A brief survey of ecological data analysis techniques

It is emphasize in the paper, that because of qualitative change of ecological data and its complexity the analysis and estimation of population parameter is a complex process. Therefore, for ecological data collection, the sampling frame clearly defined distinct and identifiable. More often, sampling frames are imperfect, further different techniques measure of species diversity, evenness, community similarity, dominance indices has been given which can be useful for research scholars.

Frame error in sample survey

Quite often sampling frames are incomplete and imperfect. The sampling results based on imperfect frame will lead to sampling and non-sampling error along with third error called frame error which is rarely discussed. This occurs because estimate based on sampling population will not conform to the target population because of imperfection of frame and dynamic nature of frame. It is emphasized that that attention should be drawn to the frame error.

Fish trade, price realization and species diversification across markets in Maharashtra

The study was conducted in 22 well-structured fish markets across Maharashtra state including landing centres, retail and wholesale markets to assess the trade of commercially important fishes. The field survey was conducted during the period of August 2019- March 2020 using a structure field survey tool-Fish Market Prices (FMP). During the survey period, total of 97 species of fish fauna was traded which included 61 marine species, 21 fresh water species and 15 brackish water species. It has been observed that among the total species traded/ available across different markets of Maharashtra, inland species (Catla, Rohu, Tilapia, Asian Seabass, Common carp, Grass carp, Silver carp) were the most prominent compared to other fishes. As the theory goes the price and demand of a fish is influenced by market structure, seasonal abundance and origin of species, size and quality. Fish demand was sensitive to the price changes and their availability. The study revealed that the share of Maharashtra to total marine fish production of India has been slackening. The major reason behind the devolution of marine sector is the extreme bad weather events which adversely affected the marine fisheries during 2018. Inaddition lower catch per unit effort and non-availability of fish also resulted towards the decline of marine fish landings. The study also offers scope for the Government to intervene in the fish markets so that more fish species become available, accessible and affordable to consumers. Creation of infrastructure and provision of infrastructure seems to be the buzz word towards improved marketing efficiency.

Management of agribusiness enterprise-an analysis of sheep rearing in Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state

The present study was conducted in Bagepalli taluk of Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state to analyse the backward and forward linkages in sheep rearing; to assess the financial viability of sheep rearing and to identify the constraints in sheep rearing. The primary data for the study was collected from 40 sheep rearers. Majority of the sample sheep rearers used their own money realised from horticultural and agricultural crops for investing in sheep enterprise while some of them, especially women borrowed credit from SHGs. The family members met the labour requirements of sheep rearing. Chelur sheep shandy was the only sheep market located in Bagepalli taluk. It is a popular weekly shandy held every Friday where sheep is traded in large numbers. The total cost incurred and the gross returns realised per annum for rearing a flock size of 61 sheep was Rs. 1,59,577/ - and Rs. 2,74,788/-, respectively, resulting in a net returns of Rs. 1,15,211/-. Among the variable costs, labour was the major cost accounting for about 83 per cent of the total variable cost. The sale of adult sheep accounted for about 75 per cent of the gross returns followed by sale of lambs (18.76%), sale of manure (4.13%), sale of meat (1.95%), etc. At 12 per cent discount rate, the NPW, BCR and IRR were found to be Rs. 3,56,943.40/-, 1.72 and 53.77per cent, respectively, indicating the financially viability of sheep rearing. Scarcity of water and exploitation by middlemen were the major constraints faced by sheep rearers.

Post-harvest losses in the mango supply channel in Tamil Nadu state, India

A study was conducted to identify mango value chains and analyse the post-harvest losses along them in the major mango-growing areas of Tamil Nadu state in India. The post-harvest losses were estimated using survey data collected during 2016-17 from 400 farmers; 60 households; and 100 traders consisting of wholesalers, commission agents, exporters, processors and retailers and 60 consumers in Tamil Nadu. Six major mango value chains were found in the production catchments through which the mango fruits reached consumers in different forms. Overall, the post-harvest losses at the farm level were estimated at 7.08 per cent. At the primary wholesaler level the losses were estimated at 7.30 per cent and at the processing level at 8.70 per cent. At the secondary wholesaler level the losses were estimated at 10 per cent. Maximum losses were observed at the retail level (14.97%), most likely as a result of improper post-harvest handling, lack of proper storage facilities, and rough handling of fruits by consumers who check fruit quality by squeezing. It is recommended that establishing procurement yards near farms, minimizing transaction points in the mango value chain, establishing value added and processing units near production catchments, initiating farmer cooperatives similar to Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) in India model, involving collection of fruits directly from the farmers by cooperatives, initiating Farmer Producer Company (FPC) and establishing a refrigerated transport system for well graded fruits right from farm to consumption centres would minimize post-production losses of mango.

