RAJA K R I S H N A M U R T H Y MORLA (original) (raw)

Papers by RAJA K R I S H N A M U R T H Y MORLA

EPW, 2021

This article is a sector-level analysis and evaluation of schemes for women and child development... more This article is a sector-level analysis and evaluation of schemes for women and child development in India. It also makes recommendations towards the end wherein it is said that a synergy between various ministries working for child and women protection is needed for their wholesome development and empowerment.

A Case Study on Suguna Poultry Production through Contract Farming in Andhra Pradesh, India*, 2013

Contract Farming has become an increasingly important aspect of agri-business as well as poultry ... more Contract Farming has become an increasingly important aspect of agri-business as well as poultry sector in recent years. Poultry farming could play an effective role in improving the economic status of the rural people by increasing their income besides providing nutritious food through meat and eggs. From the farmer"s point of view, contractual arrangement can provide them with access to production services, credit as well as knowledge of new technology and moreover pricing arrangements can reduce the risk and uncertainty. Contract farming can act as an effective tool in mitigating risks faced by farmers while marketing of broiler produce to final consumer. This paper will throw light on contract farming helps both the parties i.e., the producers and the companies, which are involved in contract farming system. The case study found that contract farming major benefits come from reduction in transaction costs and assurance of regular income for broilers farmers. A comparative analysis made of the contract and non-contract farming techniques carried by specifying how these can be overcome and can be advantageous to the producer for the overall development and improvement.

Traditional survey methods are generally costly and time consuming, usually provide information a... more Traditional survey methods are generally costly and time consuming, usually provide information at the national and regional level only. The utilization of Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) method developed in manufacturing industry as a way to monitor the quality of production. A sample of items was randomly selected from each production lot, examined for any imperfection and to use small sample sizes when conducting surveys in small geographical or population-based areas i.e., Lots. LQAS is used to measure results at a local level, since it requires small random samples and produces results useful to local managers. However, current LQAS method requires all local areas be included in the survey is order to be aggregated to produce point estimates for the nation and states. This paper describes the use of LQAS for conducting agriculture and rural development project surveys to monitor community based interventions at micro level. The promise of monitoring system to enhancing agricultural productivity, competitiveness and rural growth, improving water resources and irrigated agriculture, facilitating agricultural diversification to high-value commodities, promoting high growth commodities, developing markets, credit and public expenditures. The present article explains how to prepare a framework and how to select the sampling unit to monitor the ongoing project implementation and a sample size is given. The interpretation of the survey results is to help for proper planning for subsequent rounds and decision making to help managers and policy makers to achieve project targets.

In developing countries information and communication technology has played very important role i... more In developing countries information and communication technology has played very important role in the development of education development. ICT is widely perceived that conventional education is now not meeting the emerging needs of higher education development. The paper discusses the significance of Information and Communication Technologies in the Educational sector. With the emergence of ICT's, there has been a rapid change in the way information is exchanged and how people communicate. There has been lot of innovative tools and ways of gathering and sharing information that would have been seem impossible few years back. Digital literacy has become a key in 21st century skill. What country should do is to prepare the students of this generation to cope up with the demands of the new digital age where there is a growing dependency on digital content instead of paper-based content through providing facilities in terms of infrastructure and opportunities to learn through ICT. The paper throws light on changing perspectives of education, quality of higher education, quality of life, demand for public and private education, distance education system, the use of ICTs for on and off campus education and learning and the challenges in effective use of ICT by students in India.

Research institutions generally monitor their research projects for financial and book keeping pu... more Research institutions generally monitor their research projects for financial and book keeping purposes. In addition, many attempt to evaluate the quality of their research. Unfortunately, few research institutions commit significant resources to the process of evaluating the social and environment impacts of their research. There are several reasons for the reluctance to do so. Perhaps some of this unwillingness stems from the feeling that research resources are scarce; the benefits are obvious and we should therefore simply get on with the process. Perhaps some of the unwillingness stems from a fear that evaluation of research results would produce unfavourable benefit-cost ratios. And perhaps some of the unwillingness stems from the methodological difficulties encountered when establishing the benefits from some types of research. It is unfortunate that agriculture and veterinary institutions spend so few resources on attempting to measure the impact of their research on society because we ought to know the results of such spending. We ought to know if it pays and if so, how much it pays. Assessing the impact of research and development attempts to quantify the costs and benefits from research and development activities. The methods used are not particularly difficult to understand. Engineers and bankers regularly do benefit cost analysis. There is not reason to agriculture researchers shouldn't have the capability to do the same thing. The impact of applied research and development is relatively easy to identify and the payoffs are usually very high. The science of impact assessment has developed rapidly in the last few years. Despite significant advances, methods of impact assessment are required to be fine-tuned to site-specific nature of agricultural research. The multiple objectives of agricultural research like food security, poverty, livestock development, environmental protection; sustainability, etc. further complicate the outcome of such analysis of agriculture and veterinary research program and projects.

