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The landlord and his emaciated labourer are symbolic of Indian agriculture. However, this relationship has now changed as large landowners have fallen from their superior position. This volume explores how this emblematic pair is becoming a thing of the past.
Structural Transformation and Agrarian Change in India investigates whether family labour farms are gaining prominence as a consequence of the structural transformation of the economy. The authors work alongside Weberian methodology of ideal types and develop different types of family farms; among them family labour farms that rely mainly on family workers, contrasted with capitalist farms that depend on hired labour. Agriculture is shrinking as a part of the total GDP at the same time as agricultural labour is shrinking as part of the total labour force. The changing agrarian structure is explored with the use of unique long-term survey data and statistical models. Results show that India is approaching farm structures that are typical of East and South East Asia, with pluriactive smallholders as the norm.
This book successfully criticizes popular narratives about Indian agricultural development as well as simplistic evolutionist, Marxist or neoclassical prognoses. It is of great importance to those who study development economics, development studies and South Asian economics.
List of contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1. CAPITALISM AND FAMILY FARMING
CHAPTER 2. STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION AND FARMING
CHAPTER 3. URBANIZATION AND AGRARIAN CHANGE: A VIEW FROM THE MARGINS
CHAPTER 4. WHAT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT REGRESSION
CHAPTER 5. DRIVERS OF AGRARIAN TRANSFORMATION
CHAPTER 6. VOLATILITY IN LAND DISTRIBUTION
CHAPTER 7. RELATIVE CHANGE IN INCOME
CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSIONS: NO PLACE FOR FAMILY FARMS?
APPENDIX 1: DATA SOURCES
APPENDIX 2: MULTILEVEL MODELLING WITH MLWIN
APPENDIX 3: DETAILED MODEL RESULTS AND ANALYSES OF RESIDUALS
APPENDIX 4: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
About the author
Göran Djurfeldt is Senior Professor at the Department of Sociology, Lund University, Sweden.
Srilata Sircar is currently a Doctoral student at the Department of Human Geography, Lund University, Sweden.
Summary
The landlord and his emaciated labourer are symbolic of Indian agriculture. However, this relationship has now changed as large landowners have fallen from their superior position. This volume explores how this emblematic pair is becoming a thing of the past.
Structural Transformation and Agrarian Change in India investigates whether family labour farms are gaining prominence as a consequence of the structural transformation of the economy. The authors work alongside Weberian methodology of ideal types and develop different types of family farms; among them family labour farms that rely mainly on family workers, contrasted with capitalist farms that depend on hired labour. Agriculture is shrinking as a part of the total GDP at the same time as agricultural labour is shrinking as part of the total labour force. The changing agrarian structure is explored with the use of unique long-term survey data and statistical models. Results show that India is approaching farm structures that are typical of East and South East Asia, with pluriactive smallholders as the norm.
This book successfully criticizes popular narratives about Indian agricultural development as well as simplistic evolutionist, Marxist or neoclassical prognoses. It is of great importance to those who study development economics, development studies and South Asian economics.
