IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae24/344391.html

Tankers and Differential Resilience in Horticultural Farming: Evidence from Maharashtra, India

Author

Listed:
  • Bhangaonkar, Rekha
  • Ranganathan, Thiagu

Abstract

This study analyses differential resilience among horticultural farmers in Maharashtra, India. Based on a primary survey of 290 farmers across four villages in Jalna district, we find that farmers in the region shifted to grape cultivation over the past two decades as it provided a higher and more stable income compared to cotton. The recent years has seen depletion of groundwater table, a common pool resource and the primary source of irrigation for the farmers. In building resilience against groundwater risks, farmers resorted to water imports to satisfy irrigation requirements. With this background, we analyze the factors that affect tanker water use and the returns thereof. Our paper finds that intensity of tanker water use is inversely related to farm size indicating higher intensification of water imports among smallholding farmers. Our production function analysis indicates that both tanker use and expenditure on tanker water has no relation to horticultural production. Given the higher dependence on horticulture among the small and marginal farmers and that these farmers use tanker water extensively with no significant returns to production, our paper posits a case of differential resilience among farmers in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhangaonkar, Rekha & Ranganathan, Thiagu, 2024. "Tankers and Differential Resilience in Horticultural Farming: Evidence from Maharashtra, India," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344391, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae24:344391
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.344391
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/344391/files/22446.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.344391?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iwt:bosers:h042126 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Hiroyuki Takeshima, 2017. "Custom-hired tractor services and returns to scale in smallholder agriculture: a production function approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(3), pages 363-372, May.
    3. Jim Symle & Crispino Lobo & Grant Milne & Melissa Williams, 2014. "Watershed Development in India : An Approach Evolving through Experience," World Bank Publications - Reports 18636, The World Bank Group.
    4. repec:iwt:bosers:h041989 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Daum & Ygué Patrice Adegbola & Geoffrey Kamau & Alpha Oumar Kergna & Christogonus Daudu & Wahab Akeem Adebowale & Carine Adegbola & Charles Bett & Wellington Mulinge & Roch Cedrique Zossou & Ab, 2024. "Made in Africa – How to make local agricultural machinery manufacturing thrive," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 1079-1109, March.
    2. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Hatzenbuehler, Patrick L. & Edeh, Hyacinth O., 2020. "Effects of agricultural mechanization on economies of scope in crop production in Nigeria," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Bhattarai, Madhusudan & Singh, Gajendra & Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Shekhawat, Ravindra S., 2018. "Farm machinery use and agricultural industries in India: Status, evolution, implications and lessons learned," IFPRI discussion papers 1715, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Bhattarai, Madhusudan & Joshi, Pramod Kumar & Shekhawa, R. S. & Takeshima, Hiroyuki, 2017. "The evolution of tractorization in India’s low-wage economy: Key patterns and implications," IFPRI discussion papers 1675, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Hiroyuki Takeshima & Zin Wai Aung & Ian Masias & Bart Minten, 2024. "Endogenous technologies and productivity in rice production: Roles of social instability in Myanmar since 2021," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(6), pages 925-942, November.
    6. Aryal, Jeetendra Prakash & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Thapa, Ganesh & Simtowe, Franklin, 2021. "Mechanisation of small-scale farms in South Asia: Empirical evidence derived from farm households survey," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. William Ridley & Stephen Devadoss, 2021. "The Effects of COVID‐19 on Fruit and Vegetable Production," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 329-340, March.
    8. Paudel, G. & Krishna, V. & McDonald, A., 2018. "Why some inferior technologies succeed? Examining the diffusion and impacts of rotavator tillage in Nepal Terai," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277149, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Takeshima, Hiroyuki, 2017. "Overview of the evolution of agricultural mechanization in Nepal: A focus on tractors and combine harvesters," IFPRI discussion papers 1662, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Paudel, Gokul P. & KC, Dilli Bahadur & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Khanal, Narayan P. & Justice, Scott E. & McDonald, Andrew J., 2019. "Smallholder farmers' willingness to pay for scale-appropriate farm mechanization: Evidence from the mid-hills of Nepal," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    11. Avinash Gupta, 2018. "Mechanization in Nepalese agriculture : Potential knowledge gaps and significance," Working Papers wp/18/03, South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment.
    12. María E. Pérez-Pons & Marta Plaza-Hernández & Ricardo S. Alonso & Javier Parra-Domínguez & Javier Prieto, 2020. "Increasing Profitability and Monitoring Environmental Performance: A Case Study in the Agri-Food Industry through an Edge-IoT Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    13. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Liu, Yanyan, 2018. "The role of plant-breeding R&D in tractor adoptions among smallholders in Asia: Insights from Nepal Terai," IFPRI discussion papers 1719, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Hiroyuki Takeshima, 2024. "Agricultural mechanisation and gendered labour activities across sectors: Micro‐evidence from multi‐country farm household data," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 425-456, February.
    15. Meng Meng & Leng Yu & Xiaohua Yu, 2024. "Machinery structure, machinery subsidies, and agricultural productivity: Evidence from China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(2), pages 223-246, March.
    16. Jing Zhang & Jianhua Wang & Xiaoshi Zhou, 2019. "Farm Machine Use and Pesticide Expenditure in Maize Production: Health and Environment Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-13, May.
    17. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad & Shivakoti, Sabnam & Kaphle, Basu Dev & Kumar, Anjani, 2017. "Heterogeneous returns to chemical fertilizer at the intensive margins: Insights from Nepal," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 97-109.
    18. Ren, Haixia & Xian, Zhe & Chen, Junya & Zhang, Wenjuan & Kang, Xiaohong, 2025. "Impact of agricultural production trusteeship on the urban-rural income gap and its mechanism," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Houssou, Nazaire & Diao, Xinshen, 2018. "Effects of tractor ownership on returns-to-scale in agriculture: Evidence from maize in Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 33-49.
    20. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Shivakoti, Sabnam & Bhattarai, Binod & Karkee, Madhab & Pokhrel, Suroj & Kumar, Anjani, 2016. "Farm size and effects of chemical fertilizer price on farm households: Insights from Nepal Terai," IFPRI discussion papers 1578, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae24:344391. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.