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VoL XXX

Editorial

No. 10
February 16-28, . 1982
Magbo 27, 1903

Hurukshelra
(India's

journal

of rural

development)

CONTENTS
4

8
14

18

OUR AGRICULTURAL FUTURE

M. S. Swaminathan

RURAL ARTISANS AND MODERN

TECHNOLOGY
S. S. Solanki

ADOPTION OF NEW FARM TECHNOLOGY~

B. S. Bangarwa, Raj Singh and R. S. [(adian]

DETERMINING

PRICES OF AGRICUL- .
TURAL COMMODITIES
B. Rumba/wadi, M. K. Narasimhan and N. S.
Vishwanath

THEY SHOW THE WAY.

EDITOR
(MRS.),RATIlA

JUNEJA

ASSTT, EDITOR
N. N.'SHARMA

SUB-EDITOR
PARAMJEET G. SINGH

COVER
!IVAN

ADAUA

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. Bosiness Manager. PobUcations Division
.
Patiala House, New DeJbl-l100oi

Te' : 387983
Editorial Office: Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi-11000!
: 384888 & .382406
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of our country in 1981 was esti.

mated to be 683 million' as agai'nst. 361 million
in 1951. In other words it nearly doubled during the
last. 30 years. A nation-wide family planning' programme has been in operation for years, and we are
intent to implement it more vigorously in the years
to come. Even if we achieve the small family nonn
set by the planners for the counry, our population is
likely to be arouud 1231 miIIiou iu 2031 A.D. This
is thc more optimistic of the two popula.tion projectio~ made by the Planning Commission,
HE

POPULATION

On the basis of per capita requirement of 225 kg.

per year, the country would then need to produce at
least 277 millio'n tonnes of foodgrains annually.
This
means doubling our present food production,
On
the .face of it, it. appears to be a gigantic task.
The instant reaetion of many to this would be that
this may not be possible to achieve.
Becanse with
the increase of population there will be greater
pressure on land; greater sub-division and fragmentation of land holdings resulting in lesser productivity.
The size of our operational land holding has already
reached';n all-time low of about one hectare in States
like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Increasing pressure
on land wilh growing population may block a greater
stumbling block in the efficient use of land in the years
to come making it iinpossible
for us- to grow enough
,
foodgrains,
Dr. M, S, Swaminathan, Member, Planning Comniission and distinguished' agricultural scientist answers
this question in '''Our Agricultural Future" "inside. He
do~s not share tIiispessimistic view.
On the c9ntrary, he feels that it should not be difficult to produce
277 millioh tonnes of foodgrajns by 2030 A.D. ".since
we are now reaping the benefit of only about 25 to
30 per cent of the production potential available even
a1 current" levels of technology".
There' are vast
. areas of the country where the agricultural potential
has yet to be tapped. As an instance he says. that
while' in punjab .foodgrain productioh increased
by
8.01 per cent per year, in Orissa growth rate has been
1.1 per cent per year,
InBihar the annual growth
rate of agric~ltural production has .been even. less
than 1. per cent. With greater utilisation of the unuti- .
. lised potential j'n areas like Bihar and Orissa, it is not
difficult to meet the increasing food needs of the
country, Dr. Swaminathan spells out in this article
. how best this can be done.

Our agricultural future

M.S.SWAMINATHAN
Member, Planning Commission, New ,Delhi

since Independence
has heIped to generate the self-confidence essential for greater' achievements. While the first 50 years'
of this century were characterised by a relative stage
. na,tion in agricultural growth, the next 30 years marked
thebegimiing of 'all era of modernisation of land
.and water-based occupations_based on the introduction
of appropriate' packages 'of technology, servil;es and'
public policies. ' The. beginning of the eighties gave
birth to a new development in pur agriculture, viz.
an increasing degree of organiS'ation of what traditionally has been an unorganised sector, Farmers
are now getting organised to agitate for issues like
fair prices, non-exploitative marketing facilities
'and
,better water
and fertilizer distribution; These are
signs of hope. , One implication of farmers' agitations
is ,that more farmers Wish to take advantage of new
tec!inology in~o]ving c'ash inputs, Under ~conditions
where land is individually owned, investment decisions
will natura.J1ybe based upon the cost, risk 'and return
structure of the farming enterprise. It is in the context of this emerging scenario, where public policies
will largely determine the direction of 'change, that we
should look at our agricultural future.
UR

AGRlCULTURAL

PROGRESS

In my view, the following five factors deserve greater

attention:
(a) The impact of population growth on the size of
the land holding as well as on land fragmentation;
(h) The social engineering aspects.of improving the
efficiency of management 01' small farms as measur~
..ed by productivity per day arid per units of land

'and water;
.Seventeenth Shri Ram Memorial Lecttlte delivered in
Now Delhi on January 16, 1982
i

(e), Diversification of labour use leading to a gradual

Withdrawal of as many landless labour fainilies as
possible from the routine operations of farming to
subsidiary occup"iions leading to increased earning
and less drudgery;
,

(d) Safeguarding the renewable nature of agricultural operations by'protecting the soil and
water
resources and conserving genetic variability in .plants
and animals; and

';.(~) Enlarging home and external trade in agficul-'

. tural commodities on lines which will protect the
interests of producers and consumers.
'
.
.
There are obviously many other factors which, also'
merit consideration
but I consider the above five
groups of factors 'as relatively more important f~om
the point of view of urgent attention.

Population growth and size of h~ldings

OPULATION

PROJECTIONS

made in the

Planning

, Commission, using two different alternatives (i.e. !

P
NRR=I by 1996 or 2010) show that in 50 years from
now ,we may have population of about 123'1 or 1375
million (Table 1). If the programmes now planned
for improving female literacy, economic emancipation
of women and for widespread voluntary adoption of
the small family norm succeed, it should be possible
to contain'the population size at 1231 million in AD
2030-31. We will then need to produce 277 million
ton"nes of foodgrains to meet a per capita requirement of 225 kg per year. It should not be difficult to
produce this quantity. of foodgr~ins, since we are now'
reaping the benefit of only about 25 to 30 per cent of
tge production potential available even at current
levels of technology.
KURUKSHETRA

February, 16, 198~

TABLE

Estimated
Year

Population
Assumptionl

of Iildia
Population.
(Million)

1981
2001
2001
2031
2031

A
B
A
B
I

683.8
940.3
1003.1
1231.7
i315 .4

Dependency
Ratio2

0'84
0.58 ,
0.67
i)'57
0.56

Assumption A : NRR~ 1 in 1996 '

Assumption B: NRR= 1 in 2010

(0-14+60)
Dependency ratio :---'o __ .~_
15-59

The age structure of our population is such that

large numbers of young people will need opportunities
for gainful employment. Currently we are a nation
consisting predominantly of young persons but the
dependency ratio will gradually decline (Table I).
In other words, we should. strive to avoid not only
famines of food, bntalso,
famines of jobs. Without,
jobs the purchasing power needed for bnying food will
not exist. Being a large country, we should also, be
prepa.red for local disasters arising from natUral calamities. Agricultural strategies should hence aim at
elevating and stabilising food production and generating
opportunities for gainful employment:

Size of operational holdings

~ populati~n re~ulting.in
increasing fragmentatIOn of holdings IS making the
size of operational units smaller and smaller. The size
~f an operational holding has now reached about one
hectare In States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Therefore, the number of families which have to make a
contribution for achieving a specific production target
is increasing. The size of the landless labour population is also growing. While in a State like Punjab,
foodgrain production' increased between 1960-61
and 1978-79 by 8.01 p'er cent per year, this growth was
only 1.19 per cent in Orissa. The annual growth rate
for total agricultural production for Punjab during thc
period 1952-53 to 1969~70 was 6.6 per cent as against
0.7 per :cent for Bihar. Minimising regional disparities
and extending the benefits of new technology. to all
classes of farmers, therefore, become areas' qf priority<
concem.-'
HE RAPID GROWTH.

