Isae aurangabad reddy1

Division of Agricultural Economics, IARI

Labour scarcity and farm mechanisation:

A cross state comparison A Amarender Reddy

Principal ScientistDivision of Agricultural Economics

Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi


Changes in rural labour markets• Prolonged stick land and labour markets• Increase in wage rates• Relative scarcity of labour across the states• Growing opportunities in non-farm employment• Multiple activities for farmers and agricultural

labourers• Growing importance of social security• Rural-urban linkages• Replacement of family labour and animal labour• Farm mechanisation


Objectives

• To assess the labour use and farm mechanisation in major crops among different states

• To assess labour productivity across the states• To examine the extent of casualisation of

labour


Methodology

• Data: Costs of cultivation scheme for the period 1997 to 2010.

• The paper analysed the trends in labour use (casual labour and family labour), machine use and labour productivity for five major crops namely, paddy, wheat, cotton, sugarcane and chickpea in the major states.






Human labour (days/ha) TE 2010

State Sugarcane Cotton Paddy Maize Wheat Chickpea Total

TN 294 140 217

Maharashtra 240 106 173

WB 154 154

AP 304 90 65 81 135

Karnataka 240 87 72 133

Orissa 132 132

Gujarat 144 54 99

UP 160 102 84 52 99

Haryana 148 98 79 38 16 76

Bihar 97 76 51 40 66

Rajasthan 82 78 60 29 62

Punjab 93 53 23 56

MP 74 71 55 40 30 54

Total 231 102 94 74 44 33 98


Growth in human labour between 1997 to 2010

State Sugarcane Cotton Paddy Maize Chickpea Wheat Total

Haryana 2.33 2.81 0.56 -5.97 -0.83 1.75

Gujarat 3.98 -2.95 1.49

Karnataka 2.15 0.15 -0.2 0.84

AP 1.06 -1.62 -6.73 0.28 0.76

Maharashtra 0.9 0.03 0.65

UP 0.47 0.09 -0.38 0.49 0.4

Orissa -0.39 0.39

WB 0.23 0.23

TN -1.35 -2.67 -0.18

Rajasthan 1.8 -1.66 -0.68 -1.5 -0.48

MP 2.53 -2.3 -0.43 -1.7 -1.7 -0.56

Punjab 1.04 -0.65 -5.27 -0.61

Bihar -1.04 -2.32 0.06 -3.34 -1.7

Total 1.68 0.43 -0.01 -0.92 -1.03 -2.5 0.39


Labour productivity (gross returns: Rs/day) TE 2010State Wheat Chickpea Sugarcane Paddy Cotton Maize Total

