Agriculture Growth and the Manifestation of Agrarian Crisis in Haryana: An Analysis

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1 American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Available online at ISSN (Print): , ISSN (Online): , ISSN (CD-ROM): AIJRHASS is a refereed, indexed, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and open access journal published by International Association of Scientific Innovation and Research (IASIR), USA (An Association Unifying the Sciences, Engineering, and Applied Research) Agriculture Growth and the Manifestation of Agrarian Crisis in Haryana: An Analysis Dr. Geetanjali Singh Assistant Professor Department of Economics, MCM DAV College, Chandigarh, INDIA Abstract: Indian agriculture history is witness of the new agriculture arrangement which took place in India has changed the overall traditional cropping pattern in India as well as in Haryana. There are many agriculture reforms such as land reforms, green revolution, minimum support price, and new economic reforms have adopted in Indian agriculture. All these reforms have directly affected the agriculture sector in overall India. Even these reforms are favourable in terms of productivity and production of all the crops but they have inadequately affected in terms of agrarian crisis. Keywords: Agriculture Growth, Agriculture Production, Green Revolution, Agrarian Crisis, Farmers Debt, Farmers Suicide I. Introduction Agriculture has remained the main stay and leading occupation for the people of the State since its beginning. The Agriculture Sector has always been a significant contributor to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). The Green Revolution took place in the State giving a major boost to the growth of Agriculture Sector. However, as a consequence of rapid structural transition of the State economy over the years, the contribution of the Agriculture & Allied Sector went down to only 4. per cent of the GSDP. The economic growth of the State has become more sensitive to the growth rates in Industry and Services Sectors during the past few Allied Sector continued to be a critical factor in the overall performance of the state economy. II. Growth of Agriculture in Haryana Agriculture and Allied Sector is composed of agriculture, forestry & logging and fishing sub-sectors. Agriculture including crop husbandry and diary farming is the main component contributing about 94 per cent in GSDP of Agriculture and Allied Sector. The contribution of forestry and fishing sub-sectors in GSDP of Agricultural and Allied Sector is merely around 5 and per cent respectively resulting in very low impact of these two sub-sectors on the overall growth of Agriculture and Allied Sector. The growth rates recorded by the State economy in Agriculture and Allied Sector during different years of th Five Year Plan (2007-2) and onwards have been shown in Table. Table Growth of Agriculture and Allied Sector Sectors Agriculture & Dairying Forestry& Logging Fishing Agriculture and Allied Sector Source: Department of Economic & Statistical Analysis, Haryana III. Agriculture Indices The Indices of area under crops, agricultural production and yield from the year to for the State are depicted.the index of area under crops decreased from 2.83 in to in The index of agricultural production slightly decreased from 5.65 in to 5.58 however the index of yield increased from in to 0.09 in during this period. The index of production of foodgrains increased from 3.29 in to 8.2 in 204-5, whereas the index of non-foodgrains decreased from in to in AIJRHASS 8-40; 208, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 48

2 TABLE 2 AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION OF HARYANA (000 TONNE) YEAR WHEAT RICE TOTAL FOODGRAIN Source: Department of Agriculture and Department of Land Records, Haryana TABLE 3 ESTIMATED RESULTS OF THE SIMPLE LINEAR REGRESSION MODEL FOODGRAINS OF HARYANA DURING THE PERIOD ( TO 204-5) (000 TONNES) Df SS MS F Significance F 2.43E E E-06.05E rror Lower95 per cent Upper95 per cent Lower95.0 per cent Upper95.0 per cent E * 8.42E Source: Department of Agriculture and Department of Land records, Haryana Note: The s are significant at α=0.05. (i) Dependent variable (Y) =production of foodgrains of Haryana (ii) Independent variable (X) =time Table 3 vividly portrays a comprehensive picture of the production of food grains during the period of to It displays the estimate Results of the parameters from the simple significantly the variable (Y). The trend values (Ordinary least square Method) of the foodgrains of Haryana during the Period to 204-5are significant. In the end, all the coefficients are statistically significant at α=0.05 level of Significance with t- value (6.27). AIJRHASS 8-40; 208, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 49

