Abstract:
Agriculture which is the back bone of Indian economy, is now heading
towards a radical transformation. When the green revolution technology was
introduced in the mid sixties, great expectations were raised as to the beneficial
effects it could induce into every class of farmers and other sectors of the populations
by increasing food production, employment opportunities and income levels. But its
latter day performances have belied these expectations and it seemed that only those
who have necessary absorptive capacity or infrastructure are only benefited. So for
the betterment of agriculture there should be more and more investment both in the
public and private sector. Under these circumstances the present study entitled
"Investment Pattern in rural households of Ollukkara block panchayath in Thrissur
district" is of high relevance and was conducted with the following objectives.
1. To study the different sources of income of rural people
2. To examine the savings and expenditure pattern
3. To analyze the nature of investment
4. To identify the constraints associated with investment in rural areas.
The study was conducted in the sample selected at random from 50 numbers of
Agricultural labourers, farmers and service sector people from the five wards selected
from the total 74 wards in the Ollukkara block panchayath of Thrissur district. The
data for the agricultural year 2001-2002 were collected using a well structured
interview schedule.
The study revealed that the mainsource of farm income in farmers and service
sector people was crops where as for labourers it was livestock. On an average 81. 9 5
per cent of the total farm income was directed from the crops and only 18,95 was
from livestock. Category wise analysis showed that net income and benefit cost ratio
were much higher for labourer households and lowest for service sector people.
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At the aggregate level, consumption expenditure accounted for 78.91 per cent,
and the rest 21.09 per cent was for farm expenditure. Of the total, 78.09 per cent of
farm expenditure was incurred for crops and only 21.91 per cent was made for
livestock. The Category wise analysis showed that per household savings was highest
for the service sector people followed by farmers and labourers.
With respect to the gross farm investment, purchase of livestock was the most
important item of investment followed by investment on land improvement, purchase
of irrigation appliances, construction and repair of farm buildings and digging and
repair of wells. The average rate of farm investment was only 1.53 per cent while the
non farm investment was at the rate of 5.41 per cent.
Lack of employment, High cost of living, and high loan out standing were
reported as the most important constraint for investment along with constraints like
non availability of labour, lack of irrigation etc.