Employment generation potential of integrated farming systems on small farm situations in India.
K.P. Singh, S.N. Singh, and V.S. Kadian
CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar – 125 004 (India).
Abstract
The studies were conducted for twelve years at experimental farm of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, situated in semi-arid tract of northwest India. Integrated farming systems models were developed and their employment generation potentials were compared for several years at various land holding sizes under different situations. The labor utilization in different months and seasons during the year was computed from the daily data collected from different units. Employment generation was about three to six times higher and uniformly distributed throughout the year in mixed farming systems and specialized dairy farming systems compared to arable farming. Total employment generation and its distribution during different seasons have been discussed in this paper.
Introduction
Indian economy is predominately rural in character and is still dominated by the agriculture sector, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employs close to two-third of the labour forces. Despite respectable GDP growth rates (around 5 per cent a year), India has unemployment rate of about 15 per cent. Looking into the grim situation of employment in the country in general and agriculture sector in particular, there is urgent need to give emphasis to generate avenues for creating more jobs in this sector. Mixed farming has been suggested to be a better way for providing regular and uniform employment for rural masses throughout the year (Singh et al., 1985). Studies were conducted at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, (India) with the aim to find the employment generation potential of integrated mixed farming systems vis-à-vis arable farming.
Materials and Method
Studies were conducted for several years at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar (India) on 4.0 acres (1.5 ha), 3.0 acres (1.2 ha), 2.5 acres (1 ha), 1.5 acres (0.6 ha) and 1.0 acre (0.4 ha) canal irrigated land farming units. Different farming systems were comprised of arable farming and mixed farming with 3 milch animals on 2.5 acres (1 ha); arable and mixed farming with 1 or 2 milch animals on 1.5 acre (0.6 ha) and 1.0 acre (0.4 ha); mixed farming(with four milch animals) or arable farming + one milch animal on 4.0 acres (1.5 ha); specialized or mixed farming (with one or two milch animals) and arable farming on 1.5 acres (0.6 ha) and 1.0 acre (0.4 ha); and rearing of units of sheep or goat with 15 or 30 animals on grazing systems.
Labor generation in different farming systems on the basis of actual hours put in different operations and crop husbandry was recorded .The labour hours were converted into man-days on the basis of eight hours a day. The labour employment potential in different farming systems was compared on the basis of agricultural year (July to June) during the study periods.
Results and Discussion
The data on labour employment under various farming systems are given in Table 1 ,2 and 3. Employment varied widely from month to month and season to season. Human labour represents an important component in crop production and livestock management. The data in Table 1 reveal that on the unit of 2.5 acre (1 ha) irrigated land arable farming generated unequal labor opportunities maximum being during October, April and May with lean periods during other months. Mixed farming systems generated about three times more labor days (around 600 days compared to around 190 days in arable farming). The labor days distribution was almost uniform throughout the year in mixed farming systems. Similar trend was also observed on small and marginal land holdings of 1.5 acres (0.6 ha) and 1.0 acre (0.4 ha) irrigated land units ( Table 2) and large unit of 4.0 acres (1.5 ha) (Table 3). Table 3 shows that integrated mixed farming and specialized dairy farming systems with two milch animals on 1.0 acre (0.4ha) land generated about 6 times labour ( about 295 man days per year) as compared to arable farming on 1 acre (0.4ha) land without milch animals (33 man days per year). The same trend was also observed on 3.0 acres (1.2ha) land, specialized dairy farming and mixed farming with two milch animals provided 326 and 329 man-days per year, respectively, as compared to only 78 man days per year in arable farming. The need of labor varied from season to season and month to month, depending upon the field operations in different crops. However, after including milch animals with arable farming, the employment generation was almost constant and equal throughout the year for maintaining the milch animals. Similar findings have been reported by Rai and Singh (1982), Pracer et. al. (1983) and Singh et. al. (1990) under irrigated situations.
Under dry land conditions, rearing of units of sheep or goat generated more employment opportunities. The sheep or goat rearing on grazing had always been profitable (Nehra et.al. 1992 and Singh et.al. 1993) and also provided constant and uniform employment to farm labor family.
These results clearly indicate that specialized dairy farming and integrated mixed farming with milch animals on various size of land holdings can provide manifold and uniform employment to rural masses. Thus, these systems may help in alleviating poverty and improve the economic conditions and living standard of rural population in developing countries.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the contribution of multi-disciplinary research team of farming system group of Department of Agronomy, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, (India) during the course of studies conducted for developing integrated farming system models.
References
Singh N., Malik B.S. and Kairon M.S. (1985). Tips for mixed farming. Indian Farming. 34: 29.
Singh S.N., Singh K.P., Singh N., Kadian V.S. and Dahiya S.S. (1990). Employment potentialities of different farming systems. Haryana Agric. University J. Res. 20: 186-190.
Rai K.N. and Singh S.N. (1982). Income and employment effects of live stoke and new dry land farm technology in Haryana. Ind. J. Dairy Sci.35: 203-208.
Pracer R.D., Chaudhary S. K. and Gautam V. (1983). Income and employment effects of milch animals on different farm size in karnal district of Haryana. Paper presented in seminar on Challenges of Rural Development in North-Western Region Of India held at Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, March 2-3,1983.
Nehra O.P., Singh N., Singh S.N., Kumar V. Singh K.P. and Kadian V.S. (1992). Comparative studies on economics of various farming systems under semi-arid tracts of Southern Haryana. Indian J. Anim. Prod. Mgmt. 8: 121-124.
Singh K.P. Singh, S.N. Kumar H., Kadian V.S. and Saxena K.K.(1993). Economic analysis of different farming systems followed on small and marginal land holdings in Haryana. Haryana J. Agron. 9:122-125.
