ABSTRACT:

Agricultural crop production anywhere in the world depends on a variety of factors or inputs like climate, soil, terrain, irrigation, market, capital, fertilizers, pesticides, farm machineries and so on. Also the same is closely related to the amount of ownership holdings. The role of some factors among these are crucial where as there are some factors which influences the productivity but not in significant magnitude. It is found that there are some inputs which are closely related to each other in the field of production process. The output or the productivities are the complex function of the relationships or the inputs themselves.The present paper is an attempt to analyse statistically the inter relationship within the inputs and between the inputs and output interms of net value of crops in the Mayurakshi-Basloiinfluve of Birbhum District, West Bengal.

 

INTRODUCTION:

Agricultural productivity or outputis the ratio between the production and the input required for the production. The productivity of agricultural crops; anywhere in the world is the function of a set of physical and cultural factors likerelief, climate, soil, drainage,land holdings, irrigation, organic manure, chemical fertilizers, plant protection measures, capital, market, transport, institutional facilities and alike which vary from place to place depending on the physical set up and socio-economic condition of the area. Each and every input plays a definite role in generating output and so in making the net value of crops. Also there is a close relationship between these inputs. The present paper is an attempt to examine the relationships among such factors and between the factors and the productivity of crops in terms of the net value through the analysis of correlation matrix in the Mayurakshi-Basloi interfluve of Birbhum District, West Bengal.

 

Objectives of the study:

Major objectives of the present paper are to:       

·       Study the nature and extent of application of different inputs in production process.

·       Find out the importance of different inputs in agricultural production.

·       Study the relationship between the application of different inputs and productivity level of crops in terms of their net value.

 

 

 

Data base and Analytical procedure:

The study is based on primary as well as secondary data. The data like land holdings, % of net sown area to total area, cropping intensity, family size, consumption of organic and inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides and their cost, irrigation cost, labour cost, productivity of crops, gross production and expenditure value of crops per acre etc have been collected through field survey and from agricultural office, irrigation office and from different books and journals.

 

To complete the study, following important variables have been selected. Dependent variable, y = net value of all crops in Rs/acre. Independent variables-

1.     x₁= total amount of own land.

2.     x₂ =  % of  irrigated area  to net sown area.

3.     x₃ = cost of chemical fertilizer per acre of gross cropped area.

4.     x₄= cost of pesticide per acre of gross copped area.

5.     x₅= cost of weedicide per acre of gross cropped area.

6.     x₆= cost of neematocide per acre of gross cropped area.

7.     x₇ = technological cost per acre.

8.     x₈ = total labour cost per acre.

9.     x₉ = gross value of production per acre.

10. x₁₀ = gross expenditure value per acre.

11. x₁₁ = % of net sown area to total land.

12. x₁₂ = cropping intensity.

 

After compilation, the data are then analysed with the help of statistical method - correlation matrixand finally presented these through suitable tables.

 

Correlation matrix is a statistical technique that indicates the interrelationships between a set of independent variables and between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables.Identification of such interrelationships among different characteristics of any study is an essential concern of a scientific investigation. An interrelationship between the two characteristics exists only when one of them may logically consider as the causes of the other.The degree of relationship (linear or nonlinear) between any two variables depends on the close ness of the cluster of points to the straight line or to any curve.In the present study, dependent variable (y) is considered as net value of all crops (in Rs) per acre whereas twelve above mentioned variables (x₁,x₂……..x₁₂₎ have been treated as independent variables. Thus the variations in dependent variables may be explained in terms of the variations in the independent variables.

Location of the study area:

Interfluve of the Mayurakshi and Basloi riverin Birbhum district located in between 23⁰52′ 23.7″ N to 24⁰32′ 17.5″ N latitude and 87⁰27′ 16.1″ E to 88⁰01′ 21.8″ E longitude has been selected for the present study. Thearea is surrounded by the Basloiriverin the north, the river Mayurakshi in the south,Murshidabaddistricts in the east andSantalparganadistrict of Jharkhand in the west. The area covers the blocks like Murarai-I&II, Nalhati-I&II, Rampurhat-I&II, Mayureswar-I&II and Md. Bazar. It has an area of 1833 sqkms with a population of 1448338 in 2001. For the data collection five villages namely Angargoria, Dakshingram, Kamakha, Paikarand Tail Para have been selected purposively form different corners of the entire study area.