Another major issue facing Us now is the whole area

of land reform and agrarian Structure. Land reform
has so far been mainly looked' at from the point of
'land ownership, land ceiling and security of tenure:
For enabling small and marginal farmers to produce
more, land reform' will have to be given an ownershiPcum-production -interpretation covering
steps which
will facilitate the
more efficient use of land. For
example, without land consolidation' and levelling, it
KURUKSHETRA

'becomes <iifficuit to m~n'age water properiy and thereby deriv~ full benefit from our investment on Irrigation. Hence land reform in our country should
include steps not .only relating to the eqUItable dIStribution of available
land resources. among all
,sections of the rural community but also measures
such as consolidation of holdings, land levelling and
soil health care which are essential for sustained agricultural productivity. Land ownership and !lind productivity should both become integral components
of the 'reform measures.
Ail important constraint under conditions of small
holdings with individual land ownership is the difficulty
of achieving a liigh level of farm management efficiency., For example, if two neighbouring
farmers
adopt totally divergent approaches in the field of pest
control, the farmer who wishes to achieve high levels
of production may have to resort to a larger number of
sprays of pesticides than' would otherwise have been
necessary. Hence a challenge to development planners and administrators dealing with small farm conditions lies in introducing suitable packages of services which can help to introduce a community/area
approach in management wherever this is necessary.
Extension strategies' should be re-oriented to promote
collect~ve endeavour among fa(mers, living in '3 watershed or ,command area in fields like water conservation
and use, plant protection and post-harvest technology.
This will call for greater efforts in the field of
soci'al engineering as applied
to the promotion
of
com~utiity action.
For C1Ptimumefficiency, a blend of cash and noncash'inputs will be necessary .. Area based services are
best provided by farmers' Own organisations supported
by.appropriate tr?ining, credit and marketing assistartce
from' Government. The organisation of community
nurseries in crops like rice where transpl~nting is done,
the introduction of rotational distribution of water in.
the command areas of irrigation piojectsso that all
farmers in the command area get equal
quantities of
water and the supply' of credit and the needed inputs
before the sowing season in properly organised creditcum-input supply village fairs are examples of the
approaches which have been found useful.
Learning from successes is equally important in programme formulation. If Punjab made striking advances in crop production after the release of dwarf
varieties of wheat and rice, this is because the. State
already possessed the substrate requirements essential
for new technology to fin.d widespread adoption. Four
of ihe major technology diffusion
substrate needs
which Punjab possessed in midsixties were : owner cu!-'
tivation, land consolidation,

rural communication

rural electrification. Roads and energy supply'

exceedingly important inputs.

and

are

February 16, 1982

5

.-

Diversification of labour use

far too m~y people are dependent for
their living on ,the routine operations of farming,
'such as ploughing, weeding, reaping, etc. This' is
particularly true of women farm labour. While immediately the only way of helping unskilled agricultural
labour surviving on daily wage status is the' enforcement of minimum wages and the extension of
the
National Rural Employment Project, we must simul,
taneously develOil'methods which will help to provide
alternative source of employment to this category of
labour. Such alternative employment will have to be
provided in the area's where they are living in order
to render unplanned migration to urban area5 unneces.sary. This, would imply a much greater attention
to :

facture of c~ment and for deeentralised

generation.

power'

T PRESENT,

(a) Post-harvest technology designed to

value-added products in the village;
.

produce

(b) Institutional devices for helping small farmers

and fishermen' like the organisation of Horticultural
Estates, Aquaculture Estates, etc. which can help to
generate additional employment and to promote'
producer-oriented marketing; and
(c) Careful assessment of the "additional opportunities available for promoting cottage and village industries.

In other words, rice-based farming systems could

become catalysts of change in' rural occupations,
Based on cariful techno-economic studies, Industrial
Estates based on rice farming could be organised in
areas where the dominant crop is rice. A similar exercise ca;' be done iIi other crops. What we noW pro:
duce is Just not 133 million tonnes of foodgrains but
about 400 million tonnes ,of total dry matter. Arc
we using the remaining 270 million tonnes of plant'
material properly? _
,The two immediate requirements for
enhancing
agricultural incomes are: first, organisation of small
farmers both for improving farm management efficiency
through community action in water and soil conservation and management" pest control and post-harvest
technology and for ensuring that the producer gets
a high' proportion of the price paid by the consumer;
secondly, a well-pla!,ned pro'gramme of diversification
of employment and income generation opportunities in
rural areas so that a part of the farm labour can get
'absorbed in the secondary and tertiary sectors. This
will call for a more detailed planning of the scientific
utilisation of local resources.

Protectin,g
renewable base of agriculture
'.
'

I would like to cite an example as to how we can

bring about a radical ch'a.ngefrom past notions. 'There
is an old saying all over Asia that "paddy and poverty
go together." This is because paddy being a basic
staple will not get II high price in contrast to commercial crops. Also paddy straw being poor in nutriti\'e
quality could not support a profitable subsidiary occupation like dairying. Today we can substitute the ,
old saying with a new one, viz. '''paddy and prosperity
go together". This is bec'ause of the following .faciors:
(i) Paddy yield can be doubled or trebled by using
improved technology;
'(ii) Paddy straw can be suitably fortified with urea
and 'molasses and made into a cODlplete food for
animals. Such fortified and chemically treated
straw could be. used in small-scale dairy enterprises
based on high yielding croSs-bred cows;
(iii) Rice bran oil can' be extracted and de-oiled
bran can be fortified and utilised as animal feed;
there is at present
large gap both between the
potential and actual qnantities of rice bran used
for oil extraction and between the quantities used
for extraction of edible grade bran' oil and the total
quantities used for oil extraction;

(iv) Solar grade silicon could be extracted from

rice husk and utilised ,for the manufacture of ,photo. voltaic cells. Also, rice husk ~an be used for manu-'
6

our agricultural future

will depend upon how fast and hew well we are
able to protect the renewable base of land and waterbased professions. Today agriculture provides 40%
,of the national income and over 70% of jobs, only at
the cost of about 10% of the total commercial energy
use. The growing threats to our agriculture arising
from deforestation, soil erosion, siltation 'of rivers and
reservoirs, salinization and other forlllS of desertification are well known. Generosion has also to be
guarded against" since it will lead to our losing the
fruits of thousands of years of natural and" human
selection. In every developmental project, we must
have a lJ1onitoring mechanism which will provide us
with continuous information both on their :positive
'and negative impact. For example, in' irrigation projects we can measure the positive impact in, terms of
additional production per units of water, land and.,
time and additional income and employment generated. There is no purpose in just giving figures on area
under irrigation, without an 'accompanying statement
'on the impact of water on productivity, intensity of
cropping, diversification of labour use and agrarian
prosperity: 'The analysis of the negative impact of
. irrigation should cover fields such 'as waterlogging,
salinization anderosicn.'
The public health aspects
should also receive equal attention, since there is
growing evidence that irrigation projects could also
lead to the spread of vector borne diseases like filaria

N THE ULTIMATE

ANALYSES,

>

KURUKSHETRA

February 16, 1982

and niabria. Other health' pioble'ms like skeletal

Buorosi;;.observed in the Nagarjuria~agar project area'
may also arise. aimate impact studies of irrigation
projects will need careful monitoring. This is why
ecological ~ecurity will have to be an integral part o'f
a national food security system.
.

Enlarging trade in agricultural

.
.
commodities

OF THE LOW SONSUMPTJON

BASE
in' the
country, we find that even small .increases or
.drops In production causes either gluts or uncomfortable shortages necessitating imports. Fall in Prices
generally harms only the producer since the extent of
drop in prices when the crops are good gionerallytends
to be higher at the level of the producer. In contrast,
retail prices have the tendency to move up. The best
fertilizer to the farmer is remunerative and assured
marketing. For marginal fart!1ers, the most profitable
form of land use will be the cultivation of vegetables,
flowers and fruits. Horticultural prooucts being perishable require greater marketing and processing.
support. This is why a Committee appointed by the
Ministry'of Agriculture recommended the establishment of a National HortlculturalBoard and the promotion of production, proces~ingand trirlrketing on cooperative lines. .
.
N ViEW

We have to increase both production and consumption. Input-{)utput pricing policies have to be tailored
to achieve this dual aim. 'When agriculture moves
forWard, more and more faroters will bave commodities to sell. Small and marginal farmers will, bowever,
have .only small quantities' for the. market.
Hence
produce-oriented marketiJJg becomes essential for ensuring them a fair return. The Rural Godown Scbeme
of the Ministry of Rural' Reconstruction was' designed'
for this purpose. . lis implementation needs improve'ment, since a national grid of rural godowns can belp
to . prevent distress' sale by' farmers and panic purchase by affiuen! COnsumers:
Unless agriculture. becomes a. commerCial activity,
rural stagnation will continue. We. need more influx
of brain and money in rural India. We should bence
capitalise upon our competitive advantages.. The Sixtb
plan pra'vid~s for tbe stepping ~p of tbe export of agricultural commodities. Security of supply, quality o'f
product and competitiveness of price will deteni:J.ine
whether we can succeed on capitalisin,g on our considerable "green power"._

HE YEAR 1982 bas been designated as a year of

--. a national productivity drive in agriculture, indus.try and infrastructural facilities like .transport, ports,
etc.
Fortunately the gap between potential and
actual producth~ty is bigb in most areaS' of economic

KURUKSHETRA Febrniu-y16, 1982

activity. .For gtvmg meaning and content to the

productivity movement, it. will be necessary to identify
the precise eonstrainis responsible for the gap.
For
example, in the ficld of irrigation where' we are wisely
making a major investment, it is essential that . the
physical engineering features of the project and agricultural development are closely linked right from the
planning stage.
Studies by the Se~ond Irrigation
Coniniission. (1972) and the National Commission on
Agriculture (1976) have shown that the following are
some of the major defiCienciesin the major' and medium irrigation projects :
Need for .modernisation of the pre-plan and early
plan systems to provide water at the outlet delivery
points to farmers at the right. time and in right,
quantity.

2
Lack of adequate drainage resulting In waterlogging
.conditions .due to excess water used in

irrigating

crops as well as due to soil factors.

, 3
The absence of a distribution ~ystem within .tbe
outlet and the non-introduction of rotational distribulion of water to the fanp.ers.

