An Economic Analysis of Indian Walnut Industry: Prospects and Problems

  • Dr. Meenakshi Gupta, Dr. Vikas Sharma,

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to examine the Indian Walnut Industry by substantiating its growth pattern and accessing its performance in global walnut trade. Besides, the study has attempted to analyse the significant role played by walnut in farm economy of different major producing states including Jammu and Kashmir. The objectives of the current study were based both on primary data and secondary data. For secondary data statistics from government agencies such as NHB, APEDA and published reports such as  Economic survey, Jammu and Kashmir 2013, Horticultural Statistics at a Glance,2017 etc. has been gathered and analysed. For primary data, the present study has analysed the collected data from walnut growers through pre-tested questionnaire.  The study revealed that over the years there has been  an increase  in area under the crop and accordingly there was a surge in production of the walnut in the country. However, their growth pattern exhibits different pattern as it was found that  growth in area was more significant during pre-WTO period (with  a CGR of 2.74) as compared to post-WTO period (with CGR of 2.35) while the growth in production is rapid during post-WTO era. India stands seventh in world production of walnut. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is the most dominant state in Indian walnut Industry as it occupies almost 75% of the area of the total area under walnut in the country. Therefore, in the present study, an investigation on the factors of production of walnut growers of Jammu Region of the state was conducted to examine the returns to scale incurred on walnut production in the study area. The values of the coefficients for the specified   factors/inputs in the production of the walnut in the study area viz., labour, machinery, irrigation, fertilizer, no of walnut trees and area under cultivation came to 0.421, 0.254, 0.362, 0.018, 0.360 and 0.175 respectively while the value for returns to scale was 1.590. The study revealed that Indian Walnut Industry is subjected to number of constraints and these constraints affect walnut growers. Based on results certain suggestions has been proposed.

Published
2020-08-27
Section
Articles