Regional dimensions of disparities in crop productivity in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

In the present study, the data on yield rates of rice and wheat crops are analysed at tehsil level in Uttar Pradesh for alI 244 tehsils where crop cutting experiments on randomly selected fields were conducted on both rice and wheat crops. One of the objectives of the study is to find out whether the 8th Five Year Plan has made significant impact in increasing the yield rates of rice and wheat over the 7th Five Year Plan. The level of agricultural development with respect to rice and wheat productivity is estimated for all the tehsils of Uttar Pradesh. The technique of analysis of variance is used to test whether the efforts made in the 8th Five Year Plan had made any impact in increasing the yield levels of rice and wheat over the achievements of the 7th Five Year Plan. The variation between tehsils and between years within Plan periods are also tested. It would be quite interesting and useful to examine and rank the level of agricultural development in various tehsils. For this purpose, the composite indices of agricultural development as exhibited by the yield rates of rice and wheat from the period 1985-86 to 1994-95 have been obtained by the procedures described by Narain et at. [1], [2]. Tehsils are ranked on the basis of composite indices of agricultural development. Wide disparities have been observed between different tehsils in the level of rice and wheat productivity. The yield levels of rice and wheat crops are positively associated. Western region and Plain portion of the hilly region of the State are found to be better developed as compared to other regions of the State with respect to productivity levels of rice and wheat crops. For bringing about uniform regional growth and development of agriculture in the State, future strategies of agricultural development in low developed tehsils/districts/regions have been suggested