Factors Affecting Agricultural Mechanization in Assam

Transcription

1 Factors Affecting Agricultural Mechanization in Assam Dr. Amarendra Kalita (Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Gauhati Commerce College, Guwahati-21, Assam, India) Abstract: Agricultural production is positively correlated with energy input that is why the developed countries apply machine in agricultural activities. In the labour surplus countries like India agricultural activities are done by mostly traditional methods and instruments. Here the question of displacement of labour because of use of machine is the main argument raised against mechanization. In 1960s, although modernization took place in Indian agriculture, mechanization i.e. use of machines was not the part of that transformation. Later on the farmers started use of machines like tractor and power tiller in agriculture. Agricultural mechanization is a new concept in Assam, a state in the north eastern region of India. Farmers of Assam particularly educated ones have developed a tendency of using machines in agricultural activities. The field study conducted in five agricultural zones of Assam shows that small size of the holdings and prevalence of tenancy has not remained as constraints of agricultural mechanization in the state. It is found that considering the cost factors; the farmers have started using machine in the stage of ploughing and other activities. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the factors affecting the extent of agricultural mechanization. Keywords: constraints, displacement, energy, mechanization, market of service. I. INTRODUCTION It has been an established fact worldwide that agricultural production is positively correlated with energy input. In the developed countries, the production techniques in agriculture are modern and scientific and the agricultural activities are done by machine-machineries. Till mid 1960, technological transformation in India was not largely successful. Only after the experiences of severe draughts in 1965 and 1966, the strategies of agricultural development had been changed. The new agricultural strategy aimed at increasing agricultural production by replacing the old method of cultivation. But the strategy remained confined to the use of HYVs of seeds and fertilizers only. Mechanization i.e. use of machine machineries in agricultural activities was not the component of the then technology package [Bezbarua 1994]. Indian agriculture is now experiencing rapid changes in some parts of the country. It is undergoing transformation from traditional to more capital-intensive farm technology. In the states like Punjab, Hariyana, Uttar Pradesh, Northern region of Rajas than and parts of Western Maharastra, there is marked increase in number of tractors and threshers along with the increased number of tube well. The state of Assam situated in the North Eastern Region of India is predominantly agricultural and the performance of the state s economy depends largely upon the performance of the agriculture sector. The state is gifted by fertile land, favourable climate and natural rainfall. Still the growth of the agriculture sector in the state is too slow and the productivity per hectare is very low compared to the other parts of the country and the developed countries. The agricultural mechanization i.e. use of machine in agricultural activities is a recent concept in the state. The farmers have started using machines particularly tractor and power tillers in some works. It is also observed that a market of service of agricultural machine is emerging in the state. Objectives An attempt has been made in this paper i) to study the extent of agricultural mechanization in Assam and ii) to investigate the factors effecting agricultural mechanization across different conditions like location, farm size, educational status and crop wise. Hypotheses The following are the hypotheses of the study: i) the poor resource base of the majority of the farmers and inadequate availability of institutional have been restricting the process of agricultural mechanization in Assam. ii) iii) the small size of the land holdings and prevalence of tenancy in the state are also the constraints of mechanization of agriculture. the educated farmers in the state are now more inclined to practice agriculture in mechanized way. Page 111

2 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Bhattarai and Narayanmoorthy (2003) had empirically showed that improvement in irrigation and rural literacy are the two most important factors for agricultural growth in India. Dutt and Gogoi (1973) in their case study of kharif programmed in SFDA, Nowgong district of Assam found lack of irrigation, lack availability of inputs in time and misuse of credit as important constraints. Mahendra Dev (2002) argued for need of public investment in agriculture, irrigation, credit availability, better marketing of agricultural products, research and development along with adequate pricing and other incentives for private investment that would help revive agricultural growth. Ross (1970) found that leadership, availability of technology, necessary farming inputs, available credit facilities, favourable crop relationship, and control of nature and communication process has a significant contribution towards agricultural modernization process. Similarly Sahu and Rajasekhar (2005) emphasized the importance of administered allocation of credit to the priority sector at concessional interest for agricultural development. Swami Nathan (1973), the famous agricultural economist has pointed