Agricultural Factor Markets and India’s Small Farmers

This book discusses the factor markets and supporting services of the Indian agriculture sector in the context of small-farm agriculture.

Incompleteness and imperfections of the factor markets can inhibit farmers, particularly small farmers, from optimal utilization of resources, which limits the performance of the whole agriculture sector. In small farm agriculture, several important markets handling allocation of vital inputs and services have been emerging. Emerging markets such as the rental markets of farm machinery and equipment have received little attention in literature. 

Agricultural Factor Markets and India’s Small Farmers argues that the market efficacy for such critical services requires close examination. The decline of public sector provided extension service in the post Green Revolution period and the entry of private providers makes this especially important. Further, thinness of markets for farm credit, insurance and marketing services deserves incisive analysis, as small farms are often constrained by insufficiency of access to such services.

The book analyses different factor markets to explore their interconnectedness and presents a comprehensive study on the factor market system.

Preface
Introduction - Binoy Goswami, Anup Kumar Das and Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah
Land Market I: Realities and Suggested Reforms in Rental Arrangement - Binoy Goswami and Maheshwar Giri
Land Market II: Outright Sale and Issues of Land Acquisition - Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah and Faridus Mamun Khan
Agricultural Labour Markets: Structure and Functioning - Raju Mandal and Anup Kumar Das
Groundwater Markets: Functioning and Issues - Mrinal Kanti Dutta and Jitu Tamuli
Rental Market of Farm Machineries and Equipment - Anup Kumar Das
Reviving and Remodeling the Agricultural Extension Service - Maheshwar Giri and Binoy Goswami
Agricultural Credit in India: The Dominance of Informal Sources - Abhijit Sharma and Prasenjit Bujar Baruah
Agricultural Risks and Crop Insurance Market in India - Sumit Ghosh
Challenges of Post-Harvest Management of Farm Output - Amiya Sarma and Binod Goswami
Picking Up the Threads - Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah
Index