Abstract:-
Though the Gangetic plain is rich in natural resources, agricultural productivity stagnates in the region. The region accounts for the most male migrant intensive districts of the country, but it also observes shortage of labour in timely operation of agricultural practices. To understand these counterfactuals, the present study has been undertaken with the NSS unit-level data from Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households 2019. The study considers all NSS regions in the Gangetic plain. Though the Gangetic plain, comprises of the lower, middle and upper plains, it focuses on the middle Gangetic plain that comprises of the North and Central Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh with different sizes of landholdings (sub-marginal, marginal, small and semi-medium). The specific region is characterised by the small fragmented holding. The landholders’ Income from agriculture is not only low, at times it is lower than the paid-out cost of crops. After considering the imputed value of family labour, cost of production often exceeds the crop return. The small holders’ agriculture is often trapped in a vicious cycle of low crop income, poor attention to agriculture, low investment on farm, stagnation in agricultural productivity. Some of associated problems of such vicious cycle is the persistent poverty, rural-urban migration, high fallow land, informal tenancy, and lower uptake of Government schemes.

(jointly with Snehal and Deepak)