that technology is now becoming available but the mechanism for transferring it to illiterate and small users in an effective manner does not exist. When technology has to be transferred it should be tested whether it suits the local needs. Testing of technology is normally absent. Sen (1962) observed an inverse relationship between farm size and productivity in India. He argued that with the increase in the size of holding, productivity declines and thus the productivity was more on small farms in comparison to large farms. Sen (1975) found tractorisation has both employment generation effects and labour displacing effects. It displaces labour employment in ploughing and transportation. On the other hand, it facilitates multiple cropping by reducing land preparation time and raises yields per unit of land because of better ploughing of land. These effects are likely to generate more employment opportunity. Thus the net effect of tractorisation on employment may go either way depending on the magnitudes of the labour displacing effects and employment effects. III. METHOD The secondary data have been collected from various government and semi government sources, namely, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Agriculture Department of Assam, Irrigation Department of Assam. Primary data have collected through a field study that was conducted in conducted in the year 2006 (and updated in the year 2016). The study was conducted in five out of six agro-climatic zones of Assam. The hill valley was completely left out from the field study on the ground that the problems of agriculture in the zone are not quite same as those of the plains districts of the state. From each of these five zones one Agricultural Development Officers circle (to be referred as ADO circle) was selected for the field study in consultation with the officials of the state Agriculture Department. The sample design used in selecting the sample in each ADO circle was two stage random sampling, in which villages constituted the primary sampling units and the farm households were the secondary and ultimate sampling units. Thus, in the first stage of selection, in each circle, five villages were selected at random, subject to the condition that at least in one of the selected villages, the agricultural infrastructures (mainly irrigation and credit) was reasonably developed for the practice of modern machineries and implements. In the second stage, about 10 % of farm households in each village were selected at random. Thus a total of 224 farm household selected in this manner from the five selected ADO circles constituted the whole sample of the field survey. Thus five ADO) circles namely Bongshor, Furkating, Bhurbandha, Dumunichowki and Silchar were selected for study. The Bongshor circle is located in the Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone and nearest to the state s capital Guwahati. Here, a large section of farmers cultivate vegetables along with paddy. The Furkating circle is located in the Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone and the circle is inhibited mostly by other backward classes people. This circle is touching the boundary of the state of Nagaland. The Bhurbandha circle belongs to the Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone and is regularly affected by flood. The Dumunichowki circle falls under the North bank Plains Zone and inhabited by mostly Assamese language speaking Muslim people. The Silchar circle is situated in the Barak Valley Zone and inhabited by Bengali speaking Muslim people. IV. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS From the field study it is observed that extent of mechanization of agriculture is influenced by many factors. Some of the major factors influencing agricultural mechanization in Assam are listed below. (i) Financial Resource position and mechanization: Since mechanization involves considerably larger investment of capital in purchase of machine and hiring in, the extent of use of these machines may be constrained by financial resource position of the farmers. Farmers with greater financial resources (internal or borrowed) will generally be in a better position to purchase and use the machines like tractors, power tillers etc. in more effective manner. The field study shows, a large majority of farmers are purchasing tractor and power for individual as well as for commercial use. 50% of the tractors and 25% of the power tillers are found to be purchased for only selling its services to others. A large majority of farmers are doing agriculture with the help of hired tractor and power tiller. 75% of the sample farmers are found to be using hired tractor and 39% of the farmers are found to Page 112

3 be using hired power tiller. Tractors have been used for non agricultural uses also. Other than, ploughing tractors are found in transporting land/other materials. Many families have purchased tractor even after they don t have own agricultural land. They have purchased such machines with the intension of earning through sale of its service to others. Most of the farmers (82%) have purchased tractor and power tiller by own money. The families having other non agricultural incomes are found to be more interested in purchasing machines considering the cost factor of maintaining bullocks and permanent labour. Many farm families have future plan to purchase machine-machineries for agricultural use as well as for commercial use. The farmers who are now doing agriculture through hired machines- machineries want to purchase own self. Majority of those farmers shows lack of