4
Inadequate attention to land consolidation, levelling
and all.other aspects which can promote a better onfarm .management' of, water.

5,
.Lack of anticipatory research on opiimum water use
particularly in black soils with considerable moisture
retention capacity.

6
Lack of suitable infrastructure' and extension service,'

7
Poor co-ordination hetween the concerned Government organisatic.ms in the .command' areas.
.If We attend to the numerous small' details in project implementation wbich contribute to enhanced productivity, we should be able to increase agricultltralproduction substantiaHy even from the already available irrigated' area, . For acbieving such improvements, the farmers of an irrigation command or watershed area and the Government departments concern"
cd should work together.
Management will. then
become a joint seetor activity. Our agriCultural futu~e
will largely depend upon bow much momentum . we
can impart to .the co-operative manage.ment of various
. stages of production and post-barvest iechnology within
the confines of an Individual land ownership system.

''1

Rural 'artisans and

nlodern technology
s. S. SOLANKI
Centre

THAN THREE
HUNDRED
YEARS
of British
colonialism in India. had a tremendous impact
upon the development process of tradition~l agriculture and industrial structures leading to the introduction of modern technology to support British commerce and industry, .Otre of the consequences of.the
British rule was the gradual elimination of traditional
crafts and craftsmen in the village society through uneqi"r1 economic competition.'
In the context of the
, rural society, development means changes' in the'socioeconomic structure in the rural areas in order to bring
. about human welfare which is the prime goal of development, and that the society is able to absorb .the
necessary changes in the field of technology. Gandhiji
wanted the developmental efforts to be concentrated
on villages. He emphasized stabilization and enrichment of the 'triiditional. way of 'life' by the use of

ORE

labour-intensive

manufactures.

The initiation of Community Development Programme (CDP) in 1952 was part 'of the' strategy of
overall development for improving -the'socio-economic
conditions of the people in the rural areas. It was a
comprehensive programme which included develop'
ment of education; housing, health, agriculture, skills
and cottage industries. The Government' of India
alSo took initiative in implementing more programrnes
by establishing institutions for uplift of the rural
people through mutual cooperation and understanding. The states were also assumed to play a cataiyThe views expressed in this paper are those of the author
and not necessarily of the organization to which he belongs.
1. Chowdhury, P. N. : Rural Development-An
Appropriate
Approach in Proceedings of the .Workshop "Gaon Ke'
Karigar Am Science," held at . Sewagram (Wardha)
organized by M. D. D., _Planning
Division,
C.S.l.R.,
New Delhi,.

November,

1978.

for Stud)' of Science,

Tech. & Dcyclopmcnt,

New Delhi

tic role in the promotion of the activities for development. The objective of these programmes was to upgrade technological skills for higher productivity and
profits, which, in turn, would lead to further improvements in- technologicaI" cap~bilities 'and living conditions and opportunities. for rural workers.' These
programmes did bring economic growth, technological
change and generate employment in the rural scene.
Unfortunately, most of the benefits of the growth have
gone to the privileged 'sections of the rural society.

Isolation of artisans
has shown a
I, gr,,,,ith sinceI95(}-51.1'here

positive rate of
has-been growth'in
all sec'tors, but agriculture has remained the most important in terms of share of national income as well
as empioyinent. Agriculture contributes abou~ 40
per cent to the Domestic Gross National Product.'
Economic growth in rural areas; has different effect' on
NDIAN ECONOMY

different classes and social categories; some gain more

and ,some .less, while few others do not get any bene,fit at all.. So far as the impact of modem science and
technology on the' improvement.of traditional crafts,is
concerned, it is negligible. From tlie point of view
of the market, the industrialisation .was on the dem,)nd
of. the privileged minorities which constitute between
15 to 20 per cent of the total population in India: and
hold the most of the economic .,arid' political pm"er.
These TI?inorities are. predominantly urban and essentially follow the cultural' habits, values and pattern, of
.the consumer society of the industrialised world. The
rest of the populatiOn, inostly rural in the country has
,

2. R~hman, A.: Science,

Technology

'

and Rural Development.

, Science Toddy, March 197? 13.(9), ~O-.ll. '

3. World Bank: World Development Report, 198.0. New
york, 1980.

KURUJ(,SHETRAFebruary

16, 1982

- ~...

"'-'-So.""'"''''''';'''"

"-6,

~remained ';ntouched by modernization:" this process

has adversely affected artisans and their work. Most
of them had no other alternative'but to'abandon their
traditional occupations as they lacked the new skills.
Consequently, the traditi'onal crafts becaine isolated
from national R&D systcm and hence the artisans
could not be integrated with the process of modernization of agriculture. The development programmes and
activities in India have also been confounded with cultural impediments which n'oed to be come .over. For
example, the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) was to demonstrate new techniques for building
of houses for .Iow income groups with the help of
district, authorities. The CBRI staff was accordingly
moved to the site but the villagers did not allow the
construction to proceed because they did not consider
the day and morith auspicious for house buildiug.' Another such example is the slow adoptiou of biogas plants
in Haryana and Punjab.G This was again due to insuffi~
cient knowledge among the farmers who were not
fully familiar with the new technology. They werc
also not traditionally trained to operate and maintain
the biogas' technology. Alternatively, the recourse to
adoptioJ) of new technology could be tilted in favour
'of village artisans who with moderate training could
'. utilize it successfully in the rural areas. Thus, the
involvcment of the artisans would have contriouted
significantly to the solution of the problems faced by
the villagers and helped in the diffusion of modern
technology in rural areas.

which reduces the iinpaci of sclence and technology

in dealing more effectively with the economic, cultural
and social probl~ms that stalk rural 'India. For
success of application of new technology in' the rural
areas, it requires not only financial support for S&T
activities but continuous links among various groups
of village society. The lacuna so far has been that
in almost all development programmes, the rural artisans were not given their due place.~ They were neglected .as irrelevant, unsophisticated and unproductiv~
workers. The present technological development has.
'broken the traditional. linkages between, tbe farmers
and artisans, the linkages that could help in the creation of more 'employment opportunities and iu the
reduction . of 'drudgery of village and agricultural
shores.' In .Japan, after the Meiji Restoration
in
1868, there was drastic socio-cconomic development
on capitalist lines. This development converted artisan production
into ,commodity production. Rural
industries expanded and many new ones. were established. In. many cases, small industries employed one
or ,two workers each, providing part-time or subsidiary
employment to peasants.' Such a development could
have also occurred in a mixed economy' if pursued
with appropriate' policies and commitmcnt. It would,
t!terefore, have been more benefitting and approprJate
if rural artisans and craftsmen were given the opportunity to adopt new technologies first and then trans'
fer them to user-groups 'in' the villages throught a
system~tised liaison with the government.

Reducing joblessness

, Place of artisans

century
T there has been an increase in the oftotalthisworkforce,

HOUGH,

a signi~cant actor and

pillar of the rural society. It was the artisan
alone who contributed 'considerably to the development of-techniques of making a bullockcart; a chaffcutter, plough, agricultural tools, pottery, etc. These
techniques emanating
from his indigenous skill. werc
.
/
duly accepted by the rural masses, because the artisan
had always, fully involvcd himself in the development
of native technologies, .He received encouragement
from fellow villagers who had confidence in him and,
his .ability to do the required job.. There is. always
the scope of enhancing his traditional skill through'
the application of modern techriology. Lack of application of new technology m rural areas is serious
HE

ART]SAN

HAS

-,

BEEN

4. Herrepa, Amilcar 0: ScicnWic" and Traditional Techno

. logies in" Developing Countries, Lecture delivered at
the Centre for the Study of Science, Technology and
Development, C.S.I.R., New Delhi, January, 1975.
5. Nayudamma, Y.":
Current Imperatives
Development; C.S.I.R., New Delhi,

for

Rural

6. Randhawa, M, S.: Inaugural address delivered at the

Seminar on "Biogas Technology," organized by Punjab
Agricultural University. at Ludhiana from Jilly 9-11,
1981.

~KURtJKSHETRA February 16, 1982

SINCE

THE

BEGINNING

yet there' is ,a definite decrease in the workforce

,engaged, in rural technologies. From, 18 per cent
of the .workforce employed in rural technologies in
1910, it reduced to 7 per cent in 19708 According to
the All India Debt and Investment Survey 1971-72,
conducted by the Reserve Bank of India" the estimated
number of rural households, in the country was
7,70,35,000 of whom 18,68,000
(Or just 2.4 per
cent)" were rural artisan households." The present
economic conditions of. the .rural artisans are awfully
bad. .Financial resources ,at their disposal are inadequate. They are found living in one or two rooin hutments which is also their working place or the workshop.
7. Gill, S. S. : Development and its Impact on Rural Artisans
Mainstream, 12th"January 1980, 18(20), 23~26.
~
8. Rahman, A.;
Qureshi, M. A.;
Solanki, S. S.;
Vashist, V. N.:
Influence of Metropolitan 'Proximity
on Skill Formation of Rural Workers---:-A case study of
Haryana Villages; Accepted for Publication in the September 1981 issue of "Man and Development".
.J
9. Nagaiya, D. :"Development Strategy for Rural Artisans,
Kurukshetra, September, 1980 23(28), 20-23.

