Socio-Economic Status of Farmers During Pre and Post Liberalization: A Case Study from Punjab

Abstract

The findings of our study show that farmers have been debt ridden because of high interest rates charged by money lenders. They are dependent only on two crops, viz. wheat and paddy. Income wise relation depicts that more of farmers with low income are producing wheat and cotton, while the large farmers with higher income produce paddy, cotton and wheat. Relationship between size of holding and cropping pattern depicts that more number of farmers with small sized holdings are producing wheat and cotton, while the farmers with large land holdings prefer to produce paddy, cotton and wheat The others predominant characteristics are: illiteracy of farmers, excess spending on social ceremonies like marriage etc. 40.66% farmers are having small land holdings and are unable use modern machinery resulting in low productivity and low income. There is a strong incidence of indebtedness. 16% farmers pay 6% rate of interest, 52% of farmers pay 6-10% rate of interest and 32% farmers are those who pay 18% and above rate of interest. The results of secondary data reveals that the growth rates for agricultural credit are higher than that of agricultural productivity for the entire period as well as in the pre as well as post- liberalisation period. Growth rates for indirect finances from commercial banks for both the number of accounts and for amount outstanding are higher than that for direct finances.