financial power is the constraint in purchasing agricultural machine. They are willing to purchase tractor, power tiller etc. if institutional finance is available. Many sample farmers are willing to purchase even in group. The Furkating circle falls in the upper Brahmaputra valley. Therefore, there is influence of oil and tea industry in the life and society of the farmers in the circle which results shortage of labour, more house hold durable availability, higher level of education of the farmers. The farmers of this circle have received the highest benefits in the distribution of power tiller (38%) and LLP (86%). The number of bank branches operating in the circle is also higher than the other circles. Another feature of the circle is that agriculture is primary occupation of 94% of the samples and the farmers are young and educated. Bongshor circle is characterized by higher level of education of the farmers, more bank branches operating in the circle, shortage of labour particularly fixed labour. The farmers of this circle enjoy the highest benefit at the time of distribution of tractor (42%) and shallow tube well (37%) among the five circles. In case of Silchar circle the extent of mechanization of agriculture is 9% which is supposed to be the result of benefits in the distribution of power tiller (32%) and LLP (14%). In this circle agriculture is the primary occupation of 79% of the sample farmers. Here also, the level of education of the farmers is comparatively high. The extent of mechanisation of agriculture in Bhurbandha and Dumunichowki is found to low (3%) which is supposed to be result of lower level of education of the farmers, less number of bank branches. Bhurbandha is also regularly affected by flood. (ii) Farm size and tenurial status of the farmer: The rate of use of machine-machineries has been related to the farm size and tenurial status. In the first few years of new agricultural strategy in India, the large farmers adopted the new farm technology to a greater extent than the tenants and the small farmers. In our study one hypothesis was: Small size of the land holdings and prevalence of tenancy in the state are also the constraints of mechanization of agriculture. The field study shows irrespective of size of farm, farmers have used the tractor, power tiller etc. in agriculture fields. There is no indication of larger farmers tending to use machines-machineries in agriculture. Still the larger farmers emerge as the market leader. The larger farmers have started the use of machinesmachineries earlier than the small farmers. Table1: Use of machines by the farmers of different category of land Type Category of land (in hectare) Bellow and Total 0.5 above Number of farmers (3.1) (24.6) (32.1) (16.5) (12.5) (8.0) (3.1) (100.0) Tractor 6 (85.7) 46 (83.6) 64 (88.8) 31 (83.7) 24 (85.7) 14 (77.7) 7 (100.0) 192 (85.7) Power tillers 5 (71.4) 32 (58.1) 34 (47.2) 20 (54.0) 15 (53.5) 12 (66.6) 3 (42.8) 121 (54.0) Source: field study Because of the emergence of the leased market of services of tractor, power tiller etc. the number of tenant farmers is decreasing in the state. As tractor, power tillers are now easily available to hire in on rental basis a family originally who leased out its land to other farmers now does the agriculture itself. The families whose income source is non-agricultural have developed the tendency of doing agriculture with the help of hired in/ leased in machines and part time labour. The existing tenant farmers have also used tractors/power tiller for ploughing the leased in land. Now the terms of lease in and out is changing from 50:50 basis to fixed amount basis. The table-1 reveals that out of 224 farmers there are 3% farmers in the below 0.5 hectare group, 25% in the hectare group, 32% in the 1-2 hectare group, 16% in the 2-3 hectare group, 12% in the 3-5 hectare group, 8% in the 5-8 hectare group and 3% above 8 hectare group. The table also shows that majority of the farmers fall in the hectare and 1-2 hectare groups. Important point to be noted here is that tractor, power tiller and irrigational machine etc. have been used by all types of farmers irrespective of their farm size. Except 5-8 hectare group in all the groups above 80% farmers of the total of that concerned group have used tractor. In the 5-8 hectare group use of tractor is more than the use of power tiller. Farmers of all the groups have used Page 113

4 power tillers. In the below 0.5 hectare group 71% have used power tiller. Similarly in the above 8 hectare group 43% of the farmers have used power tiller. As a whole out of 224 sample farmers 86% have used tractor and 54 % have used power tiller. The study also indicates that farmers having more land started using the machine earlier than the farmers having less amount of land. The small farmers have started the use of machine recently. In the group of farmers of hectare land, out of 55 farmers 33% have used the machines for below 3 years and 67% have used for last 4-6 years. But in the group of farmers having 5-8 hectares, out of 18 farmers only 1 farmer has used machine for more than 13 years and 17% have used for last years and 17% have used for last 7-9 years. Thus it is found that majority of the farmers (more than 70%) have used from last 4-6 years. In the group of farmers of hectare land, out of 55 farmers 33% have used the machines for below 3 years and 67% have used for last 4-6 years. But in the group of farmers having 5-8 hectares, out of 18 farmers only 1 farmer has used machine for more than 13 years and 17% have used for last years and 17% have used for last 7-9 years. Thus