Samarendu Mohanty

Support for international agricultural research: current status and future challenges

The success of the first Green Revolution in the form of abundant food supplies and low prices over the past two decades has diverted the worlds attention from agriculture to other pressing issues. This has resulted in lower support for the agricultural research work primarily undertaken by the 15 research centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The total support in real dollars for most of the last three decades has been more or less flat although the number of centers increased from 4 to 15. However, since 2000, the funding situation has improved for the CGIAR centers, with almost all the increase coming from grants earmarked for specific research projects. Even for some centers such as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the downward trend continued as late as 2006 with the budget in real dollars reaching the 1978 level of support. The recent food crisis has renewed the call for a second Green Revolution by revitalizing yield growth to feed the world in the face of growing population and a shrinking land base for agricultural use. The slowdown in yield growth because of decades of neglect in agricultural research and infrastructure development has been identified as the underlying reason for the recent food crisis. For the second Green Revolution to be successful, the CGIAR centers will have to play a complex role by expanding productivity in a sustainable manner with fewer resources. Thus, it is crucial to examine the current structure of support for the CGIAR centers and identify the challenges ahead in terms of source and end use of funds for the success of the second Green Revolution. The objective of this paper is to provide a historical perspective on the support to the CGIAR centers and to examine the current status of funding, in particular, the role of project-specific grants in rebuilding capacity of these centers. The paper will also discuss the nature of the support (unrestricted vs. project-specific grants) that will be needed for a much-desired second Green Revolution.

From ORYZA2000 to ORYZA (v3): An improved simulation model for rice in drought and nitrogen-deficient environments

Highlights • Improvements in ORYZA (v3) were identified and compared to ORYZA2000.• Soil carbon, nitrogen, and temperature dynamic modules were developed.• Algorithms for the effects of environmental stresses on rice growth were improved.• Case studies confirmed successful improvement of the model.

India Edible Oil Consumption: A Censored Incomplete Demand Approach

A Censored Incomplete Demand System is applied to household expenditures for edible oil in India. The results show that edible peanut oil is still a luxury good in India, whereas expenditure elasticities for other edible oils are relatively low. The food habit, location, education of household heads, and other demographic variables have significant effects on the choice of edible oils.

Fractional Cointegration and the False Rejection of the Law of One Price in International Commodity Markets

This study examines the Law of One Price (LOP) in international commodity markets using fractional cointegration analysis. For proper evaluation of the LOP, fractional cointegration analysis seems to be appropriate because of its flexibility in capturing a wider range of mean reversion behavior than standard cointegration analysis. Out of nine pairs of price series examined, fractional cointegration supports the existence of the LOP in eight cases, as compared to three cases using standard cointegration procedures. Overall, these results suggest that there is a long-run tendency for the LOP to hold for commodity prices.

ESTIMATION OF DEMAND FOR WHEAT BY CLASSES FOR THE UNITED STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

This study estimates demand for wheat differentiated by classes using a dynamic AIDS model for the United States and the European Union (EU). The results suggest that imported wheat is more price responsive than domestic wheat in the U.S. market but not in the EU market. This may suggest that the Canadian policy that reduces prices of Canadian wheat in the U.S. market or U.S. export subsidies that raise prices of U.S, wheat could be expected to give rise to substantial substitution of Canadian for U.S. wheat. It is also found that in the EU, complementary relationships exist between spring and other wheat groups, This complementary relationship between the lower and higher quality wheat in the EU is not surprising because EU millers blend cheaper wheat such as EU common wheat and U.S. other wheat with high protein (spring) to obtain the preferred characteristics.

Farm size and profitability of rice farming under rising input costs

As small farmers produce 90% of the total rice in the world, it is important to maintain adequate incentives for small rice farmers to ensure an adequate global rice supply. Rising input prices and agricultural wage rates, however, have been reducing overall profitability, consequently generating disincentives to rice farmers. Using household income and expenditure survey data for 2000 and 2010, this paper econometrically demonstrates that the loss in profitability is generally larger for small farms than for large farms, as small farms use more labor and other inputs than large farm households to earn higher rice income and profit. This paper econometrically demonstrates that, while per acre overall rice farming profitability (profit/total revenue) in Bangladesh declined more in 2010 than in 2000, the rate of reduction for small rice farm households is higher than for large farm households. It is found that, for both small and large farm households, the costs of wages, chemical fertilizer, irrigation, and tilling increased more significantly in 2010 than in 2000; however, the rate of increase for small farm households was higher than for large farm households. Consequently, the total cost of rice farming per acre for small farm households increased more sharply in 2010 than for large farm households. As a result, the profitability of rice farming per acre for small farm households declined more than for large farm households in 2010. Policies are drawn up based on the findings.

Rice Food Security in India: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

This chapter examines the emerging challenges and opportunities for ensuring future rice food security in India. To overcome many of these emerging uncertainties, particularly the rapidly depleting groundwater table in the traditional rice bowls of northwest and southern India, intensifying rice production in the eastern rice-growing belts has been suggested. It has been argued that this intensification will not only ensure future food security and relieve pressure on the water-stressed rice-growing belts of northwest and southern India, but will also contribute to poverty alleviation in the eastern region.