Bolangir district in western Orissa. It examines the differential access of different farmer categories to formal and informal sources of credit, their purpose of borrowing and mode of credit utilization. It tries to trace out the different types of impediments faced by the farmers in . Availing credit from institutional sources and suggests some innovative measures to improve their access to credit. The study reveals that the benefits of credit reforms hardly reached the target group. The poorest of the poor still approach the village moneylenders and traders for credit. Though majority of loans were originally sanctioned for cultivation and other productive purposes, significant diversion occurred towards current consumption. Cumbersome and time consuming banking procedure, failure to supply credit at t/uf time of need and rigid collateral requirement are the major hindrances causing poor access 10 formal credit institutions. The crop loss due to natural . Calamities and the unproductive utilization of borrowed funds resulted in rising default rate and delayed loan repayments. The study concludes that keeping in view the local socio-economic and ecological conditions, the rural credit policy needs to be revamped to make the rural credit market more efficient and responsive to the needs of the local population in the drought prone region.

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Mamata Swain ¹

Affiliations
1 Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar 751 013, IN

Abstract

This article critically examines basic features of tenancy in Orissa with data from various rounds of NSS. Orissa belongs to the category of high tenancy states in India Major manifestation of tenancy in Orissa is sharecropping. Both the lessors and lessees predominantly hail from marginal and small farm category. The terms and conditions of tenancy contracts are inequitable and regressive in nature favouring the lessors. Contracts are oral, unrecorded. insecure with high rent and characterised by absence of input cost sharing. Though tenancy is legally forbidden in the state, its prevalence suggests that in the specific socio-economic context of labour abundance, land scarcity and dire hunger for land; tenancy seems to play a useful role by providing means of livelihood to the landless and land-poor peasants. Therefore. it is advocated that tenancy should he legalised and recorded This will facilitate resource adjustment and increased agricultural production by transferring land use right from those who are not able to cultivate to those who are willing to cultivate while keeping the landownership right intact and ensure security of tenure and fair rents to tenants.

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Sasmita Patnaik ¹, Mamata Swain ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Rural Development, Ravenshaw University, IN
2 Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha-753003, IN

Abstract

In India, risks involved in agricultural production are inherently very high, which have increased appreciably due to climate change and globalisation. Both the government and the farmers take many ex-ante and ex-post measures to reduce risk and impart greater resilience to agriculture. However, in spite of the preventive measures in place, when there is crop failure, insurance is considered the most effective mechanism to compensate the farmers for their losses. Crop insurance is an ex-ante risk adaptive measure that transfers the production risk from the insured to the insurer. Realising the need of crop insurance for management of agricultural risk, Government of Odisha launched National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) from the rabi season of 1999-2000 in all the thirty districts. NAIS is an area-based yield insurance scheme, providing coverage for yield losses due to natural calamities, pest attack and plant diseases and covers all food crops and major crops. This paper seeks to analyse the performance of NAIS in Kalahandi district of Odisha by using data from both secondary and primary sources. The principal objectives of the study are to identify the reasons for non-adoption of crop insurance by majority of farmers and explore the determinants of participation in the scheme. The study reveals that the performance of NAIS is not satisfactory due to its low coverage and undue delay in indemnity payment.

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