Changing Agrarian Structure and Small Landholders’ Agriculture: The Case of High Agricultural Growth Areas of Andhra Pradesh

This paper is an attempt to look at the relationship between changes in agrarian structure and small landholders’ agriculture. This relationship is examined in the areas where high agriculture growth and farmers’ distress (reflected through farmers committing suicides) are in co-existence and the small landholders are with the aspirations of achieving upward economic mobility in their economic status in relation to large landholders. The analysis carried out has brought out clearly that changes in the agrarian structure and their consequences on the organization of agricultural activity have influenced the small landholders’ agriculture. But this impact of changes in agrarian structure on small landholders’ agriculture is contingent upon the relationship between agricultural growth and farmers’ well-being/distress, and aspiration of small landholders for achieving upward mobility in their economic status in relation to large landholders.