Poverty among Small and Marginal Farmers in Sangrur District

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. According to 2001 Census of India 72.2 per cent of population live in villages. At present, agriculture sector provides livelihood to about 65 per cent to 70 per cent of the total population. Contribution of agriculture in GDP is 22 per cent. Its multiplier effect on whole economy i. e. growth of other sectors and overall economy depends on performance of agriculture to a considerable extent. Although Green Revolution increased food grain production, but it also increased disparities amongst farmers, regions and crops. It is assumed that Green Revolution is not completely green in the sense that New Agriculture Strategy is mainly related to farmers with large holdings. The facilities are not accessible to small and marginal farmers. With the use of this new technique, as the land holding increases, cost per hectare decreases and vice-versa. Price of agricultural output is continuously increasing, but its rate of increase is less than input cost price and price of other goods. In 1991, New Economic Policy was adopted and agriculture was not included in it. Agriculture was included in 1995 under the 8th round of WTO. There was a hope that Indian farmers will get larger gains because they had the potential to increase exports of agricultural products. But it turned out to be a dream. Inclusion of patent regime raised the prices of seeds and on the other hand, prices of agricultural products sharply decreased in the international market. For example in Andhra Pradesh, farmers spent nearly Rs.1500 to 2500 on BT cotton seeds per acre. Prices of cotton dropped from Rs.2000-2500 to Rs.1800 per quintal between 2003-04 and 2004-05. The average size of holding in India is continuously decreasing because according to 2001 Census population level touched the peak at 102.87 crores. In India, joint family system is continuously breaking down. And has resulted in division and fragmentation of land, there by increasing small and marginal farmers holdings. These conditions adversely affected the small and marginal farmer as they are vulnerable to crop losses and price fall. Small and marginal farmers are generally poor; they take loan to fulfill their household and agricultural needs. Although the agriculture production has increased significantly after the mid sixties, but the small and marginal farmers are still in the clutches of poverty. So in the present paper it was decided to study income and Poverty amongsmall and marginal farmers in Punjab by taking a sample Sangrur District. The total paper is divided in four sections namely- Introduction, research methodology& review of literature, Data analysis and interpretation followed by conclusions