Gurlal Singh

Foreign companies import Afghan saffron, which is considered to be best quality in the world. These companies then apply their labels and market the product under their country names. By adopting methodology required for production and market analysis, a study was conducted to determine the potential for production, export and value share. The study used techniques such as compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and decomposition analysis to determine changes in the area, production and productivity of saffron from 1991-92 to 2021-22. The findings revealed that the growth rates of area, production and productivity of saffron significantly increased by 29.61 per cent, 29.06 per cent and 0.42 per cent annually respectively. Additionally, the returns per hectare of Afghanistan’s saffron were compared to other crops such as wheat, rice, corn and barley and the returns of saffron were found to be the highest. The export of Afghanistan’s saffron also increased annually, providing farmers with more income opportunities.

The present study covered 270 respondents. Multistage sampling technique was adopted to collect relevant data. The results showed that the agricultural revolutions had a significant impact on agricultural labourers incomes, but the farmers incomes increased more significantly. In order to meet the economic turning point, agricultural labour wages did not increase sufficiently. Farm workers are compelled to take out loans during the lean season at rates below market value in order to pay for their future services. Demand for labour decreased overtime due to more capital-intensive agriculture and there is no significant industrial hub that might accommodate extra farm labourers. There is also no work during the off-season because farm operations are seasonal. As a result, the working class's income is reduced, which pushes more people below the poverty line. The major source of income for farm labourer is the casual and contractual work with approximately 30 per cent of the total income and the much-hyped central employment scheme MGNRGA contributes only 6 per cent. On an average 10616 was the monthly income and 11493 was the expenditure of agricultural labourer. The drug and medical expenses were making big toll on farm labourer. There was less income inequality among the farm households then higher income groups with Gini ratio /coefficient of 0.25 per cent. There was a negative average propensity to saving. It was concluded that effective oversight of this MGNRGA is required. To address the current and changing nature of agriculture’s labour and wage structures there is need to create and amend regulations.

The sustenance of marginal and small farm households is a pertinent question given that their number is on the rise in South-Asia. The study aims to assess their present socio-economic profile and the challenges faced in order to draw a roadmap of development for these underprivileged households. The study pertains to Indian Punjab and data from the Situation Assessment Survey of the 70th Round of NSSO are used. The concepts of economic surplus, occupational diversity, farm productivity and vertical and horizontal inequalities are used to achieve the objectives. This study reveals that marginal farm households faced food insecurity as they failed to meet consumption expenditure from the income earned. In fact, small farm households are left with an annual economic surplus of Rs 8890 per capita only, after meeting consumption needs. Income is unevenly distributed among farm households with a Gini coefficient of 0.48. The majority of the marginal and small farm households fall in lower-income quintiles and are occupationally more diversified than their larger counterparts. Horizontal inequalities are lower between the farm-size categories (0.14) than within farm-size categories (0.27). The Gini coefficient within each farm-size category is the highest among marginal farm households (0.50), followed by small farm households (0.45), highlighting their economic stress and tug-of-war survival. Further, the farm households belonging to socially lower castes falls only in the marginal farm-size category and represent the lowest income. Development must be sustainable and inclusive, hence, policies to develop marginal farmers’ centric farming systems and high value crops such as potato, cotton, sugarcane and oilseeds, providing high yielding livestock breeds, value addition through farmer-producer organizations, non-farm employment through MGNREGA, provision of institutional credit at subsidised rate of interest and quality health and education facilities in the public sector are recommended to uplift the affected households.