 Farm Size and Returns to Cultivation in India: Revisiting an Old DebateSarthak Gaurav and Srijit Mishra () Oxford Development Studies, 2015, vol. 43, issue 2, 165-193 Abstract: This paper revisits the long-debated question of the relationship between farm size and productivity by studying the relationship between area cultivated and net returns to cultivation in India using a nationally representative data-set. The analysis is carried out separately for the two major agricultural seasons, kharif and rabi , and for both the seasons pooled together. Our findings suggest the existence of an inverse relationship, even when we control for a number of household and farm characteristics and even when we treat factors such as household type (occupation), social group (caste), agro-climatic zone (region) and agricultural season as fixed effects. The result is also robust to correction for selection bias. However, the efficiency of the smallholder as a result of this greater productivity has to be treated with some caution as it ignores the low absolute levels of their returns, which raise questions about the sustainability of their livelihoods. This is further aggravated by the fact that they pay relatively higher unit costs and because of their greater dependence on purchased inputs. Date: 2015 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:43:y:2015:i:2:p:165-193 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2014.982081 Access Statistics for this article Oxford Development Studies is currently edited by Jo Boyce and Frances Stewart More articles in Oxford Development Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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