economics of on-farm development - Institute for Social and ...

depend on the MCS (even if it is functioning properly), they tend to spoil the
system or some times do not allow the system to be laid out through their tiny
plots. In such cases. the pipeline system needs to be laid out in a roundabout
way. which would add to the cost enormously.
Table 6.26: Cropping pattern in the Kallada study area
Crops Area (acres) Share(%)
Paddy 50.72 10.99
Coconut & coconut mixed 98.49 21.34
Cashew 9.88 2.14
Rubber 148.34 32.14
Arecanul 8.22 1.78
Tapioca 46.43 10.06
Vegetable (pulses, etc) 64.66 14.0 I
Banana & plantain 34.80 7.54
Total area 461.55 100.00
As mentioned earlier. investment in OFD by the fanners depends upon
adequate and assured supply <strong>of</strong> water. It is obvious that availability <strong>of</strong> water in
the head reaches will be relatively more abundant. Therefore. farmers in the head
reaches tend to take up OFD works on a larger scale. However. the cost <strong>of</strong> land
levelling depends upon several factors, such as type <strong>of</strong> soil. topography, skilled
labour availability and so on. On an average. farmers have spent about Rs. 1200
per acre on OFD. This expenditure seems to be neutral to the location <strong>of</strong> the plot.
Because. as observed from the data presented in table 6.27. there is marginal
variation in the expenditure on OFD across the locations. For instance, it is Rs.
1184 per acre in the head reach plots, followed by Rs. 1198 in the middle and Rs.
11 S6 in the tail reaches. Across the different size classes <strong>of</strong> holdings, the average
expenditure incurred hy the farmers in the 2 to 4 acre size class is high especially
in the tail reaches at Rs. 4260 as against Rs. 3879 in the head reaches and Rs.
263