Assessment of research priority setting in agriculture is important in planning for organizationa... more Assessment of research priority setting in agriculture is important in planning for organizational development. The potential of agricultural research, education, and training has attracted considerable attention in many developing countries. However, without clear focus and coherent research policies the public sector is unlikely to reap the full benefits of the new technology. This paper reports on a priority-setting exercise for agricultural research in National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) - ICAR, based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Three main functions performance evaluation of R&D, Training and Education have been prioritized using Balanced Score Card (BSC) model that consists of three hierarchies to evaluate their potential contribution to organizational development objectives, chances of research success, and expected adoption rates, respectively. The final scoring shows a clear grouping of the research alternatives. The conceptual framework is to develop decision criteria. All proved to be useful tools to improve the priority setting process.

The main objective of the study was to carry out dairy value chain analysis of milk in chittoor d... more The main objective of the study was to carry out dairy value chain analysis of milk in chittoor district and environs with a view to identify potential production, key sector constraints and opportunities and appropriate interventions. The observation of the report is based on complete enumeration of all the households of Kommireddy gari palli village, selected following stratified random sampling procedure. The village has been selected on the basis of village level milk production. There are two distinct market channels. The informal/warm milk market channel which account 30% and the formal/cold milk channel accounting for the remaining about 70% of the milk market in the area. Smallholder farmers only sell morning milk (about 70%) through the formal/cold milk market channel at prices ranging from Rs.40 to Rs. 45 per liter. The balance (30%), mainly comprising evening milk is commonly sold informally in local markets at prices ranging from Rs. 35 to Rs.40 per liter (largely due to lack of coolers). Some of the medium-large milk buying organizations such as Kisan Raithu Mitra Sangam /Milk Producers Association (MPA) undertake integrated functions within the milk value chain and also offer embedded services including in-kind input credit and limited extension services. These buyers pay for milk fortnightly or in some cases monthly. In addition, there is also a large (but unknown) number of independent traders who buy milk on cash basis (Rs. 30 to 40 per liter) and sell mainly to retailers and household consumers such as Balaji, Heritage at prices ranging from Rs. 34 to 45 per liter.

India is the sixth largest producer of maize in the world, and contributed about 2 per cent to th... more India is the sixth largest producer of maize in the world, and contributed about 2 per cent to the global maize production of 855.72 million tonnes (Mt) in 2012-13. Yield has also seen a high growth rate of 2.8 per cent as compared to other cereals. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the corn belts from South where Karnataka alone occupies 12% of the total area (one million ha) and contributes nearly 16% of its total production. Nearly ¾ of the produce is being processed as animal feed and remaining for human consumption and industrial use. There is a huge demand for maize and maize products because, it is rich in lysine, tryptophan, amino acids and low fat content and it is a good product for diabetic and obese disorders. Now a days there is a more demand for maize value added products in urban and peri-urban areas, indicating a vast scope for fortification as nutritional supplementation at all the stages right from farmer’s field to consumer’s plate. The rich nutri-maize is available in abundance to the consumers at relatively cheaper price (compared to other cereals) can be further commercially exploited for nutritive health foods by value addition and making available them at affordable price for the advantage of vulnerable groups and other consumers at large. This paper aim to address the gaps on some issues concerning technology adoption, utilization of maize, value chain efficiency, challenges and opportunities for improving the maize value chain actors in transfer of modern technologies and other market services. The main objective of the study was to carry out value chain analysis of maize in Mahabubnagar district and environs with a view to identify potential production, demand and supply, value chain, value additions, key sector constraints and opportunities and appropriate interventions.

To assess the feasibility of involving consumers in reporting and monitoring adverse drugs reacti... more To assess the feasibility of involving consumers in reporting and monitoring adverse drugs reactions
(ADR) in India, a household survey was carried out in three states of India, namely Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh using a pre-tested questionnaire. Responses were obtained from a total
of 566 households in three states together. Also elicited were the opinions of other stakeholders such as
(a) hospitals and nursing homes, (b) private medical practitioners, (c) chemists and (d) pharmacovigilance
centres with regard to involving household in the reporting of ADRs. A huge 93 per cent of the households
are willing to report ADRs. Other stakeholders are also in favour of involving consumers in the reporting
of ADRs and believe that it is a good idea.It is concluded that in cases where an ADR is likely to occur
at, an ADR form may be given to the consumer at the time of prescribing by doctors or of dispensing by
chemists. A prepaid system of providing an inland letter/envelop is a feasible option for encouraging
consumers to report the ADRs experienced by them.

