Author: Priyanka Upreti
In India agriculture is the main sector which has employed a major portion of its total workforce since a long time ago. But the structural changes in the national and state economies, large scale migration of labour from agriculture and operation of the rural development and poverty alleviation programmes have systematically reduced the relative importance of agriculture in labour allocation decisions of rural households. Consequently, there has been considerable reduction in labour supply to agriculture. On the contrary, the spread of advanced farm technology, increase in cropping intensity, growing importance of timely farming operations, and a remarkable shift in agriculture from a family-labour based way of life kind of activity to a business enterprise have significantly increased the demand for farm labour. In such view of things agriculture is facing acute labour shortage and the notions of surplus rural labour and zero marginal product and opportunity cost of labour have become misnomers. Its impact on agriculture can be seen in terms of reduction in crop yield, reduction in cropping intensity and changes in traditional cropping pattern. It has impacted the whole economy also by increasing the wage rates thereby high cost of cultivation which is directly reflected in higher output prices resulting in the food inflation.
Size: 984 KB
About Author / Additional Info:
PhD scholar
IARI
New Delhi