Occupational exposure to pesticides is very common among workers in the agricultural sector in developing countries. The study suggests that pesticide use is often unscientific at all levels of use-from the selection of chemicals and handling practices to averting behaviour. This results in health damages to the extent of Rs. 38 per day (US$0.86) per individual.

Contract farming if carefully planned and executed, provides a win-win situation for both the producer and processors. It ensures better linkage between farm and market where processor gets timely and consistent supply of raw material of the desired quality at low cost. The contract farmers in the study were the potato farmers who were under contract with the Frito Lays of Pepsi.

Contract farming is emerging as an important form of vertical coordination in agri-food markets in India, and its economic and social consequences are attracting considerable attention in the food policy debates. In this paper the authors have examined the effects of contract farming on milk on productivity, production and costs, prices and profitability.

An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the relationship between urbanisation and agricultural growth in India. Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy because of its high share in employment and livelihood creation notwithstanding its reduced contribution to the nation's gross domestic product.

A geographical region encompassing more liberal economic laws than a country's typical economic laws can be referred to as a Special Economic zone (SEZ). A policy of setting up of SEZ was introduced in India on April 1, 2000 with a view to providing a more competitive free trade environment for exports.

The recent third world urbanisation is concentrated in the rural peripheries of the largest cities and its implications for land and livelihood in the peri-urban areas is discussed in this article.

Linkages between different sectors and segments of an economy keep changing with the progress of economy.

In this paper, the authors examined the influence of urbanisation on agricultural activities in Andhra Pradesh. The findings indicate a larger concentration of high value food commodities in the urban and peri-urban areas than in hinterlands/rural areas.

The agricultural products prices are highly volatile. There is considerable time lag between the time of initial spending and procuring of receipts from the final farm produce. A farmer is highly susceptible to price fluctuations both of farm produces and farm inputs.

India is one of the top producers of a large number of commodities, and also has a long history of trading in commodities and related derivatives. The commodities derivatives market has seen ups and downs, but seem to have finally arrived now. The market has made enormous progress in terms of technology, transparency and the trading activity.