Friday, October 18, 2019
Is famine a natural phenomenon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Is famine a natural phenomenon - Essay Example tion as to whether or not famine is man-made or a natural disaster, the following aims to explore the different causes of famine in a holistic perspective. It is reported that in Asia Africa and Latin America, the regions of the world which are underdeveloped, more than 500 million people live in absolute poverty. Accordingly more than 9 million people die each and every year due to hunger and malnutrition and starvation. Accordingly famine persists despite the fact that we have obtained a certain level of and development in the Western developed world and the result of income disparity is the increased incidence of famine throughout the world. What are the causes of famine? For many parts of the world famine is caused by a series of social, political, and environmental factors which have led to widespread poverty and hunger. In some places such as in Ethiopia, Somalia, and other countries of the Horn of Africa harsh envrionmental conditions and political instability have paved the way for famines and droughts. Droughts occur due to environmental factors and can be caused by a lack of rain one year, soil degradation, or the forces of g lobal warming. Environmental catastrophes have been prevalent throughout world history and famine can be traced back to biblical stories as well as to the early annals of modern civilization. In this respect then, famine can be seen as inevitable and as a feature of our existence on earth. Despite the fact that famine has existed since the dawn of time, there are also human made factors which can account for the rise of famines and poverty throughout the world. We now turn to the causes of human made famines and turned to exploration of our case study, Somalia. The African continent, although seen by many as the cradle of humanity and endowed with many natural resources, is home to some of the poorest countries on the planet. Many of these countries are beset by famine, arguably the greatest indicator of poverty known to
Afghan employment by foreign contractors Dissertation
Afghan employment by foreign contractors - Dissertation Example Afghanistan is a landlocked Islamic country which has been at the crossroads of many cultures and civilizations. In ancient times, Afghanistan had been invaded and subdued by Persians, Greeks, Macedonians and Aryans (Scarborough, 1998). Especially during the 1st and 2nd centuries, Afghanistan became a central and strategic trading site of the famed Silk Road that linked Rome and China and which brought not only commodities such as silk, porcelain etc to Afghanistan but also arts, religions (Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam) and most especially, the †equally important currency ideas†(Clammer, 2007,p.652). In more modern times, Afghanistan had been the bone of contention between Britain and Russia in what is called â€Å"The Great Game†(Garthoff 1997,p.977) and between Russia and the USA in what is called â€Å"The Cold War†(Walker 1995,p.356). Despite the land’s difficult terrain with its high mountains and plateaus, steep ridges, deep valleys and its remote position, Afghanistan is the ideal buffer zone and the arena for balance of power (Ewans, 2002). According to Grau (1998)                                                                                                                       Afghanistan was, to the Russians, an outlet to the Indian Ocean and an extension of                                                                                                                 Russian expansionism for the British it was an important shield to protect India, Pakistan and other British territories from Russian hegemony. But the Russians prevailed in the struggle for control of Afghanistan when Britain granted independence to India and Pakistan, thus leaving a power vacuum. The latter signaled the entry of USA as rebel group.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Analysis of Sprint PCS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Analysis of Sprint PCS - Essay Example While in services main costs are connected to equipment maintaining those services and have little impact on prices (which are mainly formed by customer's demands), mobile phones have a lot of issues on manufacturing and especially testing product costs. "One hundred percent of mobile phones are tested to ensure regulatory and standard compliance, where many other consumer electronic products are merely sample tested." (Strickler, 2004). Additionally, mobile phones have ultra-short life cycles comparing to other consumer electronics, which is followed with more funds spent on designing new models. As most of the manufacturing of Sprint is outsourced to China manufacturing labor costs are considered to be low. Still in the context of aggressive competition in the wireless industry they must be taken into account. Recent years have been regarded as productivity increasing