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In line with the ongoing global and domestic reforms in agriculture and allied sectors, the Indian Government is reducing its direct market intervention and encouraging private participation based on market forces. This has led to increased exposure of agricultural produce to price and other market risks, which consequently emphasize the importance of futures markets for price discovery and price risk management. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the efficiency of agricultural commodity markets by assessing the relationships between futures prices and spot market prices of major agricultural commodities in India.

The efficiency of the futures market for 12 agricultural commodities, traded at one of the largest commodity exchanges of India, i.e. National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd, has been explored by using Johansen's cointegration analysis and Granger causality tests. Unit root test procedures such as Augmented Dickey‐Fuller and non‐parametric Phillips‐Perron were initially applied to examine whether futures and spot prices are stationary or not. The hypothesis, that futures prices are unbiased predictors of spot prices has been tested using econometric software package.

Results show that cointegration exists significantly in futures and spot prices for all the selected agricultural commodities except for wheat and rice. This suggest that there is a long‐term relationship between futures and spot prices for most of the agricultural commodities like maize, chickpea, black lentil, pepper, castor seed, soybean and sugar. The causality test further distinguishes and categorizes the commodities based on direction of relationship between futures and spot prices. The analysis of short‐term relationship by causality test indicates that futures markets have stronger ability to predict subsequent spot prices for chickpea, castor seed, soybean and sugar as compared to maize, black lentil and pepper, where bi‐directional relationships exist in the short run.

The results of this study are useful for various stakeholders active in agricultural commodities markets such as producers, traders, commission agents, commodity exchange participants, regulators and policy makers.

There are very few studies that have explored the efficiency of the commodity futures market in India in a detailed manner, especially at individual commodity level.

Being low in fat and cholesterol free, yet contaiing valuable amounts of protein and dietary fibre, the pulses are an important group of foods which rate well by today's dietary standards. But how many people appreciate their value, know about the different kinds of pulses available and some of the most appetising ways of serving them? Irene Finch MA, BEd tells us more about these versatile foods

Vegetarianism is currently receiving more attention from the food industry than ever before. The campaign initiated by the NACNE and COMA Reports has created a new “health appeal”, resulting in an increased demand for vegetarian food, which is consumer‐driven. Product development in the vegetarian sector should, therefore, favour the use of vegetables and pulses rather than dairy products. Beans, nuts, seeds and grains are all the more appetising now because of the abundance of vegetables available to combine with them. Manufacturers should take the opportunity of an expanding market to provide imaginative, sumptuous products which truly do justice to the variety of colours, flavours and textures of pulses.

Red lentils are one of the widely consumed food items in South Asia and this has created an enormous market opportunity for all players in the chain. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the most valued attributes of red lentils and to assess how consumer preferences vary across store type and by socio-demographic factors. Thereby, it was aimed to identify value chain interventions that are required to meet the consumer demand.

Sri Lanka was selected as the study location because of its significance as an importer. Through an intercept survey of 300 consumers in three store types, consumption pattern and preference for four attributes of red lentils, namely, size, colour, visual quality and price were collected. Data were also collected from retail and wholesale stores and from a processor. Conjoint analysis was used to analyse the consumer data.

A majority of the respondents consumed red lentils on a daily basis. Consumer preference rankings showed that consumers place a significantly greater level of importance on visual quality than other attributes. Trade-off patterns were different across store types and by socio-demographic factors. Grocery shoppers were willing to trade-off packaging to price while the reverse was true for supermarket shoppers. Retail and wholesale purchases were driven by quality.

Findings highlight that chain effectiveness could be enhanced by offering bigger sized lentils while assuring quality.

This research uses a consumer driven assessment in identifying required value chain interventions.

Much to the relief of everyone, the general election has come and gone and with it the boring television drivel; the result a foregone conclusion. The Labour/Trade Union movement with a severe beating, the worst for half a century, a disaster they have certainly been asking for. Taking a line from the backwoods wisdom of Abraham Lincoln — “You can't fool all the people all the time!” Now, all that most people desire is not to live easy — life is never that and by the nature of things, it cannot be — but to have a reasonably settled, peaceful existence, to work out what they would consider to be their destiny; to be spared the attentions of the planners, the plotters, provocateurs, down to the wilful spoilers and wreckers. They have a right to expect Government protection. We cannot help recalling the memory of a brilliant Saturday, but one of the darkest days of the War, when the earth beneath our feet trembled at the destructive might of fleets of massive bombers overhead, the small silvery Messerschmits weaving above them. Believing all to be lost, we heaped curses on successive Governments which had wrangled over rearmament, especially the “Butter before Guns” brigade, who at the word conscription almost had apoplexy, and left its people exposed to destruction. Now, as then, the question is “Have they learned anything?” With all the countless millions Government costs, its people have the right to claim something for their money, not the least of which is the right to industrial and domestic peace.