it is found that majority of the farmers (more than 70%) have used from last 4-6 years. The study shows that there is crop wise variation of the agricultural mechanisation in the state the variation is not significant. The machines have been used for all types of production. Almost all the farmers have covered in the sample have used tractor for pre harvesting works mainly for ploughing to produce wheat, pulses, jute and sugarcane. Tractor is also used for mustard and oilseeds (95%) Rabi pulses (87%), vegetables (93%) and paddy (86%). Among the different varieties of paddy tractor has been used mostly for summer rice. Use of power tiller is found to produce jute, sugarcane and winter paddy. Between tractor and power tiller, use of tractor is more in the production of all the crops. The use of power tiller is very less (only 13%) in the production of vegetables. Except jute in all other crops irrigational machines are found to be used. (iii) Availability of labour: Labour availability is one important factor which has strong relation to the mechanization. Mechanization normally takes place where there is shortage of labour. Because of shortage of labour people are found to be dependent on machine-machineries. Table2: Family labour in surveyed circles Full time family labour Part time family labour % of full time % of total % of part time % of total Circle No family labour employment No family labour employment Bongshor Furkating Bhurbandha Dumunichowki Silchar Total Source-Field study In all the surveyed circles, the percentage of part time hired labour ranges between 90 to 95%. The traditional technique of agriculture depends largely on the service of labour and so the necessity of full time family and hired labour is more. As the recent tendency is to use machines- machineries in agriculture, the percentage of part time hired labour is increasing. Many families have developed agriculture with the help of machines-machineries and part time hired labour. In the field study enquiry was made on the availability of labour- both full time and part time and their linkage with mechanisation. From the Table-2 and Table-3, it is found that the number of family labour is less compared to hired labour in our sample. It indicates that dependency on part time hired labour is more which effects mechanisation of agriculture in positively. Table-3: Hired labour in surveyed circles Full time hired Part time hired labour % of total part time hired labour % of % of total full time employment of Circle No hired labour the circle No Bongshor Furkating Bhurbandha Dumunichowki Silchar Total Source-Field study Page 114 % of total employment of the circle

5 It is seen from the tables that out of 4722 labour (88%) is part time hired labour whereas only 6% is full time family labour. It is to be noted that less than one percent hired labour are used permanently in farming. The dependency on part time labour is high (about 90%) in Bongshor, Furkating and Dumunichowki whereas it is near about 80% in Bhurbandha and Silchar. In these two circles the number of family labour is more. Ii is already found that in Bongshor and Furkating circles use of machine in agriculture is more than the other circles. The available literatures also supports that the mechanised firms employ more casual and hired labour. Many families in the surveyed circles have done agriculture with the help of machine and part time hired labour. Many families used tractor and power tiller without having own agricultural land or having a small amount of land. (iv) Availability of agricultural infrastructures like irrigation: Availability of irrigation creates a strong favourable condition for the application of modern methods. Use of machine can reasonably be expected to be higher in farm with better irrigation facilities. The field study shows, the availability of irrigation facility inspires the farmers to take agriculture seriously. In the Bongshor circle the number of shallow tube well is more and the use of machines- machineries is also high. This indicates that availability of irrigation facility encourages the farmers to go for using machines/ machineries in agriculture. (v) Education of farmers and agricultural mechanization: It is believed that educated farmers also have better knowledge of the market. As a result it is expected that more is the education of a farmer more will be the tendency to increase the HYVs, fertiliser and modern equipments. The Table-4 shows that 63% of the sample farmers are found to be using HYVs of seeds. It is found that, use of fertiliser and irrigational machineries are more among educated farmers. Table-4: Educational level and use of seeds /fertilisers and commercialization Educational level HYV Chemical fertilizer Shallow tube well Total Illiterate (17.73) (18.62) (20.58) Read up to primary school level 8 (5.6) 12 (5.88) 11 (10.78) 15 Read up to middle school (20.56) (17.64) (15.68) Read up to HSLC onwards (56.02) (57.84) (52.94) Total 141 (100.00) 204 (100.00) 102 (100.00) 224 Source: field study * Figures in the parenthesis indicates the percentage of the group The table-4 reveals that 141 sample farmers have used HYVs and among them56% are HSLC passed. Similarly 204 sample farmers have used fertilizer and among them 58% are HSLC passed. Again, 102 farmers have used shallow tube well and among them 53% are HSLC passed. It is also found that the illiterates and read up to middle school have also used HYVs of seed, fertilizers and shallow tube well. The involvement of the farmers with different organizations is more among the educated farmers. However, in the