Does food inflation make difference in consumption pattern? An experience from rural Assam, India

The study on food inflation and changing consumption pattern in Assam was conducted in Jorhat district of Assam during 2018. Data analysis from a random sample of 70 respondents showed that the consumption of rice, wheat, cooking oil, tea and eggs had increased while the consumption of lentil, sugar, milk, vegetables, fish and meat had decreased during 2016-17 over 2013- 14. The decrease in consumption was mainly due to food inflation during the period. However, as rice is the staple for the people of the state, despite of increase in price, there was no decrease in consumption. Due to decline in price of cooking oil, it was found to be consumed more. Further, increase in overall income during 2016-17 over 2013-14 helped the respondents to consume more eggs and tea. Except meat, for most of the food items, the respondents of the study area consumed comparatively less amount than the recommended dietary allowance. Marginal households were more affected by food inflation in comparison to small and medium households. Increasing supply of food items through public distribution system in subsidized rate would help in combating the food inflation in long run.

Performance appraisal of validation techniques in R

In this article various statistical models were fitted utilizing simulated symmetric and asymmetric data. Fitting of models were carried out with the help of various libraries like minpack.lm, matrices and nlme in R studio (version 3.5.1, 2018) and various selection criteria like RMSE, MAE, AIC, BIC were used for fitting of models. In order to evaluate different validation techniques the simulated data was divided in training and testing data sets and various functions in R were developed for the purpose of validation. Co-efficient summary revealed that all statistical models were statistically significant across both symmetric as well as asymmetric distributions. In preliminary analysis TFEM (Type First Exponential Model) was found out to be the best linear model across the distributions with lower values of RMSE, MAE, BIAS, AIC and BIC. Among non-linear models, Haung model was found out to be best model across both the distributions as it has lower values of RMSE, MAE etc. Different validation techniques like Half splitting, LOOCV and 5-folded cross validation were used in the present study. Based on the results of evaluation 5-folded cross validation performed better, as it resulted in lower rates of prediction error in comparison to its counter parts.

Yield and economics of rice crop as influenced by green manures and phosphorus levels

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2015 and 2016 to study the effect of green manures and phosphorus levels to rice crop at Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla. The experiment was conducted in split plot design on sandy clay loam soil with three main treatments and three subtreatments. The treatments consisted of Dhaincha green manure crop, sunnhemp green manure crop and without green manure as main plot treatments during Kharif season and three phosphorus levels to rice crop @ 45 kg P2O5 ha-1, 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 and 75 kg P2O5 ha-1as sub-plot treatments. Significantly the highest grain yield of rice was recorded with Dhaincha green manure incorporated treatment (5592 and 5587 kg ha-1) when compared to control. Among the phosphorus levels applied to rice crop the highest grain yield (5545 and 5567 kg ha-1) was recorded with 75 kg P2O5 ha-1 and it was on a par with 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 during both the years of study. Dhaincha green manure incorporation to rice crop recorded maximum gross returns (Rs. 88724 and Rs. 88703), net returns (Rs. 36024 and Rs. 36003) and benefit cost ratio (1.68 and 1.7) and significantly the maximum gross returns (Rs. 88014 and Rs. 88443), net returns (Rs. 35005 and Rs. 34585), benefit cost ratio (1.67 and 1.7) were observed, which received 75 kg P2O5 ha-1 treatment during both the years of study.

Export performance and direction of trade of dried apricot from Afghanistan

Apricot is one of the most delicious refreshing and nourishing fruits. Afghanistan produces 1.09 lakh tonnes of apricot during 2018 (Afghanistan statistical year book). It is one of the important commodities in export basket of Afghanistan. The major export markets for Afghan dried apricot are India and USA. The present study aims to quantify the export performance and changing structure of dried apricot exports from Afghanistan. Secondary data on area, production and country wise quantity of exports of dried apricot was collected from FAO statistics, ITC and APEDA for a period of 13 years from 2006 to 2018. Compound Annual Growth Rate was computed for studying the trend in area, production, yield, export quantity and export value for dried apricot. Markov chain analysis was attempted to assess the direction of change in exports. Markov chain analysis results showed that, India is the stable market for Afghanistan’s dried apricot and USA is less stable markets India is the main country to import dried apricot in the next five years. It shows high value in terms of quantity and percentage which is more than 50 per cent of all Afghanistan’s dried apricot export.

Yield gap analysis of redgram and redgram based cropping systems in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh

The study was conducted on yield gap analysis of redgram and redgram based cropping systems in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh during the year 2014-15. A sample size of 120 farmers were selected by using multiple stage random sampling method. The multiple linear regression equation was used for studying the functional relationship between the yield gap of redgram based cropping systems and independent variables viz., seed rate gap (kg/ha), seed charges gap (Rs./ha), nitrogen gap (kg/ha), phosphorus gap (kg/ha), potassium gap (kg/ha), labour charges gap (Rs./ha), pesticide gap (Rs./ha) and manures gap (t/ha). From analysis, the results were obtained that, the variables such as seed cost gap (Rs./ha), phosphorus gap (kg/ha), labour charges gap (Rs./ha) and pesticide gap (Rs./ha) were mainly responsible for the yield gap for redgram sole crop, redgram + Bajra cropping system and pooled cropping systems. In pooled regression analysis, the regression co-efficients of cropping system dummy variables (CS1, CS2 and CS4- Redgram + Bajra, Redgram + Greengram, Redgram + Sorghum (fodder) cropping systems) had positive and significant influence on yield gap. This indicates that more yield gap observed in redgram based cropping systems than sole redgram was because of relatively poor adoption concerning intercropping technologies by the sample redgram farmers.