3 TABLE 4 ESTIMATED RESULT OF HARYANA FOODGRAINS PRODUCTION WITH WHEAT DURING THE PERIOD ( TO 204-5) (000 TONNES) Df SS MS F Significance F 3.4E E E rror Lower95per cent Upper95per cent Lower95.0per cent Upper95.0per cent Source: Department of Economic & Statistical Analysis, Haryana NOTE: (i) Dependent variable (Y) =production of foodgrains of Haryana (ii) Independent variable (X) =Wheat * 479E Table 4 Show that a comprehensive picture of the production of foodgrains during the period of to It demonstrates the estimate results of the parameters from the simple significantly the variable (Y). The trend values (Ordinary Least Square Method) of the foodgrains of Haryana during the Period to are significant. In the end, all the coefficients are statistically significant at α=0.05 level of Significance with t- value (29.5). TABLE 5 ESTIMATED RESULT OF HARYANA FOODGRAINS PRODUCTION WITH RICE DURING THE PERIOD ( TO 204-5) ( 000 TONNES) df SS MS F Significance F 3.9E E E rror Lower95 per cent Upper95 per cent Lower95.0 per cent Upper95.0 per cent *.07E Source: Department of agriculture and department of land records, Haryana Note:(i) Dependent variable (Y) =production of foodgrains of Haryana (ii) Independent variable (X) =Rice Table 5 Revealed that a comprehensive picture of the production of food grains during the period of to It shows that the estimate Results of the parameters from the simple significantly the variable (Y). The trend values (Ordinary Least Square Method) of the foodgrains of Haryana AIJRHASS 8-40; 208, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 50

4 during the Period to are significant. In the end, all the coefficients are statistically significant at α=0.05 level of Significance with t- value (3.86). TABLE 6 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTIC OF FOODGRAINS OF HARYANA THE PERIOD FROM ( TO 204-5) (000 TONNES) SR. NO I YEAR II MEAN III Source: Department of Agriculture and Department of Land records, Haryana Table 6 consists of descriptive statistics pertaining to the foodgrains of Haryana to the column III of The table represents the mean value of the foodgrains of Haryana for the respective years. Similarly, column IV represents standard deviation of foodgrains of Haryana, which highlights the absolute dispersion the last column of the table provides C.V, which is considered as a relative measure of inequality of foodgrains of Haryana. the mean value of foodgrains rice and wheat of Haryana have increased from to which is almost 8 times increase from the year to Likewise the absolute dispersion measured by S.D has increased from to , which is about 6 times increased over the study period. However, the C.V reveals that to reduction in the inequality of foodgrains, rice and wheat of Haryana from to IV. MANIFESTATIONS OF THE AGRARIAN CRISIS: It appears that the country has failed to comprehend the seriousness of the manifestations of the agrarian crisis. The peasants in general and the poor peasants in particular, are the worst sufferers. Some of the significant areas of the agrarian crisis are: Decline in Agricultural Growth: During 990 s, one notices a sharp decline in the rate of agricultural growth and stagnation in agricultural produce. According to Usta Patnaik(2003:23) the food grains growth rate declined by half and at.8per cent in the 990 s, for the first time in 30 years. Using the data from the Agricultural Strategy for the Eleventh Plan, Pillai Ramchandran R (2007:23) writes the agricultural GDP Growth declined from 3.62 per cent during to.8 per cent during to The state wise trends indicate that the larger decline in agricultural growth have occurred in states that are predominantly rain fed. Agriculture has become Uneconomical: Most of the peasants today are of the opinion that the agricultural occupation has become less profitable. They express that in agriculture nothing remains for them. They have developed a feeling that agriculture today is of no benefit. Thus, agriculture today has become unremunerated and unviable. Pillai Rmachandran (2007:2) quoting the survey of NSS on Situation Assessment Survey of Income, Expenditure and Productive Assets of farmer Households states that 96.2per cent of the farmers households surveyed, owing less than 4 hectares of land, had incurred monthly consumption expenditure in excess of their average monthly income from all sources. Only the top 3.8per cent farmer s households earned enough to meet their monthly expenditures. The rest were in deficit. The net agricultural profit is too meager from the sale of agricultural produce and in some states like Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh etc. the S.D IV C.V V AIJRHASS 8-40; 208, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 5