Corresponding Author Contact Information:
Dr. K.P. Singh, Professor of Agronomy and Controller of Examinations, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana-125 004(India), Phone: 91-1662-31518 (O), 35076(R), Fax : 91-1662-34613, , Poster, Small farm diversification and competitiveness.
Table1: Employment generation in various farming systems on different size holding under irrigated
and dryland conditions.
Farming system / Kharif (rainy season) / Rabi (winter season) / S / Grand TotalJ / A / S / O /
Total
/ J / D / J / F / M / A / M / Total / J2.5 acres (1.0 ha) irrigated land (1984-85 to 1990-91)
Arable farming / 23 / 15 / 21 / 48 / 107 / 15 / 7 / 5 / 2 / 3 / 21 / 17 / 70 / 10 / 187
Mixed with 3 X-bred cows / 54 / 49 / 49 / 66 / 218 / 47 / 44 / 42 / 40 / 44 / 51 / 49 / 317 / 43 / 578
Mixed with 3 buffaloes / 60 / 54 / 54 / 78 / 246 / 53 / 48 / 48 / 45 / 49 / 58 / 56 / 357 / 49 / 652
Sheep and goats units on grazing under dryland
15 goat (1984-85 to 88-89) / 18 / 18 / 17 / 18 / 71 / 17 / 18 / 18 / 17 / 18 / 17 / 18 / 123 / 17 / 21115 sheep (1984-85 to 88-89) / 19 / 19 / 18 / 19 / 75 / 18 / 19 / 19 / 17 / 19 / 18 / 19 / 130 / 18 / 223
30 goat (1989-90 to 90-91) / 35 / 35 / 34 / 35 / 139 / 34 / 35 / 35 / 32 / 35 / 34 / 35 / 240 / 34 / 397
30 sheep (1989-90 to 90-91) / 35 / 35 / 34 / 35 / 139 / 34 / 35 / 35 / 32 / 35 / 34 / 35 / 240 / 34 / 397
* The agricultural year from July (J) to June (J); Months have been mentioned by first word of the month; S-Summer season
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Table 2 : Employment generation in various farming systems on different size holding under irrigated conditions.
Farming system / Kharif (rainy season) / Rabi (winter season) / S / Grand TotalJ / A / S / O /
Total
/ J / D / J / F / M / A / M / Total / J1 acre (0.4ha) irrigated land(1991-92 to 1992-93)
Arable farming / 6 / 9 / 5 / 18 / 38 / 5 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 8 / 5 / 23 / 0 / 61
Mixed with 1 X-bred cow / 14 / 14 / 13 / 17 / 58 / 14 / 11 / 12 / 11 / 12 / 20 / 16 / 96 / 11 / 165
Mixed with 1 buffalo / 14 / 13 / 13 / 16 / 56 / 14 / 12 / 12 / 12 / 12 / 20 / 17 / 99 / 11 / 166
1.5 acres (0.6ha) irrigated land (1991-92 to 1992-93)
Arable farming / 6 / 7 / 4 / 24 / 41 / 7 / 1 / 4 / 5 / 4 / 23 / 6 / 50 / 0 / 91
Mixed with 1 X-bred cow / 18 / 17 / 16 / 23 / 74 / 17 / 12 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 26 / 16 / 116 / 11 / 201
Mixed with 1 buffalo / 17 / 17 / 16 / 25 / 75 / 20 / 13 / 14 / 16 / 16 / 28 / 16 / 123 / 11 / 209
Mixed with 2 X-bred cow / 26 / 26 / 25 / 35 / 112 / 27 / 24 / 24 / 22 / 25 / 33 / 29 / 184 / 23 / 319
Mixed with 2 buffalo / 27 / 26 / 26 / 34 / 113 / 27 / 25 / 24 / 22 / 24 / 32 / 28 / 182 / 23 / 318
* The agricultural year from July (J) to June (J); Months have been mentioned by first word of the month; S-Summer season
Table3: Employment generation in various farming systems on different size holding under irrigated conditions
J / A / S / O /
Total
/ J / D / J / F / M / A / M / Total / J4 acres (1.5 ha) irrigated land (1993-94 to 1995-96)
Arable + Mixed with 1 X-bred cow / 117 / 129 / 23 / 269
Mixed with 4 X-bred cows / 209 / 292 / 86 / 587
Mixed with 4 buffaloes / 209 / 297 / 86 / 592
1 acre (0.4ha) irrigated land (1996-97 to 1998-99)
Arable farming / 3 / 2 / 3 / 9 / 17 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 4 / 15 / 1 / 33
Specialized dairy farming 2 milch animals / 26 / 25 / 25 / 27 / 103 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 21 / 25 / 24 / 26 / 168 / 24 / 295
Mixed with 2 milch animals / 25 / 24 / 23 / 29 / 101 / 25 / 24 / 25 / 21 / 25 / 25 / 26 / 171 / 24 / 296
3 acres (1.2ha) irrigated land (1996-97 to 1998-99)
Arable farming / 5 / 4 / 5 / 22 / 36 / 8 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 10 / 15 / 41 / 1 / 78
Specialized dairy farming with two milch animals / 29 / 26 / 25 / 36 / 116 / 25 / 24 / 25 / 21 / 25 / 29 / 35 / 184 / 24 / 326
Mixed with 2 milch animals / 28 / 25 / 25 / 36 / 114 / 27 / 26 / 25 / 21 / 26 / 30 / 36 / 191 / 24 / 329
* The agricultural year from July (J) to June (J); Months have been mentioned by first word of the month; S-Summer season
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