 

 

Fig-1: Location of the study area and study villages                                      

 

Agricultural scenario of the area:

The interfluve is one of the agriculturally advanced tract of the district. The agro climatic conditions of the area are suitable for the cultivation of a variety of crops and so the crops are  grown throughout the year depending upon the availability of water. In kharif season more than 94% area of this interfluve comes under agriculture. During off-monsoon season they irrigate crop lands by using canal, tube well and pond water. As a whole the farmers in the study area produce a variety of crops like aman and boro paddy, wheat, potato, mustard seed, sugarcane, mulberry, ginger, arum and a number of vegetables including cauliflower, cabbage, sponge gourd, bitter gourd, bringle, pumpkin, bean, radish, ladysfinger, tomato etc depending on the agro climatic situation and socioeconomic condition of the locality.The cropping intensity ranges here in between 122% and 266% (Principle Agricultural Office, Suri).

 

During pre-independence period farmers in the district apply mainly organic manure especially farm yard manure to produce aman paddy and a few number of other crops. As a fact of green revolution, they start to use technological package especially a variety of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides etc in crop production. After the application of technological package, productivity of all crops increase significantly which enhances the gross and net value of the same.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

The synthesized observation made on the basis of correlation coefficients indicates that, at Angargoria village larger amount of net value of crops are produced in those farms who apply larger amount of chemical fertilizer to produce crops. The owner of such farms have larger amount of net sown area which makes higher levels of gross expenditure value and gross value of production per acre although they have  smaller amount of labour and neemetodecide cost.  Big farmers apply larger dose of fertilizer and weedicide for they cultivate lands throughout the year.Gross value of production and gross expenditure value are smaller to those farms who have larger amount of pesticide cost per acre.The owners of the smaller farms in this village have smaller amount of gross expenditure and gross value of production per acre but opposite picture is noticed in case of the big farmers as is found in the table.

 

Table-1: Increase of productivity of some crops after the application of chemical fertilizers.

Sl no	Crops	Increase of productivity (quintal/acre)
1	Aman paddy	3.8-15.0
2	Boro paddy	7.5-20.0
3	Mustard seed	1.3-3.8
4	Wheat	3.8-10.0
5	Potato	22.5-75.0
6	Arum	20.0-62.0

Source: Field survey during 2009

 

 

Table- 2: Interrelationships between different variables at Angargoria village.         

	y	x1	x2	x3	x4	x5	x6	x7	x8	x9	x10	x11	x12
y	1
x1	-.13	1
x2	.16	-.15	1
x3	.54**	.37**	.03	1
x4	-.25	-.03	.07	-.27	1
x5	-.21	.65**	-.17	.34*	-.15	1
x6	-.29*	-.37**	.18	-.38**	.21	-.24	1
x7	-.03	.15	-.09	.24	.02	.24	-.33*	1
x8	-.48**	-.00	-.27	-.33*	.17	.23	.15	.05	1
x9	.94**	.03	.12	.71**	-.32*	-.07	-.40**	.12	-.51**	1
x10	.77**	.20	.06	.82**	-.36**	.08	-.48**	.25	-.48**	.93**	1
x11	.29*	.12	.13	.36**	-.08	-.00	-.14	.25	-.45**	.38**	.44**	1
x12	.12	.38**	-.10	.11	.26	.00	.21	-.12	-00	.12	.01	.26	1

Table computed from field data.  ** = Significant at 1% level and * =   Significant at 5% level of significance

 

The integrated study shows that, considerable amount of net value of all crops per acre is generated in the farms of those farmers at Dakshingram village who invest larger amount of money for the purchase and apply of chemical fertilizer to crop fields. This requires large amount of money as gross expenditurevalue but they earn considerable amount of gross value of production. The big farmers here invest largeramount of money as cost of pesticide, cost of weedicide and cost of neematocide per acre for the production of different crops. In this village the farms which are largely irrigated have larger percentage of net sown area and employ large number of labour to perform the farm works and so the cost. Such farmers invest lessly for neematocide. But the farmers, who apply larger amount of weedicide and neematocide,invest smaller amount for the deployment of labour force in agricultural activities in their farms. They devote considerable amount of land for the practice of multiple cropping. The picture is cleared in the following table.

