This paper aimed to investigate the limitations associated with onion farming in the western undulating agroclimatic zone of Odisha, specifically regarding production, marketing, and storage. The study employed a multi-stage purposive sampling technique. The state was divided into 10 zones based on agro-climatic characteristics, and the district from the western undulating zone, Kalahandi districts, was purposively chosen since many farmers in these regions, like others in Odisha, cultivate onions throughout the winter season. A total of 90 farmers (45 from Bhawanipatna block and 45 from Golamunda block) were selected at random and interviewed directly for the purpose of study. Furthermore, the location, climatic conditions, and soil are ideal for onion cultivation. Kalahandi was chosen in 2021–2022. According to the survey, labour shortages for weeding, ignorance of improved varieties, high labour costs, ineffective and expensive weedicides, high seed costs, etc. were the top five problems faced by onion growers. The main difficulties faced by onion growers during marketing included low prices during harvest, which were followed by sharp price fluctuations, high transportation costs, payment delays, a lack of market news and information, a lack of storage facilities, etc. in the research area. To ensure an effective produce marketing system, the government, developmental agencies, marketing boards, and NAFED should intervene by enhancing the market infrastructure at the taluk and district levels and supplying timely market information. Farmers may be able to overcome the issue of price fluctuations if government authorities intervene promptly and announce an extension or announcement of the government support price for onion crops.

Research on the effects of supply chain constraints on product availability, perceived quality, convenience, and repeat purchasing in Odisha’s western undulating agroclimatic zone is limited. Therefore, a multistage sampling design was employed to study the production and marketing of finger millet in Kalahandi district, Odisha. Three major millet-growing blocks, i.e., Lanjigarh, M. Rampur and Narla, were purposively selected, with three villages randomly chosen from each. From every village, ten growers were surveyed (n = 90), stratified by farm size. Additional data were collected from farmers, processors, distributors, retailers, millet cafés and agricultural produce market committee (APMC)s through focus group discussions and key informant interviews to examine supply chains and consumer behaviour. Among 60 consumers surveyed, the majority were male (71.67 %) and 53.33 % in the middle age group (31-50 years). Most respondents were married (80 %), lived in nuclear families (73.33 %) and engaged in agriculture (61.67 %). Health benefits emerged as the primary factor influencing purchase decisions (Garretts’mean score 41.79), followed by social media influence, relatives’ suggestions and doctors’ advice. Analysis of supply chains revealed two input channels and three marketing channels, with channel I (formal) preferred for finger millet due to assured minimum support price (MSP). The implementation of the Odisha millet mission (2017) strengthened community-based organisations (CBOs) like farmer producer organizations (FPOs), farmer producer companies (FPCs), farmers’ associations (FAs) involvement. Community based organisations (CBO) satisfaction was highest for market information (94.44 %) and technical skill promotion (92.22 %), but low for credit linkage (6.67 %) and transportation support (4.44 %). Overall, the findings indicate that finger millet marketing is dominated by formal channels, while consumer choices are driven by nutritional awareness, social influence and affordability.

Agriculture in Odisha is characterized by diverse production systems where rice, green gram and groundnut play critical roles in food, nutrition and income security. This study assessed farmers’ perceptions and attitudes towards these three crops to identify gaps and opportunities for improving production systems. A multistage random sampling design was employed to select 320 farmers across Baragarh (rice), Sonepur (green gram) and Jajpur (groundnut) districts. Data were collected through pretested interviews in Odia and analysed using a modified Likertscale and Chi-square tests to examine associations between perception and socioeconomic variables. Results revealed that ecological conditions, particularly soil and temperature, were generally perceived as favourable for all three crops, while rainfall variability was a recurring constraint. Input supply for fertilisers, improved seed varieties were largely satisfactory, but credit access, labour availability and irrigation emerged as major bottlenecks. Advisory services (training, demonstrations, timely guidance) and government policy support (procurement, incentives, crop insurance, remunerative pricing) were inadequate, limiting the adoption of improved practices. Socioeconomic factors such as age, education, income and market access significantly influenced perception levels. Overall, most farmers fell into the medium perception category, indicating scope for targeted interventions. The findings underscore the need to strengthen extension services, improve institutional credit and irrigation infrastructure and enhance policy implementation to bridge perception gaps. This study provides actionable insights for researchers and policymakers to enhance the productivity, resilience and sustainability of rice, pulse and oilseed systems in eastern India.

Despite numerous studies on agricultural growth in India, there remains a critical gap in understanding long-term, crop-specific growth dynamics and their underlying drivers in climatically vulnerable states like Odisha. Paddy, green gram, and groundnut are the major field crops of Odisha, occupying the majority of the cultivated area. This study aims to analyse the long-term growth trends and production dynamics from 1970 to 2020, using secondary data to estimate compound annual growth rates (CAGR) at both overall and decadal periods. It employs an additive decomposition method to quantify the contributions of area, yield and interaction effects on change in production for revealing complex, non-linear crop-specific patterns. In the case of paddy, production grew with CAGR of 1.76 %; it was predominantly driven by yield improvements despite slight decline in area. Green gram displayed volatile trends with periods of stagnation and recovery. Notably, a production surge in the period from 1990 to 2000, which was due to combined area expansion and yield gains, followed by yield led growth in 2010-2020. Groundnut experienced growth phases, shifting from area led expansion in early decades to yield driven resurgence post 2000,aided by high-yielding, resilient varieties and enhanced extension services, though area contraction in the last decade tempered overall gains. The findings emphasize the importance of balanced strategies to stabilize the area under cultivation and promote yield enhancement through technological interventions and policy support, essential for sustainable agricultural resilience amid climatic variability and socio-economic challenges in Odisha.

Output price support is often justified because it directs land towards priority crops. We test this in India using a balanced panel of 8 crops that have had minimum support prices continuously from 1983–84 to 2025–26, built from 11 editions of the Reserve Bank of India’s statistical handbook and extended to 10 crops for two further tests. A simple model of crop choice on a fixed land base implies that a support price can change which crop is sown but not how much land is sown. Real support prices increased by 81–108%, almost all after the mid-2000s. Under pooled two-way fixed effects, which assume that all crops respond alike, the short-run acreage elasticity is 0.194 (wild cluster bootstrap p = 0.080) and does not fall with controls for weather, irrigation, and the determinants of the support price; under the Mean Group estimator, which allows each crop its own response, it is 0.120 and not significant ( p = 0.251); and in a share system that imposes adding-up across crops it is 0.038 ( t = 1.41). The 2018–19 cost-plus reform implies a similar elasticity one season later (0.23) that cannot be distinguished from zero; yields do not respond; and, under the wild bootstrap, the response is not detectable after the first season. With net sown area increasing by only 6.3% between 1959–60 and 2024–25, gross sown area increased by 48% through multiple cropping, which is closely associated with irrigation, and the supported crops gained 12.3 percentage points of area share while their relative support price decreased by 15.9%. Nationally, support prices have at most a modest effect on land allocation, detectable only in the first season; their transfer and food-security roles should be appraised directly, and state-level evidence is needed to locate any larger response.