Sunday, 9 December 2012

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


Farm Management

Nature and characteristics of farm management

1. Practical science: Physical and biological sciences deals with facts whereas farm management deals with the practical application of the facts for the profitability of farm
2. Profitability oriented: farm management is profitability and practicability oriented whereas other sciences aim at maximizing the production without giving any consideration to the cost of inputs. Therefore, other sciences deal with physical efficiency whereas the farm management deals with economic efficiency.
3. Integrating science: farm management takes care of all the ideal parameters for a viable business thereby it integrates all the sciences in an useful manner.
Broader science:  A farm manager should be jack of many trades and master of one.
4. Micro-approach: farm management assumes that no two farms are exactly identical with respect to soil, other production resources, farmer’s managerial ability etc. Each farm unit has to be therefore studied or planned individually.
5. Farm unit as a whole: farm management considers all possible aspects and enterprises as a single unit. It aims not a high productivity of a particular enterprise but overall productivity of a farm.

Scope of Farm Management

Farm management deals with the farm business, which have bearing on the economic efficiency of farm. Thus the types of enterprises to be combined. The kind of crops and varieties to be grown, the dosage of fertilizer to be applied, the implementation to be used etc. all fall in the purview of farm management. The subject of farm management includes
a). Farm Management research: To find solutions to economic problem faced by farmers, continuous recording of data is important to analyze and find the problems and to find remedies.
b). Farm management techniques: Due to modernization, there are lot of alternatives available, which makes more complex for decision making. Therefore, teaching is important to understand the problems of farmers.
c). Farm Management Extension: To provide the results of research finding, training illiterate farmers are important which can be achieved through extension.
            These three helps to improve the ability of farmers to introduce desirable changes in utilization of scarce resources at a farm with a view to increase income and improve standard of living of farmers.

Importance of Farm Management

Due to mechanization, commercialization and modernization agriculture has shifted from subsistence to market oriented production.
  1. Farm management can increase the return from fixed resources in a farm through suitable adjustment, as it deals with decision making for utilization of fixed and limited farm resources
  2. Advances in technology gives equal results in both small and large farms. Effective use of new technology leads to increase in producer surpls.
  3. Progressive industrial development has increased the choice of alternatives in relation to type and use of fertilizer, insecticides, implements and agricultural machineries etc. This enhance the application of farm managent so as to take decision skillfully to adopt these inputs in order to rationalize the resource use under new set of alternatives.
  4. Level of awareness of farmers increases with increased education facilities and extension programme. Farmers learn more quickly if they are convinced on cost return analysis of such suggested management action. Therefore, farm management is an effective educational tool for the poor farmers.

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