Underdeveloping and choices in agriculture

The book seeks to provide an analytical frame work for studying the process of economic underdevelopment and the problems of choices in labour-surplus agriculture. Part one examines the adequacy of the Malthusian, Ricardian and Marxian approaches to underdevelopment. The Ricardian and Marxian concepts are considered eminently appropriate for the study of underdevelopment; these are used in the Indian context to underline the focal importance of the growth-retarding modes of extraction and utilisation of surplus that have emanated from colonial exploitation and demographic pressure.

Part two studies the technological and institutional choice problems in agriculture, given the dominating constraint of the growing demographic pressure. The aspects of appropriate capital intensities, input packages and patterns of mechanisation are carefully analysed. One chapter makes a theoretical study of the types of land contracts and the impact of technological progress on land systems. The analysis highlights the process of technology institution interaction and the need for treating technology and institutions as complementary elements in a comprehensive package.

Though the study is not generally empirical, population and income trends in India and the colonial exploitation of India in the nineteenth century are studied in considerable depth. Data relating to India, Japan and Taiwan are analysed to judge the appropriateness of techniques and land systems in labour-surplus agriculture.