'9

.ijthough, governmental expenditure and development programmes' have substantially increased over
. the last 30 years, the gains of developmenPhave not
reached the rural artisans .. Between 1961 and 1971,
the .number of laudlesj;jlgricultural labourers have increased froni 30 inillion to 47 million, .Simultane. ously, the number of people below the poverty line
(Rs. 30 per capita per month). has also increased by
25 per cent over the period."'.
. In Punjab, due to adverse effect of modern technology, a large number of artisans had to join the ranks
of the rural proletariat at an alarming rate, which has
doubled tbe agriculture male-workforce fro;" 93,18
per cent in 1961 to 210.85 per cent in 1971."
The BOW decay of th" traditional bounds of society
and decline in the importance of the panchayat also
compelled many Of' the artisans to inigrate to other'
pr9fessions. In the specific conditions of Haryami,
grow:thprocess of capitalist development in rural areas
has operated in a different way. Here, instead of
transforming artisans' production into commodity production, it has been allowed to disintegrate by lack 'Of
providing necessary skill to them: Under the circumstances, most of the artisalls have had to shift from
their traditional occupations to other professions for
their livelihood.

,jt

is generally assumed that .tl.'e rural artisans are

competent to meet the requirements of the rural development strategies, ignoring the .fact that there is need
to pass certain knowledge and skill to them. In vieW
of the development strategies for rural areas which
demand more skilled labour, it is essential to give due
emphasis to skill formation of rural artisans.
. One of the national aims is to give purchasing power
to the rural people by providing .them suita!)le employment after increasing productive activities in the
. villages. In this context, development and innovations
,in the traditional occupations need to be supported
on some 'priority basis. The essential cOIllPonent of
any social development programme is the development of manpower resources. In a labour . surplus
economy, there is .a tendency to adopt a complacent
attitude towards skill development, particularly in the
rural areas;
.

. A study of Haryana artisans

ABOVECONTEXT
an attempt has been made
INTHE
to asseS' the impact of technological development
. on rural artisans. In this case study of nine villages,
three came from three districts of Haryana, namely,
10. Solaokis. S. -Impact of Rural Development Programme
on Khadi Gramodyog, April 1981, 27(7),. 361- 369.
II. Ibid, 7.

10

Sonepat, Rohtak and durgaon, have been seieeted.

Stratified sampling design was employed to select the
artisan respondents in the selected villages so as to
give equal representation to different types of ~rtisa:ns.
Out of the total population of 230 households of rural
artisans, a sample of 5,6 rural artisans households was
selected with' about 24 per cent representation of the. _
artisaps in these villages.
AU these villages have primary schools and are well
connected with nearby towns through metalled roads.
The districtwise distribution of various artisans included in the sample is given ill Table 1.
TABLE 1

.District~vise Dist~ibution of Occupations in The Sample

No. of Rural Artisans in selected villages
S.

Typeo!

No.

Artisans

Sonepat

Gurgaon

Rolltak

Total

1. Carpenters

15

2. Blacksmiths

10

3. Potters

4. Weavers

5. Cobblers

6. Telis.

Total.

28

.2
9

19

,4

56

. Interviews with the respondents were held in local

language and l-he information was noted personally by
l~e investigator.
-

Educational level of rural artisans

FTER INDEPENDENCE
the

Government of India

A. provided several opportunities in rural areas for

educating the rural workers. In order to find out as
to how far this has influenced rural artisans, the educational levels of the artisans contacted during this
survey were taken note of. It was noticed that among
the respondents about 46 per cent. were literate who
. received education ranging from primary to matricuiation. About 39 per cent of them studied below matriculation and 7 per cent were matriculates. Abollt
36 per cent of the respondents received their' education at their respective..villages and only 10 per cent
of them at the nearest district town. None of them
had obtained .any techl)ical education/training. However, little less than half of the respondents, as mentioned above, were literate, is quite' an encouraging
phenomenon. This level of literacy. could have been
augmented for breaking new grounds to stimulate
technical innovation particularly in the traditional
rural artisens. It was further noted that the educaKlJRUKSHETRA February 16, 1982

tionaI facilities were not in easy reach of the ~ rural

artisans, except prill;J.(~ryeducation, These institutions
for higher 'education an,d technicaI training were
largely set up in the urban areas and thus lot of financial hardships were faced by the rural artisans who
could never think of going for training or education
that would help boost their traditional skills. The
present system of education has been successful in inspiring the rllral workers for seeking white collar jobs,
rather than'improving the traditional crafts to their
advantagc. The villages Covered in the survey presented a tcchnically backward background.

Occupational training,
TRAINING could be imparted through
formal and informal' means. The formal training
is given through specific training institutions, such/as
District Industrial Centre (DIC), Industrial Training
Institute (ITI) and ,Khadi and, Village 'Industries Commission (KVIC), etc. Informal training is mostly acquired through family' members, villagers and relations, only one respondent had, recei~ed formal training from DIC on modern farming technology. Rest
of the. rural artisans had informal training from tbeir
respective villages or nearby towns.
There was no
one Irained from ID.

I! was observed that very few traditional crafts were

included in the curriculum ,of available formal occupation'al training programmes started at the ITI, DIe,
KVIC levels. I! was also noticed that the prospective
artisans faced lot of problems at the time of admission
to these courses either due to lack of insufficient basic
educa:tion, confidence and knowledge of future prospects; Moreover, they have to compete with the
urban 'candidates seeking admission along with them,
who always score over them and grab the opportunities
for admission. Thus the purpose of occupational
training programmes has not succeeded' in fulfilling the
needs of the rural areas particularly of ,the rural
artisans ..

.Communication

CCUPATIONAL

I! was observed that the rural artisans who

had
takell informal training in village traditional crafts or
tcchnical jobs such ~s bangle-making, printing, plastic
work, electrical welding and others are working either
in the fields as agricultural labour or in nearby industries as unskilled, workers because either they had not
. been provided adequate opportunities sqitable' to their
tradilional professions or held back due to lack of
. sufficient training or funds to invest in their pr;fession.
Table 2 shows break-up of ~ormaLand inform'al occu'pational trainIng received by the rural artisans.
TABLE

Informal

Formal

Village

Vii/age

TaWil

DIe

Town

ITl

1. Modern Farming
Technology

2.. Village Traditional crafts

3. Other technical
Jobs*

35

36

Total

*Includes b~ngle-making, P~inting, Plastic work', electrical.

welding, nickle plati'ng, mason work and hand and tube-well
pump fittings.'
v.

KURUKSHETRA

to. the artisans.

could be grouped intwo categories-informal
and
formal. The informa.l sources of information
are
villagers, .family mempers, relatives, friends, visits to
nearest town and agricultural/industrial fairs. The formal sources of information are government institutions,
radio, newspaper, extension literature, television and
. functionaries for rural development. Informal sources
are integral part of Ihe socio-economic and cultural
life of the villages. These sources occupy prominent
place in the communication structure of the village life.
Every day meeting and verbal e,:changes of ideas and
knowledge among the villagers including family members 'are significant means of c;ommunication. Acquisition of information by the villagers through informal
modes was considered to be the most useful
and
authentic information.' Further, successful innovations
tbrough the, informal communication pattern can easily
be diffused in the rural set-up. Informal sources have
been mentioned by the respondents as the most effective sources of informaiion. It is significant to note
that information about 94 per cent of respondents has
becn found to have got information from these sources.

HE

SOURCE

OF

INFORMATION

OCcupational Training of Artisans

Occupational
Training

pattern

February 16, 1982

Amo~g the formal sources of information, newspaper, extension literature, radio and television, did
. not seem to have significant impact on the artisans.
Ouly 18 per cent respondents appeared to have obtained some information from these sources. Lack of
awareness for the need of new information, non-availability of time and technicaJ edu'cation appear to be
-the main reasons for the backwardness of artisan
class. Also the government institutions like. block
offices, Krishi Gyan Kendras, Co-operative Banks,
district industries centres and in~ustrial training insti tutes could' not extend much support to them. During the course of interviews, it was clear that initial
guidance which was required for technical innova- , tions was not generally made available by these insti, tutions to the artisans. The artisans' pointed, out that
the facilities of these institutions were largely made
available to resourceful and infiuential persons. Hence
II

the majority of them could not fully avltil of these

formal, sourccs of information, There !l1ay be other
unknown factors due. to which these institutions and
functionaries were not effective in the case of artisans than was expected of them at the time of their
initiation, These factors could be political, economic, cultural and informational in nature.. Each of
these factors require in-depth analysis to unfold' the
reasqlls of their ineffectivenQss.
The present institutional structure"for rural development has not triggered off the chain of technical
innovations. It is apprehended that there is an apa- '
thy and lack of efficiency on the part of government
ancl policy-makers in the development of tradition'al
crafts, which explains the present serious unemployment 'situation. in the villages.