Punjab 2449 1382 748 1527

Haryana 1565 876 795 960 616 962

Rajasthan 881 741 629 306 639

Gujarat 755 414 585

MP 916 851 370 561 212 582

Bihar 598 830 246 520 549

AP 406 468 644 468 497

MHR 574 359 466

Karnataka 625 342 393 453

TN 521 350 435

UP 540 582 373 197 423

WB 245 245

Orissa 236 236

Total 1194 768 584 535 518 349 639


Growth in labour productivity (gross returns: Rs/day) TE 2010

State Wheat Maize Cotton Paddy Chickpea Sugarcane Total

Punjab 6.3 8.6 4.7 6.1

Bihar 4.2 8 2.2 3.4 4.4

MP 6 0.8 7.2 3.5 3.4 4.4

TN 3.1 1 3.7

AP 5 4.2 2.9 1.9 3.6

MHR 2.7 3.6 3.3

Rajasthan 3.9 3.9 1.3 3.7 3.2

Gujarat 3.7 1.8 2.9

Haryana 2.6 3.7 4.3 3.1 0.2 2.7

Orissa 2 2

UP 2.5 2.5 -0.4 2.3 1.5

Karnataka 3.2 3.5 0.4 1.4

WB -0.5 -0.5

Total 4.6 4.5 3.9 3.4 2.8 1.2 3.5


Machine labour (Rs/ha) TE 2010

State Wheat Sugarcane Paddy Cotton Chickpea Maize Total

Punjab 5507 4852 4525 4961

MHR 7134 1111 4122

Haryana 5284 1143 3824 2404 2024 2939

Gujarat 2952 1993 2473

TN 1449 3126 2300

Rajasthan 3399 1803 1576 1830 2152

Bihar 1983 3091 1564 1770 1509 2076

UP 1111 2482 2538 1756 1972

AP 1475 1894 1838 2094 1829

MP 2808 1023 663 2226 702 1488

Karnataka 1872 964 1510 1447

WB 1279 1279

Orissa 742 742

Total 3840 2386 2200 2051 1986 1610 2324


Growth in machine labour (Rs/ha) TE 2010State Maize Chickpea Cotton Paddy Wheat Sugarcane Total

WB 7.1 7.1

UP 4.93 11.31 6.07 2.75 6.58

Bihar 6.13 1.81 9.14 6.06 1.04 5.48

MP 4.75 4.22 8.44 11.19 5.25 5

AP 11.51 12.69 0.46 -4.01 4.41

MHR 4.66 4.21 4.28

Haryana 6.19 7.46 3.95 4.05 0.4 4.24

Rajasthan 13.97 3.54 3.3 1.69 3.87

TN 7.35 3.02 3.42

Punjab 3.03 2.01 4.57 3.25

Karnataka 4.64 14.53 0.46 2.96

Gujarat 2.52 3.04 2.82

Orissa Total 7.42 5.41 4.84 4.22 3.98 1.04 4.23


State Sugarcane Paddy Cotton Maize Chickpea Wheat Total

AP 75 65 66 60 70

KNK 67 68 62 66

TN 75 48 66

Bihar 66 58 75 47 61

MHRT 61 62 61

Punjab 51 55 43 52

GUJ 54 46 52

HRN 72 52 34 17 27 51

Orissa 51 51

WB 50 50

UP 43 43 30 34 39

MP 41 42 33 38 36 38

Raj. 11 14 11 17 13

TOTAL 67 52 50 43 39 35 54

Share (%) of casual labour use in human labour (TE 2010))


State Chickpea Maize Cotton Sugarcane Paddy wheat Total

HRN 9.71 9.09 6.72 4.72 3.21 6.69

MP -1.02 4.1 2.48 9.43 -1.67 3.29

WB 3.13 3.13

Punjab 4.52 2.58 -2.79 2.98

Guj 5.04 -6.44 1.94

Bihar 18.88 -2.75 -2.52 1.84 1.63

Orissa 1.49 1.49

TN -4.12 3.17 1.38

UP 11.3 4.7 -0.91 -2.71 0.44

RAJ 2.21 15.35 -10.09 -2.99 0.04

AP 3.84 -0.99 -0.57 -25.52 -3.23

MHRT 0.34 -4.85 -3.37

KNK 1.04 0.92 -6.5 -3.9

Total 11.42 2.14 1.25 -0.79 -1.64 -1.9 0

ACGR (%) of casual labour from 2005 to 2010


Conclusion • The labour use per hectare decreased mainly in

wheat, chickpea and paddy- (sugarcane and cotton)

• The farm mechanisation is speeded up to some extent replacing both human and bullock capital.

• Convergence in farm mechanisation and labour productivity, but not uniform.

• Labour productivity increased significantly, • In many states wage growth is happened, which

is overdue


Interstate & inter-crop differences

• There is also a process of casualisation in AP, Karnataka, TN, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana.

• However, in most of the crops in Orissa, WB and in some crops in UP, MP and Rajasthan still share of family labour is high with low level of farm mechanisation and less labour productivity


Labour productivity and wage rates

• The positive association among farm mechanisation, displacement of family labour and increased casualisation of labour.

• • There is huge labour productivity gap (mechanisation)

exists across the states with Punjab and Haryana at top with MP and Orissa at bottom.


Policy options

• Development of land lease markets

• Custom hiring centres under mini-mission on farm mechanisation.

• Focus on increasing labour productivity in backward regions(Orissa, MP) and crops(cotton, sugarcane).

• Although tractor is multipurpose, it cannot meet the needs of sugarcane and cotton

• Small farmer friendly, gender neutral implements - Orissa, MP, UP and Bihar


Thank You

Economy & Finance

Isae aurangabad reddy1