Journal of Land and Rural Studies

This article is an empirical analysis of contract farming (CF) practice in Punjab. The findings are based on the primary survey of three districts covering 300 contract farmers. The companies are found to be exploitative, which is apparent with the trends of agribusiness normalisation, such as, default in procurement, low prices and lack of extension services. CF, however, has induced a level of satisfaction among the farmers with good experiences in the past. Farmers are willing to continue with the CF in the future, provided the government plays a stringent role by enforcing a strong legal framework.

Millions of people across rural India depend on and share the ‘common’ (community) natural resources like forest, wasteland, grazing land, water resources, etc., for their livelihoods, whereas developing such ‘common resources’ through collective action for the sustainable village development is a challenging task for the rural community. The study analyses the community participation of Hiware Bazar village of Maharashtra in governance and management of common property resources for sustainable village development. This study adopts both descriptive and analytical research methodologies to understand various developmental initiatives and its overall impact of the watershed-plus and other attenuating measures on the social and economic lives of the people in Hiware Bazar. The study uses both qualitative and quantitative data that are collected through primary and secondary sources. The study finds that community-driven common resources management had impacted on rural households through increased employment and income. The social and economic integration of the people in Hiware Bazar led to social, economic and environmental transformations for sustainable development of the village.

In the light of the growing importance of growth linkages, ‘Farm and non-farm linkages’ seem to be a viable solution for the growth of the rural non-farm sector in a state like Uttar Pradesh. Using rural Uttar Pradesh as a case study this work explores the existing pattern of production and consumption linkages between the rural farm and non-farm sectors and its roles in the development of the rural non-farm sector (RNFS) in Uttar Pradesh using correlation analysis and working lesser model. The analysis finds a substantial role of farm and non-farm production linkages via backward production linkages in the growth of the rural non-farm sector in Uttar Pradesh. However, consumption linkages have a significant bearing on the development of rural non-farm sector in Uttar Pradesh. The findings of a primary survey explore other possibilities in the growth of RNFS through forward production linkages and rural–urban linkages. Finally, the promotion of small scale rural industries, the development of institutional links between agriculture and rural non-farm sector and policies to support rural entrepreneurs are the key to promote rural non-farm sector in Uttar Pradesh.

This article examines the impact of the rural women’s participation in the micro-credit programme on their levels of empowerment in different domains, namely, savings, use of money, physical mobility, decision making, health and children’s education. For this purpose, we applied the method of propensity score matching to appropriately measure the empowerment gains after addressing the problem of selection biases arising out of differences in observable characteristics of the members of the treatment (participant) and the comparison (non-participant) groups. To measure the influences of various family/social conditions on the individuals’ agency freedom, we applied the framework suggested by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The data used in this study have been collected through a field survey in six blocks of Midnapore district of West Bengal. Our overall conclusion is that the participation in the micro-credit programme by the rural women in our study areas helped to enhance their levels of empowerment at least in some domains.

Using primary level data, this article describes economic, environmental, social and institutional sustainability, which affects the livelihood of people depending on sodic agricultural lands in Uttar Pradesh. Though some of positive impacts such as increase in productivity of various crops, consumption of both food and non-food items was observed in reclaimed areas, yet reversal of sodic reclamation with high pH, poor Organic Carbon Percentage (OCP), unsustainability in increase in productivity over years, substantial poverty among marginal and small landholders and inequality in income, poor knowledge on reclamation and maintenance of the sodic soil are some of the major observations. Therefore, sustainability of livelihood of the people living in the sodic affected regions has become a great challenge for the future.

Examines the perceptions, understanding, and practices of actors engaged in producing and marketing fair trade handmade paper products. The study also assesses the impact of fair trade affiliation on the socio-economic conditions of producers and workers. Primary data were gathered through interviews and participant observation at three paper companies in the Kathmandu area, two of which are fair trade affiliated and one non-affiliated. Secondary data were gathered through available statistics and other documentation. Findings indicate that organisations affiliate with fair trade networks primarily to increase sales, and indeed, affiliation seemed to have positive impacts on sales. Workers were found to lack an understanding of fair trade due to lack of opportunities to participate in decision making, high levels of illiteracy, and because management did not consider worker awareness of fair trade as significant. Worker awareness notwithstanding, company participation in fair trade was positively related to improved socio-economic conditions of workers.

Women’s right to property, especially agricultural land, is positively linked to a better quality of life as well as welfare of the family, gender equality and reducing their vulnerability to domestic violence and their house chore drudgeries. Nonetheless, ensuring women’s rights to land has remained a challenge, which mainly revolves around implementation and enforcement of various laws and policies across many countries; India is no exception. This article shares various initiatives of a state-level network and its impact on women’s land ownership in Gujarat state of India. A major learning is to capture and influence the ‘middle space’, that is, a space between social action at the grassroots and changes in policy is very important for ensuring women’s land ownership. The larger question is ‘whether these experiences and learning are trendsetting’ in a given local governance (Panchayati Raj) and land administration system, which has to be moved by a gamut of grassroots’ initiatives and grabbing opportunities provided by state government initiatives for women.