SOCIO-ECONOMIC ATTRIBUTES OF AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Abstract

In the present study, socio-economic attributes which affect agricultural patterns are analyzed, because these factors impact the land-use and crop land use patterns effectively in each physical environment. For achieving this objective, various attributes are considered which effected maize cultivation in Himachal Pradesh. The main selected attributes are density of rural population, agricultural workers, sources of irrigation, extent of irrigation, size of land holdings, consumption of chemical fertilizers, share of High Yielding Varieties of seeds, road density, market accessibility, etc. It is observed that share of agricultural workers is moderate to high in maize predominant areas, because maize requires more human hands as compared to other crops. While size of land holdings also affected agricultural operations and in respect of extent of irrigation it determines area under different crops. Whereas road accessibility has influenced area under different crops, which enhances the movements of inputs from market to field and agricultural produce from farm to market. Same observations are found in marketing facilities, because the magnitude of marketing facilities enthused the cultivation of a crop, which farmers can carry to the market and earn respectable economic returns. Thus, study has concluded that socio-economic attributes played very decisive role in agriculture. The present study is for the 2014-15 year, which is based on secondary sources of data and personal observations. Three years averages of 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 are taken for determining the 2014-15 period. Simple statistical techniques are used and choropleth method is applied for preparing the maps.