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

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programme could not make any dent. An important problem resp<strong>on</strong>sible <strong>for</strong> the<br />

slow progress <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the programmes was that the group <strong>farm</strong>ing was <strong>on</strong>e <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the<br />

many activities <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the department <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> agriculture, <strong>and</strong> agricultural labour were<br />

never taken seriously in the programme 17.<br />

More importantly, as other crops<br />

were more remunerative than paddy, <strong>farm</strong>ers did not bother about the incentives<br />

<strong>and</strong> campaigning <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> group <strong>farm</strong>ing. The study <strong>on</strong> group management with<br />

respect to paddy cultivati<strong>on</strong> by Suresh (2000) identified some <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the important<br />

problems <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> group <strong>farm</strong>ing in the state. The study covering 1330 paddy growing<br />

<strong>farm</strong>ers in Kerala found that labour related issues are the prominent <strong>on</strong>es as<br />

revealed by 24 per cent 0 f the <strong>farm</strong>ers. While 18 per cent <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the <strong>farm</strong>ers reported<br />

organisati<strong>on</strong>al problems, 27 per cent <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the <strong>farm</strong>ers had indicated high cost <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

cultivati<strong>on</strong>, including inputs as the major problem. Lack <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> government support<br />

as well as lack <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> irrigati<strong>on</strong> facilities were also prominent reas<strong>on</strong>s. Furthermore,<br />

c<strong>on</strong>solidati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> holdings as <strong>on</strong>e <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the primary objectives <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> group <strong>farm</strong>ing as<br />

well as CAD interventi<strong>on</strong> had remained as a distant dream due to lack <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> coordinati<strong>on</strong><br />

am<strong>on</strong>g the <strong>farm</strong>ers. In practice, the idea <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> group <strong>farm</strong>ing was<br />

c<strong>on</strong>fined merely to mechanical ploughing <strong>and</strong> there were no group ef<strong>for</strong>ts with<br />

respect to the important cultural operati<strong>on</strong>s, like sowing, transplanting, weeding,<br />

harvesting <strong>and</strong> the like.<br />

17 Ver<strong>on</strong> (200 I) observes that though these programmes were participatory in nature,<br />

the local people were not invited to reveal their problems or determine the area <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

acti<strong>on</strong>; instead the programmes reflected the percepti<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> policy makers, social<br />

activists <strong>and</strong> scientists.<br />

296

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