Craft-based industrialization

HE

RESPONDENTS

have

shown much interest in

starting small scale industries based on' traditional cr~fts:'in the villages, provided they are given
financial support, technical knowledge and other facilities .for the purpose. Table 3 indicates the skills
of the respondents in which they have expressed their
~bilities 'to set up' small scale industries in' the villages.
TABLE 3

Respondents on Choice of Industries

Respondents st lis for'

Type-o! Respondents

. s~!tjng up il1d/lstri~s.

(i) . Carpentry

1. Carpenters

(ii)

2. Blacksmiths

workshop

Agro.based

industries

(iii)

Small saw.Mill

(iv)

Masonry

work

0) Agro-based industries
(Part of the modern' Agric~ltural inputs).
(ii)

3. Potters

(i)
(ii)

4. Weavers

Blacksmithy.
Pottery work
Painting

workshop

(i) . "VI/caving
,(ii) .I?rinting.'

5, Cobblers

6. Teli

12

(i)

Shoemaking.

.(ij)

Plastic work.

. (i)

Oil crusher.

on pottery.

The carpionters have shown keen interest in setting

up carpentry workshop, agro-bl!sed production units;
small saw mill and masonry work. The blacksmiths
showed their interest iiI agro-based industries and
blacksmithy. The potters wanted to improve the ace
ceptability of their products with the help of pointing
and using better quality clay, etc. Telis (Oilmen)
mainly evinced their interest. in upscaling traditional'
production by transforming into small scale factoties
if mechanically operated oil crushers, etc. are provided ,to them. Likewise the other classes of artisans
like weavers and shoe-makers wished to set up similar cottage/small scale industries if the modern means
and machinery were at their disposal. However, the
artisans who have acquired the skills by which' they
can upgrade production Iiased on traditional technologies could not do 'so due' to the following reasons :
(i) .Non-availability of financial resources to pur-,
chase new tools;, (il) the artisans were not fully aware
of the entrepreneurial and management problems involved in setting up of an.industry; (iii) Lack of marketing ability; and (iv) ,unable to de.rive much benefits from the facilities Greated for the development of
artisans undcrvariqus

programmes.

How rural artisans take to technology

UT

OF. THE TOTAL ARTISANS

CONTACTED)

only 38

O per cent were found to' have been' continued in

their .traditional occupations. Majority of them i'ere
old who were left with no other opportunity than,
sticking to their traditional work. It was observed
that among the first arid second generations of rural
artisans, i.e: of 'grand-father's and father's', 'there'
still existed stability and continuity in. their occupations bccause till then. the artisans were the sole
makes and supplies of tools, handicrafts and household goods for use in the villages. Today, the rural
scene has been continuously changing as' demand for
better quality goods and services is ,gradually increasing in the rural areas. The economic prosperity
of the farmers.has changed their consumption re. quirements. They now find the manufactured commodities of the industry cheap and better in quality
as compared to those produced by the rural artisans.
The rural artisans .who lack in modem
skills are un.
able to meet the new requirements. that are essential to keep pace with the timcs. Thus, due to dwindling demand of their traditional products many of
the artisans drifted away from their ancestral
occupations and were compelled to shift to other oc- .
'cupations in order to earn their livelihood. Out of
56 households, only 21 were engaged in their tradi- .
tional occupations.' The remaining 35 households
(62 per cent) had given up their traditional oc~upations and were now engaged . .in occupations other
than traditiOIlal occupations. Table '4 indicates the
ch.aracter of. ch~nges in the occupatIons.
!
KURUKSHETRA February, 16, .1982

.------------

--

----------------------------------

--

TABLE 4
.P_attem of Shifting. of Rural Artisans to New Occupations

,....
Caregories ofartisa#s

No. of.
Households.

Traditional H~llseholds Shifting' to new occupations

-.A-

T,:aditional Agricultural
Occupations workers

Carpenters

15

BI~cksmiths

10

3
2

IPotter

4
5

Weavers

'Cobblers

Telis .

--. --~-Tenants

3
1

19

21

The largest number of these households were en.

:gaged as agricultural labour which.is indicative of
'worsening economic conditions of the. artisans, parti-cularly the shoe-makers, weavers and telis. In order
.o( importance the second incidence of shifting of
-occupation has been towards government/private
-:service.
'j

-----,
Govt.jPvt.
Service
.1

. 1

Unskilled
workers

2.
1

56

TOTAL

Techriical
job in TOWlls

2.

other professions for them. Table 5 shows the commitment of the artisans to their professions.
About .72 per cent of the respmidents mentioned
that they did not .like their children to remain in
their traditional occupations. An overwhehning proportion of them (63 %) have shown their inclination towards government service. Only 8 per cent
of them expressed their desire for technical jobs to.
their children.

Those presently engaged in traditional .rural tech11010gieswere also thinking to gradually .follow suit.
The data collected dit! not present a single case where
a person sought employment in the industry as a .In
the case of carpenters and blacksmiths, it was
technical or a skilled worker. It was noted that some
intercsting to note that about 50 per cent of them
<categories like weavers, cobblers, telis, etc. are fast
were in favour of adopting traditional profession for
reducing in number, while carpenters, blacks.miths,
their children, but in the case of potters, weavers,
TABLE 5

P.rofessions Desired b~' Various Categories of Rural Artisans for their Children
Category of
Rural ArE/sans

S.

No.

Total
Responde!ds

CaJpen.
lers

Black~
smiths

Potters.

2
1. Car-penters

2. Blacksmiths .

3.

15
10

Potters

4. Weavers
5. Cobblers

9
9

-6. TeJis' (Oilmen)

TOTAL

56

Weavers

7
6

Cobblers
5

Telis
6

Govt.fPV1. Tech.
Service
work
7

Unable
;0 reply

2.

6
7

1
1

8
3
7

6.

pottcrs etc. have exhibited relative stability in their

ancestral profession. If this trend is allowed. to
-continue, the time is not far when there will occur a
complete transfonuation of the local artisans class.
This unhealthy change is not favourable to the -rural
masses. .
~
DESIRE of artisans for their children to remain in their- traditional professions has .been'.
considered as, an index of their satisfaction. The respondents were asked to indicate whether Ihey would
like their children to remain in the same. professions
in which they were presently engaged or prefer some

35

cobblers and telis only. 11 per cenrwanteu their ,chil-.

dren to continue ~ith their professions. However,
almost. all of them were in high state of frustration,
particnlarly. in the context of the shrinking market
of their products due \0 which they have been facing
severe economic hardships.
.

HE

KURUKSHETRA 'February 16, 1982

Conclusion.
ARTISANS have been gradually isolated frOm
the rural development programmes. It appears
that the village crafts were not given due attention
,.
(Contd. on p. 20) :-

HE

13

A Haryana study

Adoption of new
farm technology
B. S, BANGARWA, RAJ SINGH and R. S. KADIAN
Haryana Agricultural Uniycrsity, His~ar-

HE

REGION

NOW COMPRISING

HARYANA

was com-

paratively less . developed within the erstwhIle

. State of Punjab. The state was deficit in foodgrains
and had a very poor industrial growth, .Because of
all these, the per capita income of the people of
Haryana was only slightly higher, than the national
. average and its position was fifth among the states during 1965-66. The State lacked even in elementary
infrastructure for over-all development. Moreover,
area under irrigation was only 40 per 'cen( of the total
cropped area and farmers were mainly growing desi
varieties and rollowed more or less the age-old cropping
pattern. However, since its inception in November..
1966, the State made tremendous progress in almost
all walks of life leading to a phenomenal increase in
its economic status. In addition, it attained unique
distinction of achieving hundred per cent rural electrification and linking all its villages with metalled
roads. The use of high yielding variety seeds of cerea!
crops, fertilizers, and plant protection meaSUres increased considerably. The process of mechanisation
of agricnltural operations also registered phenomenal
changes. As a result of these developments, the
production' of paddy, wheat, sugarcane, total kharif
cereals, total foodgrains and all crops increased by
211, 68, 39, 70, 45' and 44 per cent respectively .in
1977-78, over. the base period of 1966-67. Taking
the same base period again, the indices of area uuder
,crops, net area sown, cropping intensity. yield, productivity and agricultural pr')duction in 1977-78 increased to 117, 107, 109,112, 136 and 144 per cent
respectively. Because of these, per capita income of
Raryana ,increased to Rs. 1776 and attained second
position in the country only next to Punjab.

Nq'

DOUBT TIll? "STATE HAS madf? tremendous pro~.

gress, however, it has to accelerate and consolidate the process of its development for maintaining th",
teinpo of progress in the light of high population
growth. SpeCiallywhen most of th" cultivable land 1S
already under the plough, hence, scope for augment_.
ing the availability of land is almost ruled out. Therefore, the scope for enhancing production in agrieulinre'
lies in providing for more irrigation facilities and mak~
ing. farmers of all farm size group~ r~ady to adopt ncw
farm .technology. Here an attempt is being made to
.understand the scope for enhancing agricultural production by examining the nature and exte'nt of farm
technology adopted by farmers under different farm
size groups and to cgrrelate the average yield obtained
under such farm size '. groups. Reddy and Reddy.
(1972) found that the size of the farm was positively
related to the adoption of farni practices., The view
was a!so shared by Madalia and Rajwadi (1976).
Sachchidananda (1972) observed that a number of
new seeds and fertilizers were not adopted due to lack
of irrigation and poor finance. Muthiah et a!. (1978)
concluded that the different farm size groups adopted
recommended practices irrespective of their .different
sizes. Aggarwal (1980) found that the large farm size
was negatively related to crop yield because of greater
sUp'ervision constraints and the agro-dimatic conditions
and irrigation facilities positively related with farm.
yield. Singh (1981) observed that the level of fertilizer

14

KURUKSHETRA February 16, 1982

cblisumption and adoption of high yieiding variety

seeds was positively related with assured irrigation
facilities.

