Farm tractorisation, productivity and labour employment: A case study of Indian Punjab

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this paper is to determine the effects of farm tractorisation on output and human labour employment on Punjab farms in India. The residts seem to suggest that, this far, the use of tractors has resulted in higher output and more employment. The authors believe that the threat from farm tractorisation is not all that great; the use of tractors is likely to be confined to certain areas only, and there too, any displacement of labour should be possible to control through appropriate public policies. Notes Research Associate, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C. and Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA, respectively. The authors are grateful to Professor S. S. Johl of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India for the data and the referee for helpful comments.