Agricultural labour and farming practices in punjab a geographical analysis

Abstract

The study has examined the changes in agricultural labour at tehsil and district level for census years of 1991 and 2011 in Punjab. To know the ground realities, primary data has been collected from 499 farms selected through proportionate stratified random sampling in 2017. The findings revealed that the use of labour, local as well as migrant, in agricultural practices has decreased in all parts of the state. The decline is ascribed largely to mechanization of major farming operations resulting into a significant decline in the application of man-hours in almost all crops, casualization of labour and irregular employment in the farming sector. Vegetable farming however has shown an increase in the demand for labour in a few pockets. Dairy farming was a major contributor of employment on almost all surveyed farms. Agroforestry, kinnow farming and fishery were other agricultural allied activities which employed a major share of permanent agricultural labour on larger farms. The study highlighted the need for formulation of region specific policy to absorb displaced agricultural labour through crop diversification and providing a financial package for the promotion of agricultural allied activities in the state. newline