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

arter terms <strong>of</strong> trade as the wages equivalent quantity <strong>of</strong> paddy has substantially
increased from 6.25 kg. in 1983 to i 7.93 kg. in 1998. While the price <strong>of</strong> paddy
registered only three- fold increase. the wages increased by about 8-9 fold. If
wage payment were to be made in kind as widely practiced in the good old days,
it is interesting to note that the wage equivalent quantity <strong>of</strong> paddy required to
engage one male labourer was 6.25 kg. in 1983. which has increased almost three
times to 17.93 kg. in 1998. In the case <strong>of</strong> female labourer. there was three times
increase from 4.34 kg. to 11.39 kg. during the period under reference.
This brings out very interesting dynamics <strong>of</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> costineffective
paddy cultivation in the state. An analysis <strong>of</strong> the trends in output
prices and factor prices (male and female agricultural wages) using the semilogarithmic
function has indicated that the wage increase has been higher than
that <strong>of</strong> rise in output prices. When the price <strong>of</strong> paddy increased by ahout 8 per
cent. the male wage rates increased by 11.83 per cent and female wages by
almost 13 per cent. Thus, the rise in factor prices has increased by almost two
times than the product prices in the case <strong>of</strong> paddy. In view <strong>of</strong> this, the purchasing
power <strong>of</strong> paddy has drastically declined in the respect <strong>of</strong> all the crops.
The important socio-economic factors adversely affecting farming
operations in general and irrigation water use for agriculture in particular are: (i)
lack <strong>of</strong> interest in labour intensive farming operations, (ii) relegation <strong>of</strong> the status
<strong>of</strong> farming into a secondary activity. and (iii) sociological factors. The
constraints posed by large-scale marginalisation <strong>of</strong> operational holdings coupled
with non-availability <strong>of</strong> labour even at higher wage rates and declining prices <strong>of</strong>
food crops, especially. paddy, precluded the farmers from undertaking highly
358