due to technological innovations in manufacturing. Raw materials needed for production of cellular phones are the industry without a clear cut leader, which along with decreasing overall waging costs and at the same time slight increase in average wages had a positive influence on productivity and average total costs of cellular phones: as labor productivity growth settles in near its longer-run trend of 2 to 2-1/2 percent, increases in unit labor costs may begin to put some upward pressure on prices, offsetting possible moderation in nonwage costs (Bernanke 2005). As iMarket Structure As it was stated earlier cellular phone industry is very dense leaving no free space to possible new contenders. Market structure in mobile services is an oligopoly, when power is concentrated in the hands of several key players, that is: Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon etc. Position of Sprint in mobile phones industry is comparatively weaker, major players are: Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Alcatel and Sony Ericsson. Such heavy competition along with the wide choice of vendors available to customers creates implications on pricing. Simply there is very little space for adjusting prices because a company has to stay close to its main pricing curve. Cellular phones have evolved from a hi-tech gadget to an everyday life commodity negatively affecting prices, which continue to decrease. On the other side extremely wide audience of consumers and further shortening life-cycle increases amounts of cell phones sold. Recent performance of Sprint shows that while the customer base of the company continues to increase its revenues are the same as two years ago. "Sprint's subscriber base grew 110% but its market share has barely changed since June 2002. Price erosion and competition has reduced Services revenue by 19%" (Alexander Resources, 2005) Moreover the company experiences low customer satisfaction recently found by Strategy Analytics: "Sprint PCS posts below average ratings on many measures, though the carrier does redeem itself somewhat with a well-received product and service range" (Wi-fitechnology.com 2004). Therefore Sprint PCS needs changes in its strategy for further development. First of all, if bigger is not better Sprint needs to reduce the distance between the company and a certain customers group. Secondly it should pay more attention to the quality of its products to increase customer satisfaction with more added value. Economic Forecast Basing on the macroeconomic forecast presented by the learning team (Hahn et al 2005) I have selected the following factors that will affect the demand of
Managing conflicts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words
Managing conflicts - Essay Example Conflict management is a common phenomenon in organizations (Rainey, 2009). Managing conflict aims at lessening the interdependent between the conflicting groups. It can involve physical separation of the conflicting parties. Physical separation buffers the creation of the inventory between the units of workflow making it less independent and reduces conflict. Generally, conflict is unending in any society where people live together. Introduction Many people and organization wish to compete peacefully with their market competitors, family members, and organizational departments. However, conflicts are inseparable from persons they form part of our daily living. Conflicts are the long live Methuselah and were present even in the beginning between the two brothers that is Cain and Abel. The term conflict has no definite meaning but scholars who are interested in studying it have created different accounts over the same. In an institutional setting conflict is a breakdown in the standar d mechanism of the decision making bringing difficulty in the management of the organization. Conflict is a dynamic process underlies the organizational behavior (Rainey, 2009). When people work together, there must be tension and conflict among the individuals from time to time. Conflict is the natural and the immediate outcome of disagreement and results individuals who differ in terms of thought and likes. Sources of organization conflict National organizational groups’ conflicts source from the individuals persons who from the organization (Jones, 2010). Conflicts at work place, according to the university of Colorado faculty, stems from issues from the employees and the management or among the employees. One cause of conflict in an organization is differing values among the organization’s persons. The work place consists of individuals who have different perspective towards the daily issue that emerge in the company and life generally. Some strongly believe to the m but are unwilling to comply with the standards. These beliefs are the main cause of conflicts to these institutions (McConnell and Leibler, 2011). For example some workers strongly belief in the diversity to the business, however they may not accept the different views from others or accept opposition over their