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PR, IFPRI3; ISI; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; CRP2, SAR; PIM; Development Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategies, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

PR, IFPRI3; CRP2; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; DCA, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

PR, IFPRI3; DCA; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance, SAR

PR, IFPRI3; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; CRP2; DCA, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

PR, IFPRI3; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry, Development Strategies and Governance (DSG); Innovation Policy and Scaling (IPS); Transformation Strategies

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Capacity Strengthening; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), This paper attempts to identify the determinants of access to the KCC program and empirically evaluate its impact on farmers’ use of agricultural inputs and farm household incomes in Eastern India. We have also examined whether the possession of KCC reduces the farmer’s dependence for borrowing on moneylenders. The estimation is based on Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) approach, which is an increasingly popular method of estimating causal effects. The study uses a large survey of rural/farming households in eastern India (Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal). Findings reveal that access to KCC is strongly associated with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristic of farming households. We find that access to KCC increases farmers’ use of the agricultural inputs and households and farm income especially for marginal and small farmers. Finally, access to KCC reduces farmer’s dependency on moneylenders for borrowing credits by 25 percent.

PR, IFPRI4, SAR; MTID

Non-PR, IFPRI5; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; DCA, SAR, The enactment of three marketing farm laws 2020 has provoked serious discussion, criticism and even protest especially in Punjab and Haryana to the extent that the Supreme Court had to intervene and put them on hold for some time.

PR, IFPRI3; IFPRI-ICAR; DCA; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), In 2020, the Union government enacted three new farm laws to address the structural weaknesses inherent in the sale, marketing and stocking of agriculture produce in the regulated/wholesale markets. This has provoked serious discussion, criticism and even protest, especially in Punjab and Haryana to the extent that the Supreme Court put them on hold for some time. This paper assesses the farmers’ awareness and perceptions about these laws based on a large survey of households carried out during 2020 across five eastern states – Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal. The probit and multinomial regression models are used to examine the socio-economic factors that influence the farmers’ awareness and perceptions about usefulness of the ordinances. The findings reveal that about 50 per cent agricultural households in eastern India are aware about the new farm laws; they hardly possessed any knowledge about the contents therein. Several socio-economic factors among farm households correlate significantly with the awareness of the new farm laws and holding opinions about their usefulness. These include the size of landholding, level of education of the household head, awareness of government programmes, and visits to Kisan Melas. The findings of the study suggest that the governments (centre and state) should make efforts to demystify the ordinances to farmers, traders and other stakeholders and generate confidence among them about a competitive agri-marketing environment.

Non-PR, IFPRI5; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; DCA, SAR, Lockdowns induced by COVID-19 have threatened food security in most developing countries. Four weeks after the country went into lockdown, we carried out a telephone survey of roughly 2,600 rural households in eastern India, one of the poorest regions of the world. The aim was to provide rapid evidence on the status and determinants of food insecurity and to understand the coping strategies adopted by rural households during the pandemic. Using comprehensive telephone survey data from 2,599 households, we estimated the status of food insecurity using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. We found that roughly 98 percent of rural households reported a negative income shock after countrywide lockdown was imposed. We further observed that about 46 percent of the sampled households were moderately food insecure and 25 percent were severely food insecure. We also observed regional differences in the extent of food insecurity. The results of the Poisson regression indicate that households that belong to lower social strata and have less land and fewer years of education are more likely to suffer from food insecurity. The results also indicate that households which are receiving government assistance are more likely to be food secure.

