Intersive agriculture and modern Inpurs : Prospect of Small farmers a study in west Godavari district.

In recent years, the focus in Indian agriculture has shifted from the problem of food scarcity to the question of equity in the distribution of benefits accruing to individual farmers from state-sponsored developmental pro grammes. Not that policy-makers had, in the past, ignored the issue of distributive justice in development, or were unaware of the need to ensure it along with improvements in the overall level of prosperity. However, the breakthrough on the agricultural front which became a reality only in the recent past, has added urgency to the problem. Increasing concern over this aspect has now become manifest in the special programmes formulated for the weaker sections of society during recent years.

The growing disparities between different areas and sections of popu lation resulting from the fact that the new agricultural technology has not spread evenly in the countryside is by now a verifiable truth, observed and commented upon by policy-makers and academics alike. It is true that a uniform level of development is not possible in all

the areas of a vast country where variations in natural endowment are pronounced. It is again true that a uniform level of development of farms is not possible because of locational differences. It is also not contested that because of differential managerial ability, some farmers would always perform better than others. However, what agitates the thinking mind is the strong suspicion underlying these disparities that the factors are other than the ones just mentioned. There is reason to believe that given the social framework of Indian agriculture, these disparities are unavoidable. This tendency has to be set right.

The impact of the intensive agricultural district programme and the new agricultural strategy on agricultural production and on production relations in the countryside needs to be studied more and in greater depth. The manifestations of the phenomenon are many and diverse; no single work can possibly encompass all the relevant dimensions. The NICD did a study of resource use and productivity on farms in areas of intensive and non-intensive agriculture a few years ago. This is another study by the Institute on resource use and productivity on farms. The earlier study conducted in 1967-8, focussed on the comparative situation in areas of intensive and non-intensive agriculture in three states Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab. In the present study the main focus of the attention is on differences in resource use and productivity levels between different agro-climatic zones and different size-class of farms in a single IADP area, West Godavari.

There is need to build up gradually a sound basis for a fresh orientation and approach to agricultural planning so that the weaker sections of the farming community are not deprived of the fruits of technological change. It is my hope that this study will be found useful in creating an under standing of the reasons for the differences in the response to modern agri cultural practices by farmers placed in different circumstances.