Legumes are widely grown and are consumed as a source of plant protein throughout the world. They rank second after cereals with respect to their consumption order. Legumes have anti‐nutritional factors which make their uses limited. This study aims to check the effect of soaking and cooking on the anti‐nutrient contents and nutritional quality of the legumes.

Five legumes (white kidney bean, red kidney bean, lentil, chickpea, and white gram) frequently used by the masses were selected for soaking and cooking trials. Legumes were tested for their weight, volume, density, swelling capacity and water absorption capacity before soaking and cooking. Legumes were soaked in simple water, 2 per cent sodium chloride solution, acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate and cooked in a beaker with 1 : 5 seed water ratio to uniform soft mass. After soaking and cooking, legumes were tested for anti‐nutrients (phytic acid and tannin) and their nutritional quality.

The statistical analysis of the study results revealed that dark colour legume (red kidney bens) has a high level of phytic acid and tannin compared with light colour (white kidney beans and white grams). Soaking and cooking of legumes result in significant reduction in phytic acid and tannin contents. Maximum reduction of phytic acid (78.055) and tannin (65.81 per cent) was found for sodium bicarbonate soaking followed by cooking. These treatments also result in a slight reduction in nutrients such as protein, minerals and total sugars.

Soaking and cooking of legumes reduce their anti‐nutrients; phytic acid and tannin significantly. These treatments may be used domestically as well as commercially to increase the nutrients' availability from legumes to meet the problem of protein and minerals deficiencies.

Along with water different soaking solutions which are easily available in the market were used to test out their effect on the nutritional quality and safety. These may be used by the common people to raise their nutritional status.

The purpose of this study was to formulate a complete protein food from lentil flour (LF) and egg powder (EP) through microwave-assisted extrusion technology.

In the first part of the hybrid technology, the feed proportion and extrusion conditions were optimized through design expert using central composite rotatable design. In the second part of hybrid technology, the optimized protein pellets (PP) obtained were subjected to microwave heating (MH) for 50,100, 150, 200 and 250 s.

The optimum predicted conditions for development of pellets using extrusion cooking were feed proportion (85% LF and 15% EP), barrel temperature (140°C), screw speed (340 rpm) and feed moisture content (12%). When these pellets were subjected to MH, 150 s of heating time was considered as prudential to induce desirable quality changes in PP. The increase in sectional expansion index, crispness and overall acceptability from 0.637 to 0.659, 4.51 to 6.1 and 3.27 to 3.59 with corresponding decrease in bulk density and breaking strength from 73.33 to 69.75 kg/cm³ and 6.24 to 5.13 N during 150 s of MH indicated that quality characteristics of extruded PPs were improved after MH.

Nowadays, consumers have become more health conscious than ever, and the demand for nutritious snacks has increased many folds. However, the high protein content restricts expansion of snacks, which was overcome by subjecting extruded pellets to MH to produce third generation pellets. Furthermore, the PP has a protein content of 31.62%, which indicates that if an average person consumes 100 g of these snacks, it will suffice 60% of total recommended dietary intake (0.75 g/kg body weight/day). Lentil-based pellets expanded by use of such hybrid technology (microwave-assisted extrusion cooking) can help to provide a feasible, low cost and protein-rich diet for malnourished population besides being a value addition to lentils.

LF in combination with EP was tested for the first time for development of nutrient dense pellets. Moreover, use of microwave-assisted extrusion cooking offers a workable and innovative technique of developing protein-rich pellets with improved physico-chemical and sensory attributes.

The aim of the present nutritional survey was to assess the food consumption pattern of 183 Indian preschool children (four to five years) in Fatehabad district of Haryana.

Data regarding food frequency, myths and intake were collected with the help of questionnaires and structured interviews. Food consumption patterns were recorded using a 24‐hour recall for three consecutive days.

The food frequency pattern indicated that wheat was the most accepted cereal among almost all the families and the consumption of pulses was weekly or on alternate days. They consumed roots and tubers frequently but the consumption of green leafy vegetables, fruits and other vegetables depended on the availability only. Most of the families consumed buffalo's milk (93 per cent) and desi ghee (73 per cent) daily. More than half of the respondents' mothers believed bajra, maize (corn), some pulses, bathua (Chenopodium album) and fenugreek leaves, onion, garlic, ginger, desi ghee and sweets are hot foods. According to the 24‐hour recall method for three consecutive days, the daily mean intake of all foodstuffs, namely, cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables, roots and tubers, other vegetables, fruits, fats and oils, milk and milk products and sugar and jaggery was lower than their respective recommended dietary intake in the daily diets of preschool children.

On the basis of findings of this study, nutrition policy makers can plan the strategies for improving the nutritional status of preschool children who are an important segment of the Indian population.

The legal and institutional infrastructure of organic agriculture in Turkey and the progress of the production and the marketing of organic agricultural products are analyzed. An overview of the field research carried out in Turkey, on both the production and consumption of organic products, is presented. The policies currently implemented for the improvement of the sector have been evaluated. Some strategic policy suggestions have been put forward.