belief. Another cause of conflict in an organization is the opposing interest of interest of the workers. This may come about if a worker decides to pursue his own goal without considering the goals of the business or the well being of other workers. It may result to result to strife among the workers hence a conflict. This situation occurs when some employees focus on achieving their own objectives without regarding their effect to the company’s operation. In the first instance, the victim may forget that she is a member of the institution’s team from which they are supposed to work to achieve a certain goal (Miller, 2008). The sole worker may work according to her own schedule in a manner that builds resentment to the whole organization. Personal conflict is another cause of conflict in an organization. Two or more people in an organization are prone to clash since no person is exactly like the other. One employee may possess a reversed personality while another may be an outgoing. When these two personalities clash, the immediate expectation is a conflict in the institution. Poor communication can also lead to strife among t
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Analysis of Sprint PCS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Analysis of Sprint PCS - Essay Example While in services main costs are connected to equipment maintaining those services and have little impact on prices (which are mainly formed by customer's demands), mobile phones have a lot of issues on manufacturing and especially testing product costs. "One hundred percent of mobile phones are tested to ensure regulatory and standard compliance, where many other consumer electronic products are merely sample tested." (Strickler, 2004). Additionally, mobile phones have ultra-short life cycles comparing to other consumer electronics, which is followed with more funds spent on designing new models. As most of the manufacturing of Sprint is outsourced to China manufacturing labor costs are considered to be low. Still in the context of aggressive competition in the wireless industry they must be taken into account. Recent years have been regarded as productivity increasing due to technological innovations in manufacturing. Raw materials needed for production of cellular phones are the industry without a clear cut leader, which along with decreasing overall waging costs and at the same time slight increase in average wages had a positive influence on productivity and average total costs of cellular phones: as labor productivity growth settles in near its longer-run trend of 2 to 2-1/2 percent, increases in unit labor costs may begin to put some upward pressure on prices, offsetting possible moderation in nonwage costs (Bernanke 2005). As iMarket Structure As it was stated earlier cellular phone industry is very dense leaving no free space to possible new contenders. Market structure in mobile services is an oligopoly, when power is concentrated in the hands of several key players, that is: Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon etc. Position of Sprint in mobile phones industry is comparatively weaker, major players are: Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Alcatel and Sony Ericsson. Such heavy competition along with the wide choice of vendors available to customers creates implications on pricing. Simply there is very little space for adjusting prices because a company has to stay close to its main pricing curve. Cellular phones have evolved from a hi-tech gadget to an everyday life commodity negatively affecting prices, which continue to decrease. On the other side extremely wide audience of consumers and further shortening life-cycle increases amounts of cell phones sold. Recent performance of Sprint shows that while the customer base of the company continues to increase its revenues are the same as two years ago. "Sprint's subscriber base grew 110% but its market share has barely changed since June 2002. Price erosion and competition has reduced Services revenue by 19%" (Alexander Resources, 2005) Moreover the company experiences low customer satisfaction recently found by Strategy Analytics: "Sprint PCS posts below average ratings on many measures, though the carrier does redeem itself somewhat with a well-received product and service range" (Wi-fitechnology.com 2004). Therefore Sprint PCS needs changes in its strategy for further development. First of all, if bigger is not better Sprint needs to reduce the distance between the company and a certain customers group. Secondly it should pay more attention to the quality of its products to increase customer satisfaction with more added value. Economic Forecast Basing on the macroeconomic forecast presented by the learning team (Hahn et al 2005) I have selected the following factors that will affect the demand of
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
D6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