With more than two thirds of the population dependent on agriculture and the ever decreasing per ... more With more than two thirds of the population dependent on agriculture and the ever decreasing per capita land holding,
production agriculture alone cannot assure adequate livelihood security to 127 million Indian farmers and their dependents. Therefore, it is necessary to provide occupational diversity for the rural areas for enhancing income and employment generation. It is in this context that post harvest management and processing in the production catchments has been proposed to be a suitable alternative. Regionally differentiated packages of post harvest technologies are being developed for promoting through the concept of agro-processing centers. Latest technological interventions are necessary for ensuring cost effectiveness and quality. Cooperative and contract farming concepts also augur well for promoting post harvest practices in the production catchments. The goal is to minimize the post harvest losses, value addition to the produce and utilize the by-products effectively while maintaining consumer safety. To sum up, promotion of post harvest technology in the production catchments will not only create more income and employment but would also lead to better rural living standards and cleaner and healthy environment.

Assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity of livelihood systems is important in planning ... more Assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity of livelihood systems is important in planning for sustainable development.
Planning in India, and many other countries, is generally based on arbitrarily chosen indicators of development, for relatively
large regional units like districts. The actual investments and interventions, however, take place at a much smaller spatial scale of blocks, watersheds, or villages. The significant spatial variability at this level in natural resources, infrastructure and socio economic conditions, leads to problems in identifying relevant indicators and targeting investments and actions for sustainable development. This paper presents the development of a decision-support system (DSS) that integrates the sustainable rural livelihoods (SRL) framework and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to quantify and map vulnerability and adaptive capacity indicators in multiple dimensions, for smaller planning units (blocks) within a region. The DSS design and application are illustrated using data from a case study area. The framework is scalable, and enables better judgment, insight, and accountability in planning for sustainable development.

Peri-urban areas are characterized by great heterogeneity and rapid changes of land use. Furtherm... more Peri-urban areas are characterized by great heterogeneity and rapid changes of land use. Furthermore, population composition changes as peri-urban areas offer attractive residential alternatives to city centers or more remote locations. The dynamic processes leave peri-urban areas in an in-between situation, neither city nor country side and home to a range of functions, spanning from agricultural production to residential and recreational areas. This paper investigates the urbanization of agricultural areas in the Greater Hyderabad region based on quantitative data collected on agricultural properties in Four study areas between 1990 and 2012. The overall conclusion is that agricultural land use have continually largely unaffected by the processes of urbanization. However, most of the production is concentrated on a few very large full-time farms. In addition, the economic activities have been greatly diversified. The structural components of the areas (land use and landscape elements) thus appear to be more resilient than the socio-economic system (declining number of full-time farmers and increasing number of owners engaged in other gainful activities). However, at some point this discrepancy will disappear and rapid land use changes may be expected. For an ideal urban land use, a balanced multi land use policy emphasizing peri-urban agriculture is suggested.

To develop an innovative technique to apply retail marketing and export of grape improvement tech... more To develop an innovative technique to apply retail marketing and export of grape improvement techniques to a complete supply chain from farm to consumer. Design/ methodology/approach - Action research based on a Andhra Pradesh case study involving Post harvest loss in grapes for export market. Findings - Export market highlights significant opportunities to improve fruits supply chain performance, export perspective, profitability and relationships. Originality value – Drawing on both primary and secondary data, the paper examines how increasing demand and marketing costs, wastage impact on grape grower returns. Development of supply chain improvement methodology.

This paper presents the need for ICT’s in Agriculture that has reached far beyond necessity as co... more This paper presents the need for ICT’s in Agriculture that has reached far beyond necessity as compared to the past. There is a great scope to implement ICT in Agriculture to disseminate the information effectively and timely to the farmers who
are the ultimate beneficiaries of the system. The traditional
agriculture paradigm has to be transformed the way it has been
functioning since past so as to bring a new revolution in enumerating the available resources for increased productivity and economy. Sustained livelihood in the rural areas is the main driving force to the concept of ICT enabled Agriculture. As seen in the present scenario, Agriculture Extension services need a change in traditional mind-set. Mere “Transfer of Technology” does not suffice to the needs of farmers. “Transfer of knowledge” has become necessity to enable the
system to enrich its vigor and rejuvenate with changing agro-climatic scenario. The conventional approach of extension services have not been able to resolve the challenges posed by various factors in Indian Agriculture. The paper at length discusses about the challenges and the need felt ICT mediated services for knowledge transfer in rural Agri-business.