PR, IFPRI3; CRP4; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; ReSAKSS Asia, A4NH; SAR, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

Non-PR, IFPRI1; ReSAKSS Asia; CRP4; DCA; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry, MTID; SAR; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Provision of food safety requires not only regulation but also a demand pull where value chain participants demand food safety or are able to play their role in providing safe food. In both cases, producer, and consumer awareness about requirements for food safety is a precondition for delivery of food safety. In this paper, focusing on dairy in Sri Lanka, we assess the awareness and choice of practices by producers and consumers towards food safety. Sri Lanka has unique features in the dairy sector, with very high import penetration and form of consumption, i.e., powdered milk, that actuates formalization. Looking at different segments of the population, including rural, urban and estate, and different management systems, the evidence suggests only a moderate level of food safety awareness in dairy in middle-income consumers in Sri Lanka. Considering the differences across systems, the degree of adoption of food safety is lowest among farmers in the extensive system, while it is highest among farmers in the intensive system. However, in terms of choice between powdered and fresh milk, food safety consciousness is one of the most significant determinants where fresh milk is considered comparatively unsafe. Even when food safety issues arose in powdered milk, only small adjustments occurred in consumption, both because the health effects were limited, and the choice sets were circumscribed by the number of brands across which some consumers switched following the food safety scare. In the push toward promotion of fresh milk consumption, ensuring food safety and convincing consumers about merits of fresh milk would be required in Sri Lanka beyond the preference change from well-established powdered milk consumption.

PR, IFPRI3; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; MTID

PR, IFPRI3; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; MTID, We evaluate the impact of access to credit on rural households’ per capita annual income using an endogenous switching regression approach, an increasingly popular method of tackling the selection bias issue in impact analyses. Using a large survey of rural households in eastern India, we find that access to credit is strongly associated with rural households’ socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Additionally, access to credit increases rural households’ economic well-being; nonborrower rural households would benefit the most from access to credit. Access to credit affects recipients heterogeneously, implying that credit policies should be adaptable to different rural household groups.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; MTID; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), Soybeans were promoted on a large scale in India in order to augment farmers’ incomes in poverty-stricken areas and to combat dietary protein deficiencies. Soybean cultivation in India is a unique success story, having expanded in area from zero in 1970 to 11.5 million hectares by the first decade of this millennium At this juncture, the major concern of policymakers is to sustain cultivation of soybeans by ensuring reasonable growth in yield and farm incomes in the face of competitive yield improvements in comparable crops such as corn. This paper tries to understand the varietal adoption patterns and the stages of diffusion of existing varieties. It uses a large primary data set of 1,410 farm households in central and western India to unravel the underlying pathways for accelerating varietal turnover. It employs a dynamic framework by harnessing duration analysis. The average age of the adopted varieties is 8.4 years, which is relatively high and implies slower varietal turnover. Survival functions show that adoption of the leading varieties has reached the saturation stage and that policy intervention at this point can thus have a rapid impact in terms of varietal replacement. The analysis of rate of change of varietal replacement through hazard functions throws up interesting conclusions that are relevant to the formulation of new policies. Examination of all three conceptualized pathways—farm characteristics, sources of information, and perceived traits of the varieties and of genetic improvements—suggest the need for substitution of existing varieties with new improved varieties. While the drivers of varietal change do not vary with size of farm, regional differences are relevant. This paper discusses the potential impact of policy on production and income.

PR, IFPRI3; ISI; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance, SAR; MTID

PR, IFPRI3; CRP4; TARINA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; MTID; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

PR, IFPRI3; DCA; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; MTID

PR, IFPR3; TARINA; CRP4; Capacity Strengthening; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; G Cross-cutting gender theme, A4NH; MTID, 8 pages, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

PR, IFPRI4; CRP4; FIPP, SAO; A4NH; MTID, CGIAR Research Programs on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

Non-PR, IFPRI5, SAO; A4NH; ESAO, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

PR, IFPRI4; C Improving markets and trade, NDO; MTID

Non-PR, IFPRI5; IFPRI-ICAR, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; B Promoting healthy food systems; D Transforming Agriculture, MTID; SAO; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Food safety is an integral part of food security. One of the ways of ensuring food safety is through demand pull by consumers, which depends on the information available to them. One of the possible ways in which information is available to consumers is through their social networks. Focusing on dairy consumers in India, we present evidence of peer effects in consumers’ attitudes toward various food safety attributes as well as food safety practices. Unobserved individual heterogeneities are crucial confounders in the identification of social (endogenous) effects. Our identification is based on exploiting within-consumer variation across different aspects of attitude (or practices) related to food safety.

PR, IFPRI3, MTID; SAO