D6 - Assignment Example People from Mid West and South West entered California in search of food, shelter, and work. But soon they became a burden on the state economy and in the cities like Oklahoma, San Francisco, etc. crowded refugee colonies could now be discerned. The Depression had worldwide presence and effects, but it hit California very severely due to its suddenness. â€Å"The ‘20s had been an optimistic time. The population had boomed. The Bay Area had grown and prospered, and the population of Southern California had tripled. California was the future. Suddenly, almost overnight, the mood darkened. Businesses that had been expanding suddenly cut back. People were laid off, couldn’t pay their bills, couldn’t find a new job. In those days, there was no such thing as unemployment insurance. No welfare, no social security, nothing.†(Nolte, Paragraphs 3-4) In his writings, Starr has depicted the situation as very pathetic indeed. There was a dramatic drop in the wages of the agricultural workers just in 4 years during the beginning of the 1930s. By 1934, the number of workers had become almost one and a half times the number of available jobs. The dream of economic boom had been turned into a nightmare. (Starr, 235-251) In the United States, there were two major political parties during the beginning of the 20th century. The Democratic Party had a center-left political position, while the Republican Party emerged had emerged as a right wing establishment. This situation continues even today. However, during the Great Depression, tensions increased considerably. There was the emergence of â€Å"red scare†(Nolte, Paragraphs 1) and public had become antagonized toward the capitalist order of American democracy. In such a crisis situation, the Democrats moved ahead with a sort of reform agenda and assured the people of a better future and a more responsible scheme of governance. This social democratic approach became the political
Monday, October 14, 2019
Ecological Agriculture for Sustainable Development
Ecological Agriculture for Sustainable Development Siddaraju V. G [*] Dr. M. Indira [**] Introduction Sustainable development is relevant issue of the present day. Sustainable development refers to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. Sustainable development is achieved through sustainable agriculture. Food security for the common man is a basic right. Over 800 millions people in the world suffer from hunger which has to be reduced by half by the year 2015. Agriculture plays a crucial rule in addressing the needs of a growing global population, and is inextricably linked to poverty eradication, especially in developing countries. Sustainable agriculture and rural development is essential to the implementation of integrated approach to increasing food production and enhancing food security in an environmentally sustainable way. According to Pingali (2001) many countries across the world provide support for modern agriculture, mainly to increase the productivity for commercial purpose without considering the environment sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainability of agriculture is gaining momentum from last few years. The concept of ‘Sustainability’ has been discussed in Earth Summits of 1992 and 2002. The Earth summit offered an opportunity for the global community to address key action on agriculture with a view to sustainability and reducing poverty and hunger, protecting biodiversity and access to resources for small farmers everywhere. Sustainable development has three components i.e., economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability. Ecological agriculture addresses the environment or ecological aspects of sustainability. Sustainable agriculture embraces several variants of non-conventional agriculture that are often called organic, alternative, regenerative, and ecological or low input. Ecological agriculture based on ecological principles aim at maintaining or enhancing the quality of the environment and conserve natural resources without using chemical inputs leading to sustainable development. The difference between sustainable agriculture and ecological agriculture is that sustainable agriculture is a broad concept compared to ecological agriculture. Ecological agriculture systems are one of the means of attaining sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture aims continuous increase in yield and greater resilience. For a sound future, ecological agriculture offers a dynamic interaction between soil, animal, humans, ecosystem and environment. Ecological agriculture is economically viable because: Reduction in the use of external inputs and increase in farm organic inputs with the greatest potential to benefit the health of farmers and consumers. More productivity through the incorporation of natural process as nutrient cycles, nitrogen fixation, and pest predator relationships in to the agricultural production process. Greater productive use of the biological and genetic potential of plant and animal species. Improvement of the match between cropping patterns and the productive potential and physical limitations of agricultural