economics

• The purpose of the story is to introduce some basic concepts relating to production through a story of a hypothetical village called Palampur
• Farming is the main activity in Palampur, whereas several other activities such as small scale manufacturing, dairy, transport, etc. are carried out on a limited scale
• Production activities need various types of resources — natural resources, man made items, human effort, money, etc.
• Palampur is well-connected with neighbouring villages and towns
• Palampur has about 450 families belonging to several different castes
• The 80 upper caste families own the majority of land in the village
• The SCs (dalits) comprise one third of the population and live in one corner of the village and in much smaller houses some of which are of mud and straw
• Most of the houses have electric connections
• Palampur has two primary schools and one high school, a primary health centre run by the government and one private dispensary
• Farming is the main production activity in Palampur, with 75% of the people dependent on it for their livelihood
• There has been no expansion in land area under cultivation in Palampur since 1960
• Hectare


  Standard unit of measuring land, equal to the area of a square with one side measuring 100 metres
• All land is cultivated in Palampur, with no land left idle
• Crops grown in Palampur

  • Jowar and bajra (in kharif season)
  • Potato (between October and December)
  • Wheat (in rabi season)
  • Sugarcane
• The main reason farmers are able to grow three different crops in a year in Palampur is due to the well-developed system of irrigation
• By mid-1970s, the entire cultivated area of 200 hectares in Palampur was irrigated
• Multiple cropping


  Growing more than one crop on a piece of land during the year, a way of increasing production on a given piece of land
• Till the mid 1960s, the seeds used in cultivation were traditional ones with relatively low yields
• High Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds


  Seeds that promise to produce much greater amounts of grain on a single plant compared to traditional seeds
• HYV seeds needed plenty of water and also chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce best results
• Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh were the first to try out the modern farming method in India
• In Palampur, the yield of wheat grown from the traditional varieties was 1300 kg per hectare, which went up to 3200 kg per hectare with HYV seeds
• Modern farming methods require the farmer to start with more cash than before
• Suggested activities for students

  • Talk to farmers in the region to find out about the farming methods used, sources of irrigation, and where farmers obtain the inputs they require
• The Green Revolution introduced the Indian farmer to cultivation of wheat and rice using high yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds
• Higher yields were possible only from a combination of HYV seeds, irrigation, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc.
• Yield of wheat from traditional varieties

  1300 kg per hectare
• Yield of wheat from HYV seeds

  3200 kg per hectare
• There was a large increase in the production of wheat
• Farmers now had greater amounts of surplus wheat to sell in the markets
• Modern farming methods


  Require the farmer to start with more cash than before
• Why do modern farming methods require more cash? Suggested Activity: During your field visit talk to some farmers of your region
• Things to find out from farmers

  • What kind of farming methods — modern or traditional or mixed — do the farmers use?
  • What are the sources of irrigation?
  • How much of the cultivated land is irrigated? (very little/nearly half/ majority/all)
  • From where do farmers obtain the inputs that they require?
• Multiple cropping


  Difference from modern farming method
• Production of pulses and wheat in India after the Green Revolution (in million tonnes)

  • Pulses: 10, 12, 11, 14, 11, 18, 23, 23
  • Wheat: 10, 24, 36, 55, 70, 87, 94, 96, 87, 94, 99, 100, 104, 108
• Was the Green Revolution equally successful for both the crops? Discuss.
• Working capital required by the farmer using modern farming methods

  More than before
• Modern farming methods have overused the natural resource base
• Green Revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility due to increased use of chemical fertilisers
• Continuous use of groundwater for tubewell irrigation has led to the depletion of the water-table