Table- 3: Interrelationships between different variables at Dakshingram village        

	y	x1	x2	x3	x4	x5	X6	x7	x8	x9	x10	X11	x12
y	1
x1	-.09	1
x2	.16	-.27	1
x3	.60**	-.09	.01	1
x4	-.07	.37**	-.15	-.23	1
x5	-.03	.66**	-32*	-.17	.44**	1
x6	-.24	.53**	-.24	-.35*	.43**	.42**	1
x7	.17	-.17	.02	.17	-.10	.03	-.17	1
x8	.20	-.14	.07	.62**	-.30*	-.17	-31**	.00	1
x9	.65**	-.04	.09	.33*	-.10	.04	-.13	.02	.09	1
x10	.81**	.06	.16	.60**	-.16	.05	-.17	.10	.31*	.76**	1
x11	.288	-.27	.29*	-.01	.11	-.25	-.03	.21	-.18	.15	.13	1
x12	-.04	.20	-.12	-.20	.09	.35**	.36**	-.03	-.08	-.10	.11	-26	1

Table computed from field data.  ** = Significant at 1% level and * =   Significant at 5% level of significance

 

The study indicates that, the farmers at Kamakha village who earn considerable amount of net value of crops per acre are big farmers and apply large amount of chemical fertilizer to produce crops. Consequently they have higher levels of gross expenditure value and gross value of production per acre too. The owners of the big farms here apply neemetodecide largely but they have smaller value of cropping intensity as they are least interested in cultivating lands throughout the years.  The cost of chemical fertilizer, neemetodecide and gross expenditure value are larger to those farms who employ labour largely and invest larger amount of money as technological and pesticide cost. In such farms it is found that the dose ofneemetodecide is larger. Such farmers in this village employ large number of labours to perform agricultural activities which makes larger amount of gross expenditure value but the gross value of production per acre they produce is also high. In such farms the net sown area is comparatively smaller. In this village the farmers who produce different crops throughout the year spend larger amount of money as technological cost and total labour cost. 

 

Table-4: Interrelationships between different variables at Kamakha village       

	y	x1	x2	x3	x4	x5	x6	x7	x8	x9	x10	x11	x12
y	1
x1	.37**	1
x2	-.11	-.21	1
x3	.44**	.43**	-.12	1
x4	-.07	.09	-.01	-.06	1
x5	.04	.19	.00	.19	-.29*	1
x6	.27	.45**	-.17	.46**	.23	.36**	1
x7	.23	.20	.10	.26	.29*	-.13	.11	1
x8	.14	.09	.10	.52**	-.11	.12	.31*	.37*	1
x9	.95**	.43**	-.07	.62**	-.06	.09	.34*	.27	.23	1
x10	.79**	.45**	-.02	.70**	-.05	.06	.32*	.25	.27	.93**	1
x11	.05	-.25	.00	-.19	-.11	.00	-.40**	-.07	-.07	-.02	-.11	1
x12	.11	-.33*	.25	-.18	-.11	-.00	-.15	.35*	-.21	.07	.02	-.06	1

Table computed from field data.  ** = Significant at 1% level and * =   Significant at 5% level of significance

 

The integrated study reveals that the farmers at Paikar village who put up with large amount of money as the cost of chemical fertilizer earn considerable amount of net value of crops and gross value of production per acre. The same farmers invest largely as technological cost but they apply smaller dose of pesticide and so the cost. But the owners of big farms apply larger dose of chemical pesticide, weedicide and neemetodecide for crop production. They have larger amount of net sown area and the cropping intensity is not larger in such farms but the same is considerably large where the percentage of irrigated area is larger. The gross value of production per acre is larger in those farms who spend larger amount as cost of chemical fertilizer, technological cost, total labour cost and so the gross expenditure value per acre. The farms where pesticide is largely used there the net sown area is smaller but the cropping intensity is larger. In this village the farmers who devote considerable amount of land under the practice of multiple cropping employ large number of labour to perform agricultural activities which makes larger amount of gross expenditure value but they produce considerable amount of gross value of production per acre too as it is noticed in the table.

