Levels of agricultural disparities: A district-wise analysis of Jammu Province

The Indian agrarian sector is the backbone of the national economy and the growth of agriculture is the prerequisite for overall development. It contributes significantly to the export earnings and therefore, helps in generating substantial foreign exchange. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is blessed with the diverse physiographic conditions which allows the state cultivation of variety of crops. The study area (Jammu Province) has huge resource potential at its disposal but because of many physical, social and institutional constraints there exists a huge disparity. Therefore, in the present paper the intraregional disparities (district wise) in agriculture development in Jammu Province have been examined. It uses United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) methodology (subsequently used in many research attempts). In order to examine the agricultural disparities in the study region ten agricultural development indicators were selected. A composite index was constructed at the district level and all the ten districts were classified into high, medium and low categories of agricultural efficiency based on the obtained composite scores. Further on the bases of the performance of the selected indicators over the ten districts, the top two and the bottom two performing districts were identified. Therefore, a more determined effort on the part of policy makers is needed in order to have truly inclusive growth in the Province. The districts with low performance should be kept on top priority which would result in the balanced development of the agriculture sector.