Agriculture notes prepared by IAS Topper for all agriculture based competitive exams-Agricutural Economics-Farm Resource Management

Farm Resource Management

Labour:

There are four types of farm labours

1.      Farm manager’s labour

2.      Family labour

3.      Permanently hired labour

4.      Casual labour

Special features of Indian farm labour

·        Farm labour in India is huge and more than sufficient

·        Indian labourers are mostly unskilled in nature

·        Majority of the labourers are living below poverty line and are mostly under debt

·        Labourers are paid low wage that too largely in the form of kind

·        More hours of work and irregular timings

·        Employment opportunities are meager, seasonal and uncertain

Improving the efficiency of farm labour

Although farm labour in India is abundant, the improvement in efficiency of labour is an important consideration

1). Enlarging farm business: To utilize all the available labour resource at maximum efficiency, sufficient work must be provided through out the year. It can be done, by expansion of land area by purchasing or leasing, secondly by adding more labour intensive enterprises to intensify farm business.

2). Planning labour distribution It can be done by two ways

Enterprise combination: Different enterprises are combined in such a way that there is no much pressure of labour demand during harvest season and less demand during slack season.

Mixed farming: Combining diary, pultry, piggery etc, along with the crop cultivation  provides enough opportunity for employment for the labour force during slack seasons.

3). Improved farm and field lay out to increase the economy of movement of labour and other equipments from field to field and to increase the performance of operation

4). Location of farm buildings to be in such a way that minimum possible movement of labour, cattle etc to all the areas of the farm.

5). Management of labour

a). Planning of work: preparation of labour calendars, planning of workd and duty one day in advance, checking of tools and implements before assigning work and assigning of work according to the labour capability

b). Labour incentives: timely paying of wages, more wages to those who are skilled, provision of housing, recreation and health care facilities, and humanly treatment.

6). Farm work Simplification: Breaking each operation into its constituent parts and examining each part carefully to determine whether it is necessary to do, who should do, whether can be combined with other works, etc. will improve the efficiency of farm labour

To summerise, the main objective of labour management is to improve work efficiency by improving work methods so that high quality work is accomplished in less time