Methodology
was conducted ..in
rural Haryana. Keeping in mind the agro-climatic considerations, the State was divided into three
zones: Zone I consisting of Ambala.
Ku~ukshetra,
, Karnal and Sonepa! districts has more assmed irrigatio'n' and fertile land. In contrast :to ihis zone, areas
comprisinj!; of Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon and'
Faridabad having relatively less irrigation facilities and
,sandy soils could be characterised as dry farming
(Zone' II). In between these two Z<'ineslies Sirsa,
Hissar, Jind and Rohtak districts forming the Zone III
which is superior'to south-western districts of the dry
fanning zone but inferior to agriculturally advanced
north-western zone depicting the intermediate situation
between the two contrasting zones. To represent the
three broad agre-c1imatic regions' of the State, Baawal,
Jind and.Karnal. Tehsils were selected 'purposively
from Mahendrag-arh, Jind and Karnal districts, respec, lively. From each Tehsil, one cluster of fom contigu.ous villages was selected. A list of farmers in ascending order of their holding sizes was prepared for each
cluster of 'four selected villages. These farmers were
categorised into small, medium and large farm size
groups. For determining the range of holding falling
, into small, medium and large farm groups, the farmers
from the top of the list accounting for one-third of the
total cultivated area of the sample vill~ges were termed
as small farmers. Farmers from the middle of the list

HE

PRESENT

SAMPLE

STUDY

TABLE 1 :

s.~No.

as

sharing next one-third of the 10tai area were iermed

the medium farmers, and the farmers from the bollom
of the list accounting for the remaining one-third of
the area were ter~ed as large far~mers. 'Hence
in Mahendragarh
tares and abgve-

1. Land Improvement
2. Tubewell

.17

4"

12

5. Improved seeds purchased

Rabi .

4
4

Kharif
6. Fertilizers
Rabi

4, Thresher

Kharif

18
19

19

17

19

7. Insecticides/pesticides
Rabi .
Kharif

13
7

Tolal

11
(18),
26
(43)
1
(2)
14
(23)
3S

(58)
30 '
(50)
41
(68)
25
(41)
1
(2)

into

small, medium and large farm size groups ~ere selected

,randomly. In this way, one hundred and eighty farmers were selected as respo"ndents for the present
study, The number of farmers of va~ious size-groups

selected from the sample villages was in probability

. proportional. to the number Qf farmers in each size
group. These r~spondents were interviewed with the

help of a structural schedule, for collecting primary

data in the year 1979-80. Data thns collected was
converted into tabular form and percentages were calculated for drawing infere'nce_s,

W farm

Results and discussion

THE NATURE
of adoption of
technology mechanization-eum-qualitative
improvement of farms and the use of farm inputs like
seeds. fertilizers and plant protection measures were
.studied. Table 1 details the adoption of farm technology by respondents belonging to different farm size
groups and 'representing all the three agro-c1imatic
and soil zo'nes of Haryana.
'
~
HlLE

MEASURING

Medium

3. Tractor

were categorised

Adoption of Farm Technology by Farmers

Telihn%gylFarmers
J

3.20 hectares

small, medium, and large farm groups respectively.

Howevcr, in case of lind and Karnal districts the size
,of operational holding of the small, u',edium ;nd large
farm group was fonnd to be below 2.40 heel ares 2.40
to 4.80' hectares and above 4.80 hectares, respec'lively.
From eacheluster 60 farmers, i.e. 20 each from the

Small
K

district" farmers with size of opera-

tiona; holding below 1,6 hectares, 1.60 to 3.20 hec-

J,

Large
M . Tolal

20

12

19

51
(85)
7
(12)

2.

20
4

14
(23)

20
(33)

19

12

35
(58)

19

12

35
(58)

20

18

20

14

2
, (3)

18

56 '
, (93)
35
(58)
3
(5)

11

11
(18)

Figures in parenthesis denote percentages ..

K=Kamal. J=Jind. M=Mahendragarh ..

KURUKSHETRA

February 16, 1982

15

A,'

Table" i reveals that respondents repre

sonting ,different farm size groups did adopt all
the above aspects of farm technology when seen in
totality, Furthermore the adoption of technologies like
tubewell, tractor, thresher, improved seed purchases,
fertilizers and plant protection measures increased with

prosperity and Intensive cuitivation in Zone 1. Respondents representing Zone -II'purch~sed more improved seeds in larger number under different farlh size
groups followed by those representing Zone III and
Zone 1. II is probably due to the fact that reSpondents representing zone I need not purchase
, improved seeds because most respondents were already
having most kharif and rabi season crops under
improved seeds. Fertilizer consumption in Zone I
covering all farm size groups was more compared to
.Jhose in Zone II in case' of kharif crops and among

NALYSIS ~F

the increase

in farm size.

However,

in case

of

land improvement, medium size 'group respondents ex,celled both the categories represented by large and
small farm size groups. Reddy and Reddy (1972)
and Mildalia and Rajwadi (1976) also found positive
relationship between adoption of improved farm practices and size of farms. However, intra-zOIi.e comparison of the technology adopted by the respondents
indicates the following trends; Iu case of land improvements, respondents representing all the farm size
groups in Zone II excelled in its adoption folJowedby
the respondents belonging to the Zone III and Zone 1.
The probable reason for this situation may be
the,

small farmers, however,

agro-climatic conditions and assured irrigation in Zone.

I, however, in Zone 11 and Zone III these conditions

warrant the use of this technology. In case cif tubewells inst'allation farmers belonging to all farm 'size
groups representing Zone I: variation in number was

almost negligible indicating the need felt by farmers

for assured irrigation.

However,

in case of Zone II

and III',and among different farm size groups marked

. distinction in its installation were noticed. Respondents
in Zone III representing medium and large size farm

Wheat

1046 ,

Bajra

Paddy
Cotton
~arley

Av.

556
K=Karnal,

J =Jind,

Gram

810
106
120

1672
71

Overall analysis of Table 2 reveals that the average

yield obtained by medium size farms was maximum
followed by small and large farm size groups indicae
ting the optimum size of land holding for attaining
maximum 'output per unit of land under medium size

groups i.e. 1.60 to 3.20 hectares in Zone I arid II

and 2.40 to 4.-80 hectares in' Zone III. Aggarwal
(1980) also found that farm size was negatively related to yield. The findings suggest that the medium'
16

reported

ABLE 2 El.ABORATES'THE
AVERAGE YIEl.D obtained
',by farmers r~resenting different zones and. farm
size groups in respect of major crops like wheat, bajra,
gram, paddy, c'otton and barley.

-------------

842
106 '
120
1672
71
556

671
107

farmers 'of Haryana,Muthiah

et 31.(1978)
partial adoption of thesc technologies .

Large

Small
K

crops all fa,rm' size

in other zones, indicating its -poor dissimination among

groups installed more lubewells compared to those

represcnting Zone II indicating the percolation of this
technology in zOne III. Respcndents representing alI
. farm sizc groups and falling under Zone J purchased
threshers more or less uniformly but in case of zo.neII and III farmcrs belonging to large farm size groUJP
adopted these in larger numbers. -' It reflects
the

Se.fected crops

in rabi

groups farmers used fertilizers substantially. Siinilarly,

in case of Zone-III farmers represenl;ng to medium
and I'argc farm size groups also used .chemical fertilizers exlensively in rabi crops whereas Ihose representing small farm size group used vcry little. In kharif
crops farmers representing Zone III and all farm size'
groups used minimum chemical fertilizers. Poot irri,gation facilities lead to its low consumption in Zone,
III followed by Z{)neII and under all farm size groups.
Sachchidananda (l97;!) and Singh (1981) also noticed
similar trends in fertilizer consumption.
Plant protection meas.ures were practised by a few' farmers representing different farm size groups under
all, the
Ihree Zones and specially in rabi crops. However,
in case oi kharif crops, farmers of Zone II and repre-'
senting medium and large' farm size groups
used
comparatively more plant protection measures, th~m

893

Av.

959
256
220

8
662,
108
100

1620
213
534
M =Mahendragarh,

838
182
160
1620
213
534

10

II

12

819
182
128
465
260

996'

1552

408
80
140

420

Av.

