Search results

This paper aims at understanding the causes of low adoption of hybrid rice technology. The paper also assesses the impact of adoption of hybrids and modern varieties on crop yield, vis-à-vis the old or traditional varieties.

Using unit-level data from a large-scale survey of farm households (19,877 paddy cultivators), the authors applied multi-nomial regression method to understand the factors for adoption of hybrid rice and instrumental variable method of regression to estimate its impact.

The findings demonstrate that in India, hybrid rice is often grown on relatively poor soils, resulting in greater irrigation costs and for other inputs, such as fertilizers. Further, farmers' poor access to information on the traits of hybrid rice and the associated agronomic practices, as well as poor access to financial resources, hampers efforts to scale up its adoption. More importantly, the findings reveal that the relative yield advantage of hybrids over open-pollinated modern varieties is not large enough to incentivize the rapid adoption of hybrid rice technology.

Given the higher cost of hybrids than the inbred varieties, enhancing paddy cultivators' access to financial resources can accelerate the adoption of hybrid rice in India.

The study is based on unit level data from a large-scale, nationally representative survey of farm households, comprising a sample of 19,877 paddy cultivators, spread across states in India.

This paper aims to analyze relative contribution of intensive margin (IM) and extensive margin (EM) to growth in India's agricultural exports for the period 2001 to 2020. It also analyses the determinants of IM and EMs through a standard gravity model.

The study uses export data from United Nations Comtrade, which is accessed through World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) software. Data for the period 2001 to 2020 were compiled for analysis using the Harmonized System (HS) of commodity classification system at the six-digit level. This study decomposed the contribution of IM and EM in the growth of Indian agricultural trade by using Hummels and Klenow's approach. After performing the export decomposition analysis, the authors analyze the factors influencing IM and EM by using the Tobit regression model and Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood (PPML) method of estimation.

The EM grew at 1.24% per annum, while the intensive margin (IM) increased by 0.23%. The contribution of growth at the EM increased from 58.8% in 2001 to 70.2% in 2020. Export growth along the IM was relatively high for animal products and agricultural raw materials, while growth at the EM was an important contributor to the export growth of horticultural and processed agricultural products. There was a positive and significant effect of the free trade agreement (FTA) on export margins.

More disaggregated commodity-specific studies on value chain analysis would provide valuable insights into the issues hindering exports and realizing the untapped export potential.

There is a scarcity of holistic and recent studies illustrating the role of IM and EMs in agricultural trade growth, covering a large number of commodities and geographies associated with Indian agricultural trade. The study would be helpful to the stakeholders in facilitating informed policy decisions.

The study aims to explore dynamic capabilities such as innovation, entrepreneurial leadership, absorptive capability, and the dimension of entrepreneurial orientation in the handicraft sector to enhance supply chain resilience and innovation during unprecedented times. This study also used innovation as a mediating construct and supply chain orientation as a moderating construct.

We gathered data from the handicraft sector in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) in India using a pretested questionnaire. We used variance-based partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test our research hypotheses.

Our study indicates that to enhance innovation and improve supply chain resilience, firms should focus on developing dynamic capabilities such as entrepreneurial leadership, absorptive capacity, artificial intelligence (AI), innovativeness, risk-taking ability, and protectiveness. The study highlights the significant role of dynamic capabilities in the handicraft sector during times of crisis, enabling innovation and resilience to risk.

The study highlights the significant role of dynamic capabilities in the handicraft sector during times of crisis, enabling innovation and resilience to risk.

This study provides significant insights into the current understanding of dynamic capability theory and supply chain orientation and expands upon the existing literature in this field. It comprehensively analyses the latest research and advances knowledge in this area.

This study aims to assess the competency gap among construction industry professionals concerning the competencies required for identifying construction activities that produce recyclable materials. Accordingly, the study objectives are threefold: to identify key competencies, analyze the disparity between the level of importance and level of competence for each competency, and quantify the criticality of the competency gaps.

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify and categorize 20 competencies into knowledge, skills, and abilities. The competencies formed the basis for a questionnaire survey distributed to construction industry professionals. 120 valid responses were collected and analyzed using mean and normalized values, Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, and competency gap analysis.

The findings highlight eight key competencies: ability to prepare sustainable designs, skills in trading construction waste materials, skills in lean construction techniques, skills in designing out waste in construction activities, knowledge of diagnosing construction waste generation, knowledge of construction-related waste design, knowledge of the practice of sustainable facilities management, and knowledge on the sustainable characteristics of construction activities. Despite their importance, critical competency gaps exist among these key competencies and must be addressed.

This study equips decision-makers with insights to manage natural resources efficiently, offers practitioners a list of key competencies for sustainable project management, and provides researchers with a solid foundation for further investigations to advance sustainability in construction.