Wednesday, September 7, 2011

CfPs:: Seminar on Building Competitiveness in a Globalised World: Lessons from India's Plantation Sector; 23-24 Jan 2012

Seminar on Building Competitiveness in a Globalised World: Lessons from India's Plantation Sector
23 - 24 January 2012
Organized by: Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Call for Papers
Plantation sector is no more a mere foreign exchange earner but a key sector in India's inclusive development strategy. This is on account of its critical role in employment generation, (especially women labour) livelihood of small and marginal growers and backward communities, balanced regional development and in fostering environmental sustainability. This is, perhaps, the only sector where competitiveness determines decisively the ability to foster inclusive development on account of intense competition from desperate exporters with hardly any domestic market. However, our understanding on the varied constraints in the sphere of production, processing, marketing, trade, employment and innovation confronted by the sector is at best rudimentary which in turn undermines our ability to undertake informed policy making. The proposed seminar intends to take stock of these issues with special focus on plantation crops (preferably tea, coffee, spices and natural rubber). Comparative studies are especially welcome.

The seminar is being organized by the National Research Programme on Plantation Development (NRPPD) instituted by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.

The broad themes include, but not limited to;
  • Production conditions (focus on small holders)
  • Marketing, price formation and price trends
  • Market integration and trade performance
  • Labour related issues
  • Innovations in plantation: organizational, institutional and technological

Important dates:
  • Submission of detailed abstracts : 30th September 2011
  • Intimation after peer review : 7th October 2011
  • Submission of full papers : 10th January 2012
Detailed abstracts (not less than 600 words)/full papers may be submitted at nrppd@cds.ac.in. Authors of selected papers will be offered travel support and local hospitality.For further details contact Prof K J Joseph, coordinator of the program kjjoseph@cds.ac.in

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