13
741
131
134
1008
260
420

Av. _Average.

size farmers were solely dependent on la,nd holdings

for livelihood because they 'could ljeherate cnough
output to sustain their, families whereas lhe sm-all size
holders could not obtain the required (mtput hence.
looked for other sources for employil1ent/earning to
sustain their fawlies. On the othcr' hand large farmers
could
not oblain maximum 'output per unit area
because of management problems and lack of inten'sive
culti"vation per unit area a~.compared to medium and

,KURUKSBETRA

February 16, 1982

small farmers. The analysis of avei'age yield of different crops and under different zones indicate the following trends: Small farmers in Zone I obtained maximum average yield in case of wheat and paddy followed by medium and large farmers. In Zime II, farmers
representing medium; large and small farm size groups
obtained maximum average yield .in case of wheat
whereas in ZOne III small farmers excelled' in obtaining'
maximum yield of wheat followed by medium and
large farmers.
AggarWal (i 980) reported the detrimental role played by agro-cliinatic and 'irrigation
facilities in affecting the yield per unit area. In
case of Bajra, farmers representing Zone II and of
medium size group obtained. maximum av.erage
yield followed by la.rgeand small farmers whereas
in case of Zime III, those representing medium size'
group obtained maximum yield followed by small and
large size groups.- Farmers representing Zone II and
belonging to large farm size group, obtained maximum'
yield of cotton followed by those representing medium
and small farm size groups. In case of'Barley; farmers
representing Zone III and small farm'size group .obtained maximum average yield followed by medium
"'td Iarge' farm size groups.
'

Implication
ASEDUPONFACTSPRESENTEDABOVEthe 'following
implications emerge which need immediate attention of the policy planners, extension agencies and
farm administrators to recast their programmes to'
attain maximum output per .unit area.

1
It was noticed tliat the exteDt of adoption or' farm
technology by small farmers was comparatively less
than the medium and large farmers but their pro-'
'portion among the total," operational holding in'
Haryana, is on the "increase (Statistical Abstracts of
,Haryana, 1979-80).
Therefore, it is emphasised. that
programmes 'and' pOlicies relating to, agricultural development must be directed to enhance' the adoption of
appropriate technologies like improved seeds;fertilizers
an9- plant protection'. measures,
towards small. and .
,medium farmers. The prerequisite for the adoption,

of these .technologies, the provision of assured irrigation,

facilities, hence, .need not be o'';erlookcd in enhanCing
-rural development.

2
The fear expresscd in the earlier times by mallY
authors that small, and medium farmers are not very
innovative in' the -adoption of m~dern technology,
stands dispelled, '. They adopted iechnologies which
were economical and culturally compatible to their
size of land holding and within their financial capabi.lities. Hence they must. be attended properly by the
developmental agencies while ,disseminating information and innovations.-

3
Finally, the average yield obtained by medium size
farm groups, was relatively better than those obtained
by large and small farm size respondents,' indicating ,
medium size" of landholding as an 'optimum
farm
size group. Therefore, it is advoc-ated that in order
to. attain max~mum output pc"r unit cultivated -area,
the practice of .large and small farm sizes should
be discouraged lJy enacting appropriate legislation.
REFERENCES
Aggarwal, B. 1980. Effects of Agricultural Mechanization on
Crop Output (A study of the operationwise effects for
. high yielding variety wheat in 'Punjab).
Indian Eco~lOmic
Rel'ieW'(l)
: 21.
Madalia, V. K. and,Rajwadi,
R. V. 1976. Adoption
cultural Innovations.
Kurukshetra, 24: 9.

of Agri

Muthiah, G. BeruJ!lal"and Somasunderam, S. 1978. Influence

of Periptatetic Training Programme on the Adoption of
" Recommended "Farm 'Practices, Indian, Journal of Extension Education, 'XIV,. June, 1978.
Reddy, K." G.
.and~ Rddy,
G. B.. 1972. Adoption of
Improved
Agricultural
Practices
in Andhra Pradesh.
Indian Journal of Extension Edit., V.HI (1- 2) : 17-:-,20.
Sachchidananda
1972.
Development.

Social

Dimensions

in

Agricultural

Singh, D. 1981.. Imbalances in Agricultural Growth.

Journal of Agrk.ultflral _Ero"nomics, Jan-March
XXXVI.
.,

Indian
19?J.

Statistical Abstracts of Hdryana, \1978.79 and 1979-~O. 'Department of Statist~cs, Government of Haryana .

,A SMALL FAMILY IS A'HAPPYFAMILY

\ ....

"i

KURUKSHETRA

February 16, 1982

...

Determining prices of
agricultural commodities
B. HUMBARWADI,
Kamataka

M. K. NARASIMHAN
State -Agricultural

T IS SAID THAT WHIL~

De-termination of prices for agricuftural commodities is another complex problem and needs to be exa~ined. A scientific'and objective method of determining the prices should be evolved so that it. will have
rclevant policy implications to be implemented by the
executing authority. The Agricultural Prices Commission listed various criteria for determining the procure-

ment price for the selected commodities. The much

debated. criteria ~re cost of. 'Cultivation and the
principle of parity.
This paper is based on the parity . principle with
special reference to the selected commodities .in Kar-
nataka.
Parity price indices will be computed usually for
(i) inter-commodity, (ii) input and outpui prices,.
(iii) for prices rcceived for output sold and prices
paid by farmers for inputs as well as consumption
goods, and (iv) parity between prices for industrial
raw 'materials and finished goods, 'and lastly intersectoral price parity. The question still remains as to
how parity prinCiple should be considered as a policy
decision mald_nginstrument

I.

:,r~.

.....

18

Marketing

Board,

Bangalore

. Objectives

determining the agricultural

prices, cost of cultivatiOn, trends m free market
I
.T
prices: inter crop price balance and rate of inflation
have to be examined with careful attention, Economic
theories suggest that- unde-r ceteris paribusj the behaviour of economic variables could be seen through a
two.dimensional model, with many forces and factors
acting upon to get a particular result The question
remains that how to include these in the form of il
model? Even lack of statistical data on many variables and also the limitations curtail the use of it

and N. S. VISHWAt'lATH

HE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF the present paper are to

.examine the behaviour of parity indices of price
.received 'by the farmers- for the output sold to the
price paid 'l;>ythe farmers for buying the consumer
goods and needed input~ and the behaviour of intercrop price parity indices for the selected .five crops in
Kamataka: .
.

Methodology
is based, on the secondary data
collected for the period 1'}71 to 197'}. The data are
collected maiuly from two sources: (i) Bureau of Economics and Statistics,. Kamataka, Bangalore anil (ii)
The Research Wing, Kamataka State Agricl)l!ural
Marketing Board, Bangalore. The data on con,sumer
price index were collected from the Bureau of Economics and Statistics and data regarding whOlesale
market prices were collected from the Research Wing
of the Kamataka State Agricultural Marketing Board.

HE PRESENT STUDY

The c6mmodities selected for the sfudy are: (1.)

Paddy, (2) Ragi, (3) Jowar, (4). oTdnndnut and (5)
Cotton. The total cropped acreage under these commodities constitute about 65 per cent' ot'total
net
area sown in the State.
The yearly market prices are the weighted average
montWy modal prices prevailed in the correspOnding
markets in the State-for the' selected commo.dilies,
with. monthly arrivals as weights.
The competing crops in the State are of ihe
following combinations, Paddy'"Gtoundnut, PaddyCotton, Jowar-Gronndmit, Jowar-Cotton, Jowar~Ragi,
1. Based on average figure during i977-78, Karnatttka at a
Glance published by the Director, Bureau of Economies and
Statistics. BangaIore.

. KURUKSIIETRA February 16,1982

Ragi-Grou'ndnut and Groundnut Cotton. The .above

combinalions are based on the experience that are in
.'Practice in irrigated' areas for some combinations and
also in rain-fed areas for so~e other combinations;
Computation of Parity Price Index:'

pij

-100

;-1,2,
j-l,2,

5
,',9

Where Plj =Parity Price for the Ith ,commodity in the jill:
year.
pij=Market Price Index for the ith commodity
pci=Index

of ConSumer Price Index

.Lim~tations
whoiesaie nlarket prices repreIsent actual .price received
tiy farmers as' "Market
T IS ASSUMED

The paiity of price received for a particuiar commodity by the farmer. to the price paid by him have
been worked out as:
Pij-

. pdce mdex or another commodity ror the same period

expressed in percentage form,

in the

jth

year.

The inter-crop price parity have'been WOrkedout

as the' ratio of the ptice index of a commodity to the'

TH~t

prices for most of the agricultural conimodities are

currently aboVe the minimum support price fixed by
the Government", and consumer pnce)ndicatc5 prices
paid by him for buying consumer goods. and other
'inputs, The conswner prices in the aggregate are
assumed to have least averaging effect, and we assume
that this is true for each selected commodity. To test
the hypothesis for significance fixed effects model is
. assumed,
The data computed on the methodology are present.
"d in Tables i and 2.
.

Table 1 : Parity indices for the Pri~es received. for the CommOdity
Commodity.

