RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

emphasized yield-increasing technologies. 25 As a
result, the most successful introduction of oxen
has occurred where farmers have most widely
adopted the successful yield-increasing technologies
for export cash crops (e.g., cotton in Mali Sud
and groundnuts in Sine Saloum in Senegal).
However, this situation does not negate the
assertion that given the availability of relevant
labor-saving technologies and relevant support
systems permitting their adoption, there would be
a greater response in terms of increasing the
areas cultivated. For example, in Thailand where
animal traction is traditionally part of the farming
system, much of the increase in agricultural
incomes in the last 20 years has come from area
expansion although yields of most crops have
declined as more marginal land has been brought
into cultivation. In the northeastern part of the
country cassava, being a less labor-intensive crop
than rice and kenaf, has expanded rapidly.
Possibly, under such circumstances, breeders
have a less clear role in developing improved
technologies than agronomists and other
scientists." Work emphasizing land-intensive development/conservation,
irrigation," etc., is not
likely to be adopted by farming families, but
agronomists in conjunction with other scientists
still have a significant role to play in developing
practices that improve the productivity of labor
such as intercropping and other practices which
can help alleviate the weeding bottleneck period,
improved planting systems, minimum tillage, reducing
labor-intensive activities such as bird and
monkey scaring, etc. However, as will be discussed
later, the large distances resulting from high
land/resident ratios make it likely that market
systems, and hence access to support systems,
might not be so well developed as in more
densely populated areas. Consequently, under
25. In many cases, the presence of tree stumps in fields
has encouraged animal traction being linked with
land intensification, since the destumping operation
involves substantial investment.
26. Obviously, if breeders were to provide varieties
attuned to such a resource base, stability of yield,
resistance to diseases and pests and ability to
withstand competition from weeds would be more
important criteria than responsiveness to additions
of nitrogen fertilizer.
27. This does not however negate the possible use of
irrigation in the dry season when labor is underemployed.
such circumstances improvements that require
low dependence on the support systems are likely
to be easier for farmers to adopt. However, in
suggesting this, it is recognized that it makes it
more difficult for agricultural scientists to develop
improvements.
Variations in Land/Labor Ratios
Among Farmers in the Same Region
We have earlier suggested that inter-regional
variations in land/labor ratios tend to be large. In
the SAT they tend to be larger than intra-regional
differences. A study undertaken by Ryan and
Rathore (1978) in Indian villages showed that
factor "ownership" ratios (i.e., ratio of "owned"
land 28 to family labor) differ quite widely on large
and small farms. However, factor use ratios differ
much less among the groups although there is a
large variation within the groups. The reason for
the narrowing of the ratio is that factors such as
land and labor are exchanged in rental markets.
Ryan and Rathore (1978) suggest that current
policies aimed at improving the access of operators
of small farms to institutional credit markets
will result in even more similar factor use ratios
between small and large farms. In another study
in the same villages, Binswanger (1978) found
that both small and large farmers are moderately
risk averse. Therefore, on the basis of both factor
use ratios and risk aversion grounds, it was
concluded that little could be gained from developing
different improved technologies for small
and large farmers. Rather, emphasis has to be
placed on relatively profitable and stable technologies
for all farmers and improved accessibility of
small farmers to input support systems (i.e..
modern inputs, credit, and extension).
There are no directly comparable studies to
ascertain whether the same conclusions would
apply in countries in Africa. We would hypothesize
however that in areas of high land/labor ratios
where the amount of land cultivated is largely a
function of the size of the family labor force, factor
use ratios are not likely to differ significantly. In
areas of lower land/labor ratios, sophisticated
exchange/mobilization mechanisms for exchanging
factors appear to give way to rental markets.
28. "Owned" is placed in inverted commas since
generally in African countries individuals have usufructuary
rights to land but do not actually own the
land itself.
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