In disadvantaged districts of Bihar, one of the poorest states in India and an area where smallholders dominate, we find that there have been dramatic increases and rapid up-scaling of modern cold storages, triggered by market reform, investment subsidies, and better overall public service...

Local brands are rapidly gaining agricultural market share in developing countries. However, it is not well understood how they reshape agricultural value chains. In a detailed case study of the value chain of makhana in Bihar, we see the fast emergence – a doubling over 5years – of more...

Rainwater plays an important role in scavenging of aerosols and gases from atmosphere, and its chemistry helps to understand the relative contributions of atmospheric pollution sources. The present work is aimed to understand and explain the sources, seasonal patterns and the processes thereof...

A far-sighted food policy is essential to facilitate efficient functioning of food production and management systems, especially for a country like India where household level food security still remains elusive. In this context, reliable mechanisms for generating outlooks on key variables such...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to quantify the benefits of contract farming (CF) on farmers’ income and adoption of food safety measures (FSMs) at the farm level. The paper also investigates the determinants of participation in CF. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a...