Year

--Paddy

1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1971 .
.1978 '
1979

A.

to tbe .Price paid

.Jowar

Groundnut

115
.117
115
101
110
101
93
89
78

111
109
117
112
117
93
92
89
76

102
101
82
127
135
90
107
83
73

i03
91
119
120
104
75
111
97
. 83

1 reveals that the price

paid over the years for paddy, jowar, ragi
,and groundnut has wide range 011 the lower side',
to that of cotton, . This is because though the variety. 'wise prices of cotton have regislered wide gap the
PERUSAL

Rag;

OF TABLE

CottOIl,

6
121
99
95
99
.90
>86
95
113
112

weighted average price' taken care of balancing the

gap to little extent. This wide disparity is due to the.
sudden. crashing down in. the prices of paddy, jowar,
rag; and groundnut during 1978 and 1979. Whereas
the growers of cottOIl had advantage during. this
period..

. Table 2 : Inter-crop parity indices of prices'

1971
.1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
. 1978
1979

Parity Between

------

Year

<

.
'

"

~OTE

P-l?a~dy. J-Jowar,

------

P&G

P&C

J&G

J&C

J&R

R&G

,89'
78
104
119
95
75 .
120
109
106

'lOS
~4
83
98
83
85
102
126
144

97
84
102
.107
90
81
121
110
109

110
91
82
88
78
92
103
i28
148

92
93
70
113
116
96
,116
94
97

101
90
146
94
71
84
104
117
113

R-ragi,.

2. The aggregate base-method has b(:cn adopted 'to work.

out any index required for complItuiioll.

KURUKSHETRA February 16, 1982

G!.-groundnut

G&C
118
'108
118
83
86
14
85
116
135

and C-cotton (Kapas).

3. M. L. Dalltwala, "Agr.icultural Price Policy" Economic

Times, Febcmlry, 7th, 1981.

19

it could be seen froni a perusal of Tabie-2 that

there is a wide disparity between paddy and groundnut, jowar and cotton, ragi and groundnut on the
lower side, and the disparity betweeu paddy and cotton, jowar arid callan and groundnut and cotton are
'wildein the upper side.

Research findings
Fiom the analysis, the following conclusion' are
drawn !

,1
There is no significant difference in the ' aggregate
of all the five commodities price parity between price
paid and price received over the years.

2
There is no significant difference in the parity indices for price paid Jo the price received in the aggregate period for the commodities. '

J
There is no significant difference in the aggregate
",f inter-crop ,price parity computed between the seven
combinations.

4
there is a definite significant difference in th" inter~
crop price parity over the aggregate period b"Otweeri
different combinations of competing crops,
that has existed betTHusweenTHEtheWIDEDISPARITY
different crop, combinations over ,the
years "is a serious problem to be discussed. The dis10rtions in the supply and demand conditions and even
the rate of inflation could be valid reasons for such a
behaviour. The policy-makers should evolve a scienti'fie method in price support schemes at least fot the
'important. crops which should not give room to imbalance in agricultural prices. This is because the
land holdings'in most of the farming population' can
be used only to cultivate one or two important 'crops.
!whereas they cannot use their laild apportioned for
cultivating the important crops to have balanced
, income. It is better, in various policies on prices of
agricultural commodities that the, inter-erop parity
should be considered to strengthen the purchasing
power of the poor agricultural sections and balancing
the ~nomic situation .
,

.(Contd. from p. 13)

and largely remained outside the ambit of the technical training programmes initiated by the govem- '
ment. As a result of this neglect, the village artisans
became either unemployed or under-employed and
shifted to other occupations, More significantly, 72
per cenL of them wanted their children to seek govern~ent jobs to ensure regular income aDd status.
There was a widespread disenchantment with their
,age-old professions, There is no doubt that there is
scope' for improvement in their skills through proper
training, education and involvement in new. technology to retain them in their ancestoral professions. '

leadership of responsible persons having some

background in social work, preferably froin
amongst themselves. This leadership should get
them together for a unified ~ffort to claim and
avail benefits from various development programmes of the' government;
.

2
,Facilities for technical education and training
should be made available to the artisans group,s
by considering 'them as weaker sections of the
society.
"

Fellow ,.magers, family members and visits to the

nearest town have been the main informal sources of
information in matter of getting new ideas about products and processes. Mass media has not been' a
significant source of information for the artisans. The
economi~ incentives and technical assistance from
government institutions were not easily accessible to
them, These facilities were available to those who were
econonrically better off or politically influential.

[ " Suggestions
.

OLLOWINGACTIONS
are suggested to improve the
economic conditions of the artisans.

I,

1
Artisans from cluster of at least 10 villages
should form professional associations under the
20

3
Schemes for providing subsidies to the artisans
to enable them to upgrade production to the
level, of small-scale industries should be worked
out and implemented. Under these schemes,
tools, machinery; raw materials, etc, should be
provided to them with some guidance in management, etc.
..

4
Efforts to impart theoreticaljacadentic knowledge
"
through mass media be intensified to the artisans
so that they are able to push up their' productive potentialities.
KURUKSHETRA February 16, 1982
'.

,.------------

They show' ~heway

. . This feature is based on success stories viz. achievements gained in various

spheres of rural development by farmers, institutions, experiments and individuals. There is hardly an argument over the fact th'at dedication and zeal to
. pllt in hard work can achieve anything .. And one achievement inspires and shows
the way to others!
We' hope our esteemed readers will send us their own experiences in the
. field so that others can' benefit by them 'to usher in a beuer life for our rural
people. (Editor)

Success story of a group of harijans

SUCCESS STORY of a group of Rarijans of
Badurbam;n Baaii in Calcutta is not an ordinary
one. Noris it the story of a group of people belong'ing to the comparatively privileged classes. This story
covers the diffident illiterate poor Rarijan cobblers.
Until recently, they could not think of uniting themselves into an organisation for the purpose of borrowing money from any bank for their trade,
HE

Today with the loan received from Bank of.Baroda, ..

through their Association, they are not only selfconfident, self-sufficient cobblers but they have generated employment for a large number of unemployed
Rarijan youth-l0 to 12 helping hands per cobblertrader united in the Association, Not only that. They
have liberated themselves completely from the. iron
'grip of private usurers and money-lenders.,. They are
'determined to eliminate even the middlemen (operators
between them and the show c~mpanies in the market)
who are fleecing them by paying much less than their
due and, at the same time, exploiting the. consumers
by inflating the price of shoes and oth~r leat?er goods
in the market.
They have not only made themselves as finanCially.
better off but are also making all-out efforts to ensure
.'" better and hygienic life. They are trying to build up
better roads and transport facilities willi a view to
reaching the market in a quicker and more efficient

Running Bullet-' A Jural club'

BE "Running Bullet" at Kaliaganj in West Dinaj" pur'District (W.B.) -isa Club with a difference. For
the last one decade it has established itself in the area
as a social and cultural institution dedicated to public
welfare. . It organises free eye operation camps every
year to help poor people; each time nearly 100 .catarad
cases are operated upon by eye specialists and expert
'Surgeons. Polio vaccine, triple exygen, douqle antigin
etc. are given free of cost to children of needy families.
During 1981 nearly 550 children have benefited. The
club with 100 members also helps the health "authorities

in famjly welfare programmes, and sanitation activities

'in villages. It always extends cooperation to all

'government programmes.
Apart from library activities, the Running Bullet
organises various sports such as football, volleyball,
kabaddi for the local youth in cooperation with youth
"
welfare offiCials. The village primary
school is also
accommodated in the club building which was con.structed on self-help basis. Shri Niranjan Chakraborty,
and Niranjan Kumar Saha of this club are very active'
soCialworkers. The club is quite popular in the area
for its variou's welfare activities. It is actually .functioning as .a centre of social education and public
entertainment:

manner.

-K. Chaudhuri
-FPO(FW), Calcutta
KURUKSHETRA February 16, 1982

-M. Islam
Field Publicity Officer, Siliguri
21

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KURUKSHETRA

February 16, 1982

,
I

-"-. ..

Kitchen gardening .

<".

Licenced 'under U(D)-S4",liJ post without

ent at Civil Lines:
'Office. Delhi).

p~s;

Regd. No. D(DN);39

prepay-

RN7G2'5T

.:: .. :~j~~-_;. -~~~~~\.".J"~:,.

'>.j ';"

, .~_.~
11&.

".to.".

~,'.,

Fresh vegdabks add lot

of charm to OU!" daily diet

"I

Crowing vegetables ill the hom.e gatc/t'll is (/ vilal serviu:, Gnd lu!althy rer;f(!otioJl TO the
mind. It
an ideal way of getting fresh vegetables.
Besitles, green leafy wlgetables and
fruits are indispensable for a health.v__hlilwlced .diet. Vegetables growll
in one's 011'11 home
with one's own labour have a special 'Vppea/-to the [Jalate. Eren when the supply becomes
Scarce due to low production or supp y, the)' serl'e a good pi/fpase.

is

Kitchen
gardening

Kitchell

g(;rd('llillK

is

en!)' a profitable pastime

dcIightful

hobby

~V;th good planting and care and httle illl'estmcnt,

llutrill"ous vegetables for tftC'family throughout the year.

not
bUf

{/

tou.

l"U3:"ISHEO

BY THE

DIRECTOR,

PU;:;UCATIONS

DIVISION,

NEW

DCLHI-tIOOOl

there Il'il/ be plenty of fresh