higher level of education the percentage of farmers involved with organizations found less. As these farmers actually have service or business/trade as their primary occupation their direct involvement with the socio-political organizations is somehow less. Above all most of the educated farmers don t want to disclose their association with the socio-political organizations. The Table-5 indicates that educated farmers avail more credit and that also for agricultural development, normally for the agricultural mechanisation. Another important factor that influences mechanisation of agriculture is the farmers involvement with different organizations. Table-5: Education and whether credit/member of organization and planning to increase machine in agriculture Educational level Having credit Member of organization Total Illiterate (17.24) (16.25) Read up to primary school level (8.62) (7.5) Read up to middle school (22.41) (20.00) Read up to HSLC level (51.72) (56.25) Total 58 (100.00) 80 (100.00) 224 Source: field study * Figures in the parenthesis indicates the percentage Page 115

6 Credit is one factor which has link with mechanisation of agriculture. More the credit facility more will be the willingness of the farmers to purchase/ hire the machine in the agriculture. The Table-6 shows that out of total 224 farmers in the five circles 11% farmers have own tractors and 14% have own power tillers. Out of those farmers most of them are comparatively educated. Educated farmers are found to be using more power tillers than the tractors. The farmers read up to primary level are found more in the possession of own tractor. Use of hired tractor is more among illiterate and farmers read up to HS evel. Own power tiller is possessed mainly by the graduate and post graduate farmers and the hired tractor is used mainly by farmers read up to middle school level and farmers read up to HS level. Table-6: Education and status of tractor /power tiller Education level No of sample Tractor Power tiller Own Hired Own Hired Illiterate 42 (28.00) (19.76) (9.09) (15.90) Read up to primary level 15 (12.00) (5.98) (3.03) (9.09) Read up to middle school 38 (12.00) (19.16) (6.06) (23.86) Read up to HSLC level 129 (48.00) (55.08) (81.81) (51.13) Total (11.16) (74.55) (14.73) (39.28) Source: field study * Figures in the parenthesis indicate percentage of sample of concerned group Use of tractor, power tiller etc. is found to more among the educated farm families because those farm families whose head of the household is educated one or their children are educated understand the benefits of machines- machineries in agriculture and therefore they use machines-machineries in different works. Such farm families want relieve of drudgery of physical labour by using machines-machineries in agriculture. But it is found that considering the.cost of agricultural activities farmers irrespective of educational background have used machines particularly tractor and power tillers in their fields. (vi) Accessibility to agricultural extension service: For the use of machine-machineries in the agricultural field farmers needs some technical knowledge which can be given by the extension workers of the agriculture department. Farmers with better contact with the extension workers of the agricultural department are likely to be benefited by greater amount of technical guidance regarding the new farm technology practices. This would enable them to use the modern machineries and farm equipment to a greater extent. About 49% of the sample farmers using machine-machineries were induced by the influence of the relatives and 26% by the neighbours. Radio and TV programmes have also contributed a significant part to spread the idea of using machine/machineries among the farmers in the state. Agricultural extension network seems to have very little influence in spreading the concept of use of machine/machineries in agriculture. (vii) Cost of maintaining bullock and hiring machines: Cost of maintaining bullock etc and the cost of hiring a tractor or power tiller is important factor which is considered by a farmer when he has to think for the technology to be applied in the agriculture field. If a farmer finds that the cost of hiring a machine is less than the cost of maintaining bullock etc. definitely the farmer will take decision to hire the machine instead of maintaining the animal for ploughing, threshing etc. There is no use of electric power in the machinesmachineries. As a result the cost of running the machines-machineries increases. If electric power could have been used to run the machines-machineries then cost could have been controlled. There is no local repairing centre in the state which also raises the cost of maintenance of machines-machineries because the mechanics have to be hired from city area or from other localities. V. FINDINGS (1) Mechanization of agriculture is a recent phenomenon in Assam. Farmers have started using machine in various activities of agriculture. The extent has so far remained fairly limited because the use of agricultural machines has been made for selected works only like ploughing. It is found that there is crop wise little variation in the agricultural mechanization in the state. Therefore, agricultural mechanization of the state can be regarded as tractorization also. It is also found that the number of farmers who held negative/ indifferent attitude towards the new technology is very small in the whole sample Thus, the Hypothesis (No-1) that the poor resource base of the majority of the farmers and inadequate availability of institutional has been restricting the process of agricultural mechanization in Assam is accepted. Page 116

