aDivision of Dairy Economics, Statistics and Management, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana
bDepartment of Agricultural and Rural Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu
cDepartment of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu
*Author for correspondence Email: anoopmangalasseri@gmail.com
§This study is part of M.Sc. Thesis entitled “Role of Labour Banks in Crop Productivity and Standard of Living of Agricultural Labourers in Thrissur District, Kerala” of first author submitted to the Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 2014 under the guidance of second author, and funded by ICAR Junior Research Fellowship.
The study has highlighted an institutional intervention in the form of Labour Banks to address the scarcity of farm labourers in Kerala. The study has estimated the impact of Labour Banks on farm productivity, farm income, employment and standard of living of labourers. The study has used difference-in-difference estimation, partial budgeting technique and ANCOVA model for analysis. The Labour Bank member-labourers have depicted improvement in their standard of living, and their wage rate was higher by 21 per cent compared to that of non-members. The farmers who used Labour Bank service could achieve a rise of 0.92 t/ha in paddy productivity, and a profit of 11448/ha. The study has suggested replication of such models in other areas of the country also.
Institutional interventions, labour bank, labour scarcity, difference-in-difference estimation, Kerala
