Chapter-I: Introduction and Review of Literature
1.7: Research Problem and Objectives
Central Electricity Authority, New Delhi). Only about half of the paddy cultivation in Assam is using HYV seeds, with very little change observed over the last two decades.
Contrary to peasant agriculture, capitalist agriculture is found in tea estates which were mostly owned by Kolkata based planters or corporate leaders of the country who were alleged to exercise exploitation for appropriation of surplus value. In rubber plantation of Assam some sort of capitalist mode of production and some society formed cultivation is developing which is yet to evaluate its performance. Thus, notwithstanding such factors, it may be worthwhile to examine whether the existing agrarian structure and relations in the state is conducive to agricultural development through the utilization of potentiality of agricultural land in terms of crop productivity (Saikia, 2014).
In the literature review section we discussed different research work and secondary data pertaining to Indian and Assam agriculture to compare the status of Assam agriculture with rest of India. This would help to frame the basis of present research work.
Growth rate of agricultural production in Assam has been going down in the last couple of decades like the rest of the country. Productivity in many crops in the state is less than agriculturally advanced states as well as national average. Input use in Assam agriculture is much less than in many other agriculturally advanced states as well as national average. Although many factors might be responsible for poor growth of output over these years it is not feasible to analyze the causes of the decline which happened years ago from the field data collected at present. From the data collected from our primary survey we can analyze the relation between the agricultural productivity and the various underlying factors. This may give us hints as to why the growth rate of agricultural production has been low in the recent decades. Thus, the question boils down to - “what factors are responsible for the low yield of agricultural production in Assam?”
If we can identify the reasons of low productivity at present then those reasons can be addressed to get high growth of agricultural yield and output.
Among the factors responsible for agricultural backwardness we emphasized on the role of irrigation facilities, credit facilities, and extension services in agricultural production in Assam with special reference to three select crops namely, rice, jute and rubber. These factors whenever applicable will be given special emphasis, aside for other special factors for specific crops. Inadequate supply of irrigation, credit and extension services might have an adverse impact on yield of the crop. From the review of existing literature, it is identified that these three facilities are not adequate for the farmers and could not support much on agricultural production in the state.
It is observed that in agriculturally developed states, Indian farmers mostly invest in irrigation; share of expenditure on irrigation to total expenditure is more. The new agriculture technology is mainly dependent upon quality of irrigation. Bhattarai and Narayanamoorthy (2003) have empirically shown that improvement in irrigation and rural literacy are the two most important factors for agricultural growth in India. Assam has a long non-rainy dry season. So assured irrigation during non-rainy dry rabi season is very much essential for cultivation. There is an ample scope for extension of summer rice cultivation in the state, but for that irrigation facilities should be available. Secondly, credit is required in agriculture because input needs to be bought. Credit is treated as one of the indicators of the adoption of modern technology in agriculture (Nath, 1969). The adoption of fertilizer use is somewhat lower among small farmers than among large farmers owing mainly to credit constraints. Inadequate formal credit is one of the
constraints in the state which caused low agricultural production in Assam (Goyari, 2007). Thirdly, extension services is something which can‟t be bought, it is a public good. Government expenditure on research and extension is the key factor behind growth in total factor productivity in Kenya (Mathur et al., 2007). With the introduction of new technology, new farming practices and development of information technology with its wide application in farming, extension services become important in agriculture sector.
In Assam large-scale agricultural extension services were inadequate. Rao (2005a) analyzed agricultural growth in India from the first decade of the plan period and suggested the continued need for provision of irrigation facility, strengthening of extension services, adequate supply of institutional credit to raise farm productivity and profitability. These three factors responsible for low agricultural development in the state are significant from the point of that these are economic and technical factors rather than nature dependent. On natural factors we have less control, but we have the capacity to improve the facilities of irrigation, credit and extension services to raise production in the state.
1.7.2: Objectives and Research Questions:
The objective of the research is to decipher the factors behind the low productivity of agriculture in Assam in general for three important crops of the state viz., rice, jute and rubber. We shall examine the performance of the agrarian economy of Assam in the context of the all India agricultural trends keeping in mind the changes that have been taking place both at regional and at national level. We hope to arrive at some policy prescriptions for the immediate and long run agricultural development after having finished the exercise. While analyzing the field data from the state we can statistically estimate the underlying production function for the crops. This can be done either assuming a simple OLS (ordinary least square) production function, or by the stochastic frontier model where one allows for the possibility of technical inefficiency at the farm level. These exercises will give us a clue as to what factors have been responsible for low productivity. Finally, the thesis intends to spell out policy prescriptions.
Thus, the objectives and corresponding research questions of the study are pin pointed as follows:
1. To analyze the performance of agriculture in Assam compared to the national average and other agriculturally developed states in India. The focus is on the three select crops, viz., rice, jute and rubber. Secondary data and the existing literature will be used.
[Research Question: What has been the performance of agriculture in Assam compared to the national average and other agriculturally developed states, especially in regard to the three select crops?]
2. To collect primary field data on the three crops in order to estimate the underlying production functions.
[Research Question: What is the nature of the underlying productions functions of these three crops?]
3. To estimate the production functions of crops, allowing for stochastic technical inefficiency.
[RQ: What are the estimates of production functions if technical inefficiency is accounted for? Does technical inefficiency exist?]
4. To spell out policy implications for the immediate and long run agricultural development.
[Research question: What could be some policy prescriptions for the three crops?]