Resource use and productivty on farms : A comparative Study of intensive and non-intenative agriculture areas.

One measure of success of the community development programme in the country is the additional productive employment which it can generate in the rural areas and the contribution it can make in increasing the productivity of the worker. The planners of the programme are therefore keenly interested in the intensive agriculture approach which has come to stay as one of the key elements in our agricultural development strategy.

Soon after the present director of Study and Research in Economics, T. P. S. Chawdhari, joined this Institute in October 1966, a small-scale study was organised with a view to find out what was happening to labour employment and productivity on farms in the intensive agriculture district areas. Considering the limitations of staff and funds, it was decided to confine the study to selected areas in three states, namely, Punjab, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Although seasonal influences are dominant in agricultural production, we felt that the general findings of the survey encompassing a 12-month period should suffice to provide some general indications.

The field work for the project was completed in two stages, covering the kharif 1966 and rabi 1966-67 seasons.