Socio-economic impact of mechanisation through paddy group farming in Kerala: An analysis on farmers’ perception

Paddy cultivation involves labour intensive operations starting from tillage to harvest. Over the past ten years, there has been a major emphasis on mechanization of paddy cultivation across Kerala. An institutional arrangement based on collective farming has been followed to overcome the twin problems of labour shortage and lack of capital investment in mechanisation faced by small farmers. These collective ventures based on partnerships of farmers and labourers had the full support of the State government and Local self-governments. All these efforts have resulted in various socio-economic benefits to the paddy farmers in Kerala. In this context, the present study was undertaken to assess the farmers’ perception on the socio-economic impact of mechanization through paddy group farming. The study was conducted in the Palakkad district, which is having maximum area under paddy cultivation in Kerala. 120 farmers randomly selected from the paddy farming groups in the two major blocks in the district were the respondents of the study. Nine socio-economic impact factors due to mechanisation related to paddy cultivation were identified through judges’ rating and pilot study conducted in the district. A semi-structured interview schedule was employed to collect data from the respondents. An overall socio-economic impact perception index was computed by assigning suitable weights for various factors, obtained by Principal Component Analysis. Major factors of socio economic impact were savings in time spend on farming activities, provision of livelihood option and the farmers’ access to assets. The extent of mechanisation, annual income, area under paddy cultivation, extension contact, social participation, innovativeness and attitude towards collectivism were identified as determinants of socio-economic impact due to mechanization among paddy farmers.