Economics of drip irrigated cotton: a synthesis of four case studies

Drip irrigationCottonCrop productionEconomic aspectsCultivationCase studiesElectricity suppliesWater use efficiencyProductivityCost benefit analysis

Rural Employment Scheme and Agricultural Wage Rate Nexus: An Analysis across States

This paper on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has covered two objectives; one, whether the introduction of MGNREGS has increased the wage rates for agricultural labourers across the states and two, if so what are the factors that determine the growth rate of wages for farm labourers. The study is based on the secondary data on farm wages published by the Labour Bureau of India by gender and farm operation across the states and has covered the period 2000–01 to 2010–11. To present a comparative picture, the study period has been divided into two sub-periods, viz. pre-MGNREGS (2000–01 to 2005–06) and post-MGNREGS (2005–06 to 2010–11). The study has shown that the real wage rates have increased substantially during post-MGNREGS period as compared to pre-MGNREGS period for both male and female agricultural labourers in all the major farming operations. The rate of increase in wage rates has been found to be higher across the female agricultural labourers as compared to their male counterparts. The regression analysis has suggested that the average days of employment per household by MGNREGS, productivity of foodgrains, and road density have positively fuelled the growth rate of wages for both male and female farm labourers

Has MGNREGS affected the Farmers Profitability? An Assessment based on Cost of Cultivation Data. Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series Number 25

It is often argued that the national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) introduced during 2006 has increased the farm wage rate substantially that resulted in sharp reduction in farmers’ profitability. Is there any substance in this argument? In this paper, we have done an attempt to specifically study this issue utilizing data series of cost of cultivation survey data available for different crops published by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. Utilizing these cost of cultivation data from 2000-01 to 2010-11, we have analyzed impacts of MGNREGS on farm profitability. We have included here nine different crops namely paddy, wheat, sorghum, chick pea, pigeon pea, rapeseed and mustard, groundnut, sugarcane and cotton for the analysis. As the productivity of crop often determines its profitability, two states for each crop, one each from the category of high area with high productivity (HAHP) and another one from high area with low productivity (HALP), have been considered for the analysis. The results of the study have not completely supported the argument that the profitability of crops has declined after the introduction of MGNREGS in 2006. This is not only true with HAHP states but also with HALP states. However, this study showed that the real cost incurred on account of human labor has increased considerably in eight out of nine crops in both HAHP and HALP states after the introduction of MGNREGS (2006-07 to 2010-11). But, the increase in labor cost has not made any deleterious impact on the profitability. The profitability calculated by deducting the value of output from cost C2 has increased in eight out of nine crops in HAHP states, whereas the profitability has either increased or the losses reduced in all nine crops in HALP states. Not only the average profit of most crops has increased but the number of years profit realized by the farmers has also increased in most crops during the post-MGNREGS period as compared to pre-MGNREGS period (2000-01 to 2005-06). While there is no distinct pattern emerging in profitability between food grain and non-food grain crops, the level of increase in profitability is found to be relatively better among the non-food grain crops after the introduction of MGNRGES. Increased productivity in most crops considered for the analysis has one way, or the other, helped to negate the increase in human labor cost and facilitated to increase the profitability

Has Profitability of Foodgrain Production Declined After Implementation of MGNREGS in India?

Whether national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) introduced during 2006 has increased the farm wage rate substantially to the point that has reduced farm profitability due to the programme. This is still an unsettled issue in the literature. Hence, in this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse these issues utilising cost of cultivation survey data published by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. With the data of different states from 2000–01 to 2010–11, the study has covered five different foodgrain crops namely paddy, wheat, jowar, bengal gram (channa) and pigeon peas (red gram) for the analysis. The study does not seem to support the argument that the profitability of foodgrain crops has declined after the introduction of MGNREGS. This is not only true with high area with high productivity (HAHP) states but also with high area with low productivity (HALP) states. However, this study shows that the real cost incurred on account of human labour has increased considerably in all five crops in both High and low productivity states during the MGNREGS period (2006–07 to 2010–11) as compared to preceding years. In fact, real profitability even after subtracting the cost of imputed value of family labour cost used in the cultivation of the crops (cost C2) has either increased or the losses incurred reduced in all five crops in both HAHP and HALP states. The number of years profit realised by the farmers has also increased in most crops during post-MGNREGS period as compared to pre-MGNREGS period (2000–01 to 2005–06). Increased productivity of most of these crops also might have helped to increase the profitability of farmers across the country, even taking account increase in human labour cost during the same period

Farm Mechanisation, MGNREGS and Labour Supply Nexus: A State-wise Panel Data Analysis on Paddy and Wheat Crop

An attempt has been made in this study to find out the relationship among the farm mechanisation, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), labour supply and other factors mainly using state-wise data pertaining to paddy and wheat crops covering the period from 2000-01 to 2010-11. To measure the regression of various growth factors including MGNREGS on the use of farm machineries, regressions is computed using panel data with fixed effects models. The descriptive analysis of the study shows that the machine labour cost in real value (which is used as a proxy variable to reflect the level of farm mechanisation) incurred for cultivating both paddy and wheat has increased considerably during post MGNREGS period in almost all the states selected for the analysis. The machine labour cost incurred for cultivating paddy has increased substantially in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh after the implementation of MGNREGS, while the same increase was found very high in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in wheat cultivation. In most states where the machine labour cost has increased substantially, the use of human labour in man-hours has declined sharply in both paddy and wheat, confirming the fact that farm machineries are used to substitute the human labour especially after implementing MGNREGS. The regression results computed using panel data suggest that the factors determining the use of farm machineries is not the same between the two major crops selected for the study. Besides MGNREGS dummy, the factors such as coverage of irrigation, yield enhancing inputs cost, land-labour ratio and human labour use in man-hours have significantly influenced the use of machine labour in paddy cultivation. But, in the case of wheat crop, irrigation coverage and land-labour ratio has not significantly influenced the use of machineries. The MGNREGS dummy used to capture its impact on farm mechanisation has turned out to be positive and significant in both paddy and wheat cultivation suggesting that the level of farm mechanisation has increased after its implementation of national rural employment guarantee scheme