The women is the backbone of agricultural workforce but worldwide her hard work has mostly been u... more The women is the backbone of agricultural workforce but worldwide her hard work has mostly been unpaid. She does the most tedious and back-breaking tasks in agriculture, animal husbandry and homes. About 70 per cent of the Indian women are engaged in agricultural work either in their own fields or in other as daily labourers. They have to perform different activities in the home as well in the field throughout the day. They do not get any chance to take a nap and work like a machine without any break as compare with the man. Still women are considered as secondary workers in the economic scenario. The farmwomen perform almost each and every agricultural activity right from land preparation, weeding, sowing, transplanting to the harvesting and storage of the agricultural produce. The majority of these activities, which are full of drudgery, have not been supported by the mechanical advantages of tool and appliances. Moreover, most of the work-studies are directed towards the measurement of external forces and time spent in work. The farm women perform very heavy tasks along with household work. This is one of the reasons of health problem. They don’t get time for rest also. They were dominated by male counterpart in many of the families. Therefore, this study was selected to identify the occupational health hazards among farm women.

A well-organized and efficient marketing system plays a vital role in the economic growth or a na... more A well-organized and efficient marketing system plays a vital role in the economic growth or a nation. An efficiently organized marketing system not only facilitates the proper and smooth disposal of the produce but also acts as a catalyst to stimulate increased production in terms of incentive prices. A vast majority of the population lives in the rural areas. Rural prosperity is largely linked with agriculture as about 56 per cent of the populations are engaged in agriculture and about 18 per cent of the national income is generated through it. In order to usher rural prosperity farm incomes has to be maximized by diversifying agriculture through integrated crop, livestock, fisheries and horticultural enterprises, which pre-supposes the need for a well, organized marketing system for these commodities.
Agri-business includes not only all the agriculture related activities but also that portion of industrial sector which covers the sources of farm supplies i.e. farm machinery, fertilizers and chemicals, etc., or the processors of farm products. Thus, there are five major agri-business segments, namely, input manufactures, input suppliers, integrated agri-business, market intermediaries, food processors and marketers. In the view of Agribusiness plays an important role in improving the quality of products and accessibility etc. The changed economic scenario and the global order have modified substantially the organization and management of agri-business. After the 'Green Revolution‟, which ensured abundant production and food security in India, we should gear up ourselves to have, Marketing Revolution with all its, rainbow colours so as to seize the opportunities provided by the liberalized international market. This would ensure a fair price to the farmer and availability of qualitative products to the consumer at reasonable prices. The whole gamut of agri-business is under scrutiny, since changes are swift, a serious thought on the question of meeting the challenges sustaining of the transformation is the need of the hour.

The poultry industry is an important food sector that has become increasingly sophisticated as th... more The poultry industry is an important food sector that has become increasingly sophisticated as the level of economic development has increased. The purpose of this study is to suggest ways to improve the efficiencies of the poultry value chain and to build sustainable competitive poultry industry. There is an absence of information on research conducted to characterize, understand and develop the emu production systems in Andhra Pradesh. This study investigates the resulting problem of improvement in emu farming needs to be tackled by a) increasing productivity of emu production and delivery system and b) increase farmer’s profits through better value addition. Value addition to food products assumed vital importance due to: 1. Diversity in socio-economic conditions, 2. Industrial growth, urbanization and 3. Globalization. It is not merely for higher monitory return but also with better taste and nutrition. Value is added by changing their form, colour and other such methods to increase the shelf life of perishables. Hence, the study found that there is a great scope to extend requisite technical know- how to agro based industries for the production of value added food products.

India is the world’s largest producer of castor oil, producing over 75% of the total world’s supp... more India is the world’s largest producer of castor oil, producing over 75% of the total world’s supply. Castor oil is unique owing to its exceptional diversity of applications. The oil and its derivatives are used in over 100 different applications in diverse industries such as paints, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paper, rubber and more. Castor oil is possibly the plant oil industry’s most underappreciated asset. It is one of the most versatile of plant oils, being used in over ten diverse industries. Owing to its unique chemical structure, castor oil can be used as the starting material for producing a wide range of end products. The plant itself requires relatively less fertilizers, pesticides, water and maintenance than most other cultivated crops, and it can grow in marginal land. With so many unique advantages, one would expect the castor crop to be widely grown world over. The study mainly focuses on the trends issues from producer to consumer throwing light on the price margins of different actors involved in the total castor value chain. A major area of concern is the problems and issues involved with production of Castor with respect to cost of cultivation, net income, different market channels, existing operations and market potential. This paper clearly brings an understanding on the whole dynamics involved in the production process without compromising the food security aspect. The study also researches on the sustainability of the castor production and also assess the opportunities to make value added products from Government and private organizations.

EPW, 2021

A Case Study on Suguna Poultry Production through Contract Farming in Andhra Pradesh, India*, 2013