 

Table-5: Interrelationships between different variables at Paikar village       

	y	x1	x2	x3	x4	x5	X6	x7	x8	x9	x10	X11	x12
y	1
x1	-.21	1
x2	.06	-.14	1
x3	.69**	-.24	.14	1
x4	-.28*	.58**	.04	-.21	1
x5	-.17	.41**	-.18	-.14	.23	1
x6	.10	.46**	.08	.00	.21	.23	1
x7	.41**	-.04	.16	.41**	.12	.05	.25	1
x8	.18	-.06	.04	.37**	.10	-.13	-.05	.39**	1
x9	.88**	-.12	.21	.72**	-.25	.00	.12	.43**	.04	1
x10	.76**	.00	.17	.66**	-.16	.11	.23	.42**	-.03	.94	1
x11	.15	.61**	-.02	.05	-.58**	-.11	-.25	.01	-.12	.11	.07	1
x12	.13	-.30*	.30*	.12	.30*	.11	.14	.30*	-.17	.24	.27	.19	1

Table computed from field data.  ** = Significant at 1% level and * =   Significant at 5% level of significance

 

The study completed on the basis of correlation coefficient shows that the farmers at Tail Para village who apply larger amount of chemical fertilizer to crop fields generate considerable amount of net value of crops. Such farmers employ large number of labours and invest largely as technological cost which makes larger amount of gross expenditure value per acre but the gross value of production per acre they produce is also considerably large. Big farmers here have larger percentage of irrigated area, net sown area and apply larger dose of chemical fertilizer. Consequently they have larger amount of labour cost and technological cost. The study also displays that the farmers who use chemical fertilizer largely employ large number of labours and incur larger amount of technological cost which makes considerable amount of gross expenditure value but they produce larger amount of gross value of production per acre. Such farms use smaller dose of weedicide to produce crops. In this village who cultivate land year the round also use larger dose of weedicide. 

 

Table- 6: Interrelationships between different variables at Tail Para village      

	y	x1	x2	x3	x4	x5	x6	x7	x8	x9	x10	x11	x12
y	1
x1	-.20	1
x2	.09	.52**	1
x3	.71**	.41**	.08	1
x4	-.01	-.11	-.26	.08	1
x5	-.35*	.21	-.05	-.32*	.17	1
x6	-.19	.19	-.20	-.25	.17	.22	1
x7	.44**	.34*	.21	.64**	-.05	-.28*	.01	1
x8	.66**	.33*	.10	.83**	.11	-.38**	-.11	.55**	1
x9	.87**	-.11	.03	.70**	.07	-.27	-.07	.48**	.72**	1
x10	.69**	.05	-.03	.57**	.07	-.19	.01	.45**	.63**	.90**	1
x11	.24	.50**	.48*	.06	.02	-.19	-.11	.10	.06	.23	.24	1
x12	-.07	.02	.12	-.25	.09	.36**	.14	-.25	-.28*	-.19	-.18	.07	1

Table computed from field data.  ** = Significant at 1% level and * =   Significant at 5% level of significance

 

CONCLUSION:

Productivity of agricultural crops is the function of a number of physical, socio cultural and technological factors. The most favorable is the application of such factors the optimum is the productivities of crops. In the study area the farmers apply a variety of inputs in production process to produce a variety of crops although the dose and time of application varies from villages to villages. As a result the productivity also varies from plots to plots. This in turn differs the gross and net value of all crops per acre. The study reveals that, the larger amount of gross and net value of crops have been generated in such farms,the owners of which posses larger amount of land under plough and net sown area and apply ample dose of chemical fertilizers and irrigation in time.But it is interesting that the cropping intensity value is always higher in case of such farms which are comparatively smaller.

 

 

REFERENCES:

1.     AdhikariSankar. Practical Geography. Dove Publication, Kolkata. 2012.

2.     Capalbo SM. and AntleJM. Agricultural Productivity: Measurement and explanation, Washington DC.1988.

3.     Das NG. Statistical Method (Part-I&II). M Das and Co,BB-67, SaltLake, Sector-1, Calcutta-700064. 2007;pp206,297,314.

4.     Gomez KA.And. Gomez AA. Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research.John Willy and Sons, Inc, New York. 1984; 2nded.

5.     Hunter W W. The Annals of Rural Bengal .1876

6.     Majumder DD. West Bengal District Gazetteer, Birbhum District.1975; pp. 1- 55, 120-150.

7.     Mally LSSO.Bengal District Gazetteer, Birbhum District.1910; pp. 55-63