Department of Economics

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Browsing Department of Economics by Author "Muhammad Aurangzeb"

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    THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION AND LABOUR DISPLACEMENT IN NWFP
    (2004) Muhammad Aurangzeb; Supervised by Dr. Mir Kalan Shah
    The present study is based on cross sectional data of200 randomly selected respondents (130 mechanized and 70 traditional farms) in Peshawar District. The study shows that land owners have brought over 20 % ofwaste land under cultivation by utilizing farm machinery. The farm mechanization displaced over 35 % tenants who adopted other professionsresulting in significant increase in their income. The study exhibits that wheat and maize are the major crops in the research area. The manual labour requirements of the mechanized farms are nearly 23 % (in case ofthe wheat crop) and 50 % (in case of the maize crop) of that used on the traditional farms. The mechanization has, therefore, substantially reduced the manual labour input. Moreover, the rate of change ofthe mechanized farms is higher by 2.49 units for wheat and 2.33 units for maize than the traditional farms. The Marginal Physical Product (MPP) of machinery is higher than that ofthe manual labour and animal labour. The MPP ofmachinery is significantly higher on the ownercultivator farms as well as large farms. The analyses show that the yields per unit land of the major crops and milch animal population of the mechanized farmsare significantly higher than that ofthe traditional farms. The summation ofincome elasticity of inputs is less than one for each ofthe farming systems (mechanized/ traditional). As such it is operating at the stage of decreasing returns to scale. However, in this respect the traditional farms are worse than the mechanized farms. Both the croppingintensity and land use intensity of the mechanized farms are higher than that of the traditional farms. The mechanized farms have higher off-farm earnings due to their higher educational level as compared with traditional farms. The results depict that mechanization ofagriculture ofthe NWFP is lower as compared to other parts ofthe country. The availability of credit for different farm operations through a simple lending procedure is essential for the needy farmers. As the average land holding of the Province is much lower than the national average, so small size tractor/ machinery would be more appropriate for cultivation over here. With the adoption of these steps the crop productivity will increase due to which the country’s food and raw materials for manufacturing sector requirements will be met adequately. These measures can enhance the employment opportunities both at the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.