5 farmer s incur losses. The main cause of this is increase in the prices of agricultural inputs and the unremunerative agricultural prices. Growing Farm Debt: The shift in land use and cropping pattern from food grains to commercial crops has increased the cultivation cost enormously. Modern agriculture requires significant expenditure on fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, electricity, irrigation, technology etc. But due to several market forces, both domestic and international, the trade in primary agricultural commodities is largely unfavourable. This has created a mismatch between the cultivation cost and the income from agriculture, thus contributing significantly to the farm debt. In fact, one can trace the rural indebtedness to the green revolution. The agricultural practices that were promoted during the green revolution involved significant capital investment. The subsidies given by the government prompted the farmers to seek loan from the financial institutions. This in course of time, for various reasons, caught the farmers in a debt trap. The economic reform introduced in 990 s not only reduced subsidies on agricultural inputs but access to cheap institutional credit. This forced the farmers, particularly small holding farmers, to seek loans from informal sources of credit like money lenders, middle man, commission agents etc. To add to this, with the opening of international market for agricultural products, the uncertainty level has increased as the farmer is neither sure of getting a crop nor assured of remunerative prices if he gets a good harvest. All these factors have contributed to farm debt (University of Oxford, Dissertation Cover Sheet, 202:2-4). Farmers Suicides: There are a number of factors that are associated with farmer s suicides like declining agricultural production, low profits, low income, increasing cultivation cost, unremunerative prices, failure of crops, commercialisation of agriculture, lack of irrigation and so on. However, the primary cause, resulting from all these factors, is the growing indebtedness of the farmers. Decline in the government support in terms of agricultural credit and subsidies have forced the peasantry to seek loan from informal sources like the money lenders, traders, commission agents etc. (University of Oxford, Dissertation Cover Sheet, 202:3-4). Such loans are very costly, which increase the debt burden of the peasants enormously. The ultimate result is the farmer s suicides resulting from inability to cope with the debt burden. Loss of Soil Fertility: The continuous use of land for multiple cropping without reclaiming practices, use of chemical fertiliser, pesticides, unscientific and uncontrolled and unsystematic irrigation has led to salinity of land. The regular use of pesticides has increased the immunity of pests. Development of sense of relative deprivation: The rural people in general and peasants in particular have developed a feeling of relative deprivation. They strongly feel that urban India is developing at the cost of rural India. V. Conclusion Agriculture in India is a base for the growth of Indian economy as well as Haryana state economy. A sustained agriculture growth provides a strong base for overall growth of the country. Moreover, the agricultural growth with broad base and without any fluctuation contributes significantly to food security, generates employment and income, helps in growth and expansion of markets by increasing purchasing power and ultimately reduces poverty. Thus, the agricultural growth can address the socio-economic problems of the peasants. If, the state has to shine, then villages will have to shine, and for the villages to shine agriculture has to grow uninterruptedly and the only way for uninterrupted growth of agriculture is to resolve the present agrarian crisis. References [] Bhalla, S., New Relations of Production in Haryana Agriculture, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XI, 993. [2] Bhalla, G S., Indian Agriculture Since Independence, Published by NBT. [3] Government of Haryana, Statistical Abstract of Haryana, Department of Economic and Statistical Analysis, 206,Chandigarh. [4] Goyal, S.K.and Ernst Berg., Supply Response and Input Demand on Paddy Fanns in Haryana, India-A Panel Data Analysis, Indian Journal of Agriculture Economics, April-June, [5] Jodhka, S S., Agrarian Changes and Attached Labour: Emerging Patterns in Haryana Agriculture, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XXIX (39), 994. From Book-View to Field-View : Social Anthropological: Constructions of the Indian Village, Oxford Development Studies, Vol 26(3), pp 3-32,998. Community and Identities: Contemporary Discourses on Culture and Politics in India, (edited) (New Delhi: Sage Publications), 200. Caste and Untouchability in Rural Punjab, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 37(9), May, Beyond Crises : Rethinking Contemporary Punjab Agriculture, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XLI (6), 2006(a), pp Caste and Democracy: Assertion and Identity among the Dalits of Rural Punjab, Sociological Bulletin, Vol 55(), 2006(b),pp Agrarian Changes in the Times of (Neo-liberal Crises): Revisiting Attached Labour in Haryana, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XLVII, Nos 26-27, 30 June 202, pp 5-3. AIJRHASS 8-40; 208, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 52