lands to ensure long term sustainability of current production levels and Profitable and efficient production with emphasis on improved management and conservation of soil, water and energy and biological resources. The basic requirement in organic farming is to increase input use efficiency at each step of the farm operations. This is achieved partly through reducing losses and adoption of new technologies for enrichment of nutrient content in manure (Sravanan, 2006). The concept of organic farming lays emphasis on economic and ecological sustainability of agricultural system and hence avoids the dependence on chemical pesticides use (Dhawan and Deshmukh, 2005). According to Charjan and Hajare (2002) organic farming is only an alternative, which may not be acceptable on short-term basis, but may be viable on long-term basis, perhaps due to number of issues. An attempt is made in this paper to analyze the economic performance of ecological agriculture and modern agriculture system and to identify the reasons for the transition from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture. Methodology The present study is based on primary data collected from 50 ecological farmers and 50 modern farmers in the production of Paddy and Sugarcane in Mysore and Mandya districts of Karnataka. Economic performance of any system could be analyzed by analyzing the costs and returns. In the present study relative economic performance of ecological and modern agriculture is analyzed in terms of Farm Business Income (FBI). Location, distribution of sample farmers is presented in table 1. Table 1: Particulars of selected district and taluk District Taluk No. of Ecological farmers No. of Modern Farmers Mysore Mysore 16 16 Nanjanagud 9 9 Mandya Mandya 14 14 Maddur 11 11 The above table shows that Location, distribution of sample farmers. Ecological farmers are located in Mysore and Nanjanagud taluks in Mysore district and Mandya and Maddur taluks in Mandya district. Mysore taluk in Mysore district has the large number of ecological farmers and Mandya taluk in Mandya ditrict has more number of ecological farmers. Equal numbers of modern farmers were selected for comparative analysis. Analysis and Discussion Economic Performance Farm Business Income (FBI) is one of the indicators to measure the economic profitability of an agriculture farm. It has been chosen to understand the relative economic profitability of ecological farming and modern farming systems in the production of selected crops. FBI is the difference between the gross returns and Cost A1. Farm Business Income = Gross Income – Cost A1 Cost of Cultivation Average cost and returns under ecological and modern agriculture in the production of paddy and sugarcane are presented below. Paddy Average cost per acre in the production of paddy under ecological and modern farming systems, yield per acre, returns from main product and returns from by product, net returns per acre are presented in table 2. Table 2: Costs and Returns from Ecological and Modern Agriculture in the Production of Paddy Sl. No. Particulars Ecological Agriculture Modern Agriculture 1 Farm Power 6147 5539 2 Organic Nutrients 1957 655 3 Chemical Fertilizers 1030 4 Seed 367 352 5 Irrigation 379 389 6 Land Tax 29 24 7 Depreciation Charge on Farm implements 1018 449 8 Depreciation Charge on machinery 623 603 9 Repair of Machineries 449 233 10 Total Cost of Cultivation (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9) 10968 9274 11 Yield (Quintal/acre) 23 22 12 Price Received (Rs/quintal) 639 612 13 Returns from main Product (Rs/acre) 14697 13464 14 Income from by-product (Rs/acre) 1067 786 15 Gross Returns/Rs (13+14) 15764 14250 16 Net returns/Rs (15-13) 4796 4975 Source: Survey Data Gross returns from paddy produced under ecological agriculture found to be marginally higher compared to the paddy produced under modern farming system. While gross returns from ecological agriculture was Rs. 15764 per acre, the same from modern agriculture was Rs. 14250 per acre, a difference of Rs 1514 per acre. But net return was relatively low from ecological agriculture (Rs. 4795 per acre) compared to modern agriculture (Rs. 4975/acre), because cost of cultivation was higher for ecological farms (Rs. 10969 per acre) compared to modern farms (Rs. 9274/acre). Cost of organic nutrients, farm power, farm depreciation charges are higher in ecological agriculture. Marginal differences could be seen in other costs. While organic nutrients were expensive, the transportation of FYM, its administration, transplantation, weeding require more labour, which is reflected in the farm power. Farm depreciation charge is higher in ecological agriculture due to more use of farm equipments. The yie ld from ecological agriculture was not found to be much higher than modern agriculture. While ecological farms produced 23 quintal/acre, 22 quintal/acre were produced from modern farms. Ecological farmers received Rs. 27 per quintal of paddy, which is slightly higher price than the modern farmers. The yield and price was not