7 (2) There is no indication that size of farm determines the use of machine and only larger farmers tend to use machine in agriculture. Although owners of large farmers started use of machines in agriculture first and they are using machine in more areas, the small farmers of the state have also started using machine in agricultural activities particularly in the tilling stage. The cost of rearing bullock(s) is increasing. On the other hand, a market of service of agricultural machine is emerging in the state. Considering the comparative cost of rearing bullocks and hiring tractors etc. the small farmers have started using machines in agriculture. Also, it is found, tenancy has not restricted mechanization of agriculture. Tenant farmers have also used agricultural machines by hiring tractors, power tillers etc. in rental basis. Thus the Hypothesis (no-2) that the small size of the land holdings and prevalence of tenancy in the state are also the constraints of mechanization of agriculture is rejected. (3) Mechanization is found high among the educated farm families. The educated farmers have used machines in agricultural activities. Such farmers have developed the tendency of doing agriculture in mechanized way. The study shows that although education has influenced the famers to take loan from bank and use fertilizer etc. the other farmers irrespective of educational background have started using agricultural machines. Credit facility in the state is inadequate to encourage the farmers to adopt modern methods. The high cost of mechanization as a result of high price of diesel, absence of local repairing centers and lack of electricity has restricted the process of mechanization in the state. Thus the Hypothesis (No-3) that the educated farmers in the state are now more inclined to practice agriculture in mechanized way is partially true and accepted. (4) Agricultural infrastructures particularly availability of Irrigation facilitates have played as one of the factors of agricultural mechanization. The mechanization is found more in the areas where the irrigational facilities is more. The use of fertilizer and HYVs has also influence in mechanization of agriculture in Assam. (5) A market of selling services of the agricultural machine is emerging in the state. Along with the lease market, a good market of sale and repairing of agricultural machines is also emerging in the state which opens another area of investigation. (6) Among the various media of transmitting the idea of mechanization, the influence of relatives and neighbours has been found to be the most effective. (7) Dependence on part time hired labour is increasing in agriculture of Assam. Shortage of labour has influenced the extent of use of machine in agriculture. Both the employment generation effects and labour displacing effects are found present in mechanized agriculture. VI. CONCLUSION The findings emerging from the study indicates that the educated farmers in the state are more inclined to practice agriculture in mechanized way. It is true that that the poor resource base of the majority of the farmers in the state and inadequate availability of institutional credit resulting lack of ability to take lumpy investment has been restricting the process of agricultural mechanization in Assam. It is also found that the small size of the holdings and prevalence of tenancy in the state have not remained constraint of mechanization of agriculture in the state of Assam. Because of the presence of a class of educated and young farmers in the agriculture sector of Assam and their inclination for mechanized farming, the agriculture sector in the state is changing its traditional face. Mechanization of agriculture is expected to bring some social changes also. The social structure of the state is mainly agriculture based. The culture, traditions and the beliefs of the people of the state is linked to agriculture. So, with the change of face of the agriculture sector in the state social changes are obvious to come. VII. REFERENCES [1] Bezbaruah, M.P. (1994): Technological Transformation of Agriculture, Mittal Publications, New Delhi. [2] Bhattarai, Madhusudan and A.Narayanmurty (2003): Irrigation Impact on Agricultural Growth and Poverty Alleviation: Macro Level Impact Analysis in India paper presented at IWMA-Tata Workshop, January [3] Dev, S. Mahendra (2002): Bold Initiatives Needed on Agriculture and Rural Employment, EPW, March 23. [4] Dutta, D.C. and K. Gogoi (1973), An Assessment of Small and Marginal Farmers Development Programmes in Assam- a Case Study of Kharif Programmed in Nowgong District of Assam, , Agro economic Research Centre for North East India, Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat, Assam [5] Mallick, B. (1976): Production Strategy for Small Farmers in the Adoption of Improve Methodology of Potato Cultivation, paper presented in the national seminar on New agricultural technology and extension strategy for small and marginal farmers, Ludhiana. [6] Ross Vernon, S. (1970): Factors Affecting Agricultural Development, Review IRRI, Los Banos, Philippines. [7] Sahu, Gagan Bihari and D. Rajsekhar (2005): Banking Sector Reforms and Credit Flow to Indian Agriculture, EPW, December 31. [8] Sen, A, K, (1962): An Aspect of Indian Agriculture, Economic Times (Feb). [9] Sen, A. K. (1975): Employment, Technology and Development, Oxford Clarendon. [10] Swami Nathan, M. S. (1973): Our Agricultural Future, Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture, AIR, New Delhi. Page 117