Farm size and land productivity in Indian agriculture: A reappraisal
- 1 October 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Development Studies
- Vol. 16 (1) , 27-49
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00220387908421742
Abstract
This paper seeks to assess the significance of the celebrated inverse relationship between farm size and land‐productivity in the context of Indian agriculture. It is argued that the inverse relationship does not reflect a superiority of peasant production over wage‐labour‐based production as is often supposed. It exists independently of production relations and thus reflects only a static superiority of small‐scale over large‐scale production. An essential precondition for this superiority, however, is a backwardness of technology. With technological progress involving the introduction of chemical fertilizers, labour‐saving machinery and modern irrigation equipment, the inverse relationship is, therefore, likely to disappearKeywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Size, Productivity, and Returns to Scale: An Analysis of Farm-Level Data in Indian AgricultureJournal of Political Economy, 1973