much difference under the two methods of cultivation. Therefore, net return also was not much different. Sugarcane Sugarcane is a commercial annual crop grown mainly in Mandya and Mysore districts of Karnataka. Average costs and returns in the production of sugarcane is presented in table 3. Table 3: Costs and Returns under Ecological and Modern Agriculture in the Production of Sugarcane Sl. No. Particulars Ecological Agriculture Modern Agriculture 1 Farm Power 22589 20441 2 Organic Nutrients 2414 861 3 Chemical Fertilizers 3502 4 Seed 1300 1300 5 Irrigation 424 443 6 Land Tax 27 26 7 Depreciation Charge on Farm Implements 1800 3403 8 Depreciation Charge on Machinery 1172 1499 9 Repair of Machineries 500 204 10 Total Cost of Cultivation (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9) 30225 31679 11 Yield (Ton/acre) 52 49 12 Price Received (Tonn/Rs) 989 961 13 Gross Returns/Rs 51428 47089 14 Net Returns/Rs (13-10) 21203 15410 Source: Survey Data Net returns from sugarcane were found to be higher from ecological farms (Rs. 21202 per acre) compared to modern farms (Rs. 15410 per acre). Similarly the gross returns were Rs. 51428per acre from ecological agriculture and Rs. 47089 per acre from modern agriculture. Relatively higher cost of cultivation in modern agriculture is due to higher cost of chemical fertilizers and farm depreciation charges. Chemical fertilizers like Urea, Potash, Complex and Salt were expensive. Farm depreciation charge is higher in ecological agriculture due to more use of farm equipments. Marginal differences could be seen in other costs except farm power. Because the cost of the transportation of FYM, weeding, harvesting and its administration require more labour, which is reflected in the farm power. The cost of cultivation of sugarcane with modern agriculture is costing Rs. 1454 more per acre. Yield per acre under ecological farming is nearly three ton more than that from modern cultivation and ecolog ical farmers received Rs. 28 higher for one ton of sugarcane than the modern farmers. Higher yield and returns have contributed to higher returns from ecological farming than the modern farming. Net returns from sugarcane under ecological farming are Rs. 5792 more than that from modern agriculture. Farm Business Income Farm business income under ecological and modern agriculture in the production of annual crops (paddy and sugarcane) is presented in table 4. Table 4: Farm Business Income of Annual Crops under ecological and modern farming system Paddy Sugarcane Variables Ecological Agriculture Modern Agriculture Ecological Agriculture Modern Agriculture Gross Returns 15,764 14,250 51,428 47,089 Cost A1 10,968 9,274 30,225 31,679 Farm Business Income (FBI) 4,796 4,976 21,203 15,410 Source: Survey Data The above table shows that larger variation in the FBI could be observed in the production of Sugarcane, which is a commercial crop. In the production of Paddy, FBI under ecological farming is marginally lower i.e., by Rs.180. Cost A1 under ecological agriculture is higher by Rs.1694 per acre. However gross returns is higher by Rs.1514 per acre. But in the case of sugarcane, FBI from ecological cultivation is higher by Rs.5, 793 per acre. In the case of sugarcane, cost of cultivation under ecological cultivation is relatively low. It is lower by Rs.1, 454 per acre. Gross returns are higher under ecological agriculture. The above analysis clearly shows that ecological agriculture is economically profitable. It has double advantage to the grower; it provides greater returns to the growers at present and ensures the sustainability of these returns in future by protecting the fertility of the soil. Transition Transition is the process of conversion from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture. After introduction of all necessary changes needed also, it might take some time before the transition is completed. Modern farming system depends on external inputs and is market oriented. On the other hand ecological farming is based on ecological principles of nature and depends more on inputs produced on farm. The production under ecological agriculture need not necessarily for subsistence. The growers may have several objectives in shifting from modern system of cultivation to ecological system. By understanding the motivation behind the shifting, it is possible to encourage more conversions. Reasons for Transition Process Information on what made the selected farmers to switch over to organic farming system from modern farming system was gathered. In many cases majority of the farmers reported that transition from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture was due to the possibility of producing healthy food, environmental protection and soil fertility management under organic farming system. A detailed analysis of Paddy and Sugarcane is presented in table 5. Table 5: Crop wise Reasons for transition from modern agriculture system to ecological agriculture system Sl. No Reasons for transition Frequency and Percentage Paddy Sugarcane 1 Cost of cultivation