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Cornell University

Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition

Tag: Markets & Value Chains

Making Supermarkets Profitable for India’s Small Farms

This policy brief presents the results of a study examining the impact of supermarkets on smallholder farmers in India. Using field survey data collected from 795 farm households across four states representing India’s varied agroclimatic and socioeconomic regions, researchers found that farmers who sold to...

TCI Publishes 2023–24 Annual Report

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) has published its 2023–24 Annual Report. The report offers an in-depth look at the full range of TCI’s research and other activities, including projects like Zero-Hunger, Zero-Carbon Food Systems, and field research…
A husband and wife shop in the produce section of a supermarket

Do Supermarkets Help India’s Small Farmers? It Depends.

When supermarkets first began spreading across India, they brought hope that smallholder farmers could make more money by selling them fresh, high-quality produce. Decades later, has that benefit materialized? New research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI)…

Determinants and Income Effects of Small Farmers Selling to Supermarkets versus Traditional Market Channels in Four Regions of India

Abstract Read a policy brief based on this study. Using endogenous switching regressions to calculate transitional heterogeneity which we have used to build counterfactual scenarios to identify the treatment effects for both sellers to supermarkets and sellers to traditional markets, the results support neither a...
Pallavi Rajkhowa taking notes at a soybean warehouse

FPOs Would Get Boost from Centralized Database

India is betting big on farmer producer organizations (FPOs) to boost its agricultural sector and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, but its efforts would be enhanced by the creation of a centralized system of tracking FPOs, according to the…

Identifying the Number of FPOs Promoted in India

This special policy brief provides an estimate of the number of active farmer producer organizations (FPOs) promoted in India from 2003 to 2024 and makes the case for a centralized system for tracking FPOs. A system to identify and track FPO promotion and performance in...
A farmer looks at the FPO database on her computer

How Many FPOs Are There in India? How We Counted the Number of Farmer Producer Organizations

Farmer producer organizations (FPOs) have the potential to significantly aid smallholder agricultural development through the power of aggregation. In India, where most farms are smaller than a hectare, well-functioning FPOs can boost farm incomes through better market linkages and increased…
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Essays in Agriculture Economics, Climate Change, and Nutrition

Abstract The dissertation consists of three essays in the field of agriculture economics, climate change, and nutrition. I have structured it as three chapters, namely ‘Fertilization Impact Of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide On Agricultural Yield’, ‘Are Production And Consumption Decisions Independent? Identifying Separability In Indian Agriculture’,...
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The State of Food Loss Along Perishable Vegetable Supply Chains

Abstract This research was done in the context of tomato supply chains in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad city, Telangana. The study aims were (1) to examine the extent, stages and determinants of food loss along tomato supply chains from farmer to retail; (2)...
Bowls of millets and millet flour on a blue tarp

Millets Are Key to Making the PDS Environmentally Friendly

In 2021–22, India spent US$17.4 billion on the Public Distribution System, or PDS. For a program that ensures food security for over 800 million people, that seems like a good bargain. However, new research on the hidden costs of the…