is low 8 (28.6) 10 (35.7) 2 Health 28 (100.0) 23 (82.1) 3 Employment 14 (50.0) 15 (53.6) 4 Soil Fertility Management 20 (71.4) 22 (78.6) 5 Environmental Protection 16 (57.1) 19 (67.9) 6 Yield 18 (64.8) 12 (42.9) Source: Survey Data, Note: Values within brackets represent percentage to total growers (Percentage don’t add to 100 due to multiple response) In recent years paddy farmers are practicing ecological agriculture due to different reasons. According to selected farmers, more than 70 per cent of the total farmers have shifted from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture, in order to maintain soil fertility. According to them, by using cowdung, ash, farm yard manure soil fertility can be maintained for many years. Health is one of the important factors influencing the paddy farmers to shift from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture. According to these farmers ecological food has positive impact on health and to be sure of the supply of organic food, they shifted to ecological agriculture. Paddy farmers also said that ecological agriculture creates more employment compared to modern agriculture. Survey results have shown that employment in ecological agriculture is more by 9 mandays/acre compared to modern agriculture. More than 50 per cent of the total farmers have shifted from modern agriculture to ecological agric ulture due to employment. Cost of cultivation is high in ecological agriculture compared to modern agriculture, because initially more investment is required in ecological agriculture. After completion of transition (5 years) gradually cost is decreased in ecological agriculture. Nearly 65 per cent of the ecological paddy farmers said that they shifted due to higher and stable yield that they are expected under ecological agriculture. The results support this and yield under ecological farm is more by 1 quintal per acre. In the case of sugarcane, 82.1 per cent of the total farmers have shifted from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture because they believe that it leads to healthy life. More than 65 per cent of the total farmers have transformed from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture due to soil fertility maintenance and environmental factors like pollution control, sustainability, water management etc. Sugarcane farmers also opined that ecological agriculture creates more employment compared to modern agriculture. Only 36 per cent of the farmers shifted because they think that cost of cultivation is low under ecological agriculture. In the case of paddy more shifts took place due to ecological factors than economic factors. The main reasons for transition can be found in environmental sustainability as well as health and soil fertility management. Paddy and sugarcane farmers mainly reported that cost of inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides are highly expensive. The results clearly show that the awareness about environmental impact of modern agriculture is the main reason for the farmers to shift to ecological agriculture. Conclusion The over all analysis of the study highlights that ecological agriculture is economically profitable compared to modern agriculture. It provides greater returns to the growers at present and ensures the sustainability of these returns in future by protecting the fertility of the soil and enhancing the quality of environment and conserve natural resources. Farm Business Income from ecological agriculture is more due to higher yield and price. It is mainly due to the purchase of organic manure by the growers. Efforts should be made to encourage farmers to keep livestock to produce on farm organic inputs in order to reduce the cost of organic manures. The main reason for transition from modern agriculture to ecological agriculture was the awareness about environment and health. This awareness is limited only to those who are educated. Efforts should be made to create awareness about two aspects of ecological farming i.e., awareness about environmental consequences of ecological farming and economics of ecological agriculture. References: CharjanY.D and T.N Hajare (2002), Ecological Agriculture Solves the Problems of Indian Agriculture, Kisan World, l29 (7), pp. 43-4. Dhawan AS and MS. Deshmukh 92005), Organic Farming in Relation to Environment Pollution, Kisan World, 32(2) February 2005, Pp: 27-28. Saravanane M et al (2007) â€Å"Organic Production System†Kisan World, 34 (03), Pp. 45 – 47, March 2007 Thakur and Sharma KD (2005), Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture and Meeting the Challenges of Food Security in 21st Century: An Economic Analysis, Indian Journal of Agriculture Economics, 60 (2), April-June 2005, Pp: 205-219. 1 [*] Senior Research Scholar, Department of Studies in Economics and Cooperation, University of Mysore, Mysore, Email: [emailprotected] [**] Reader, Department of Studies in Economics and Cooperation, University of Mysore, Mysore, Email: [emailprotected].
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)