Labour Productivity Dynamics in Indian Agriculture: 2000–2016

Abstract

This paper attempts to estimate and identify the regional disparity of India’s agricultural labour productivity growth by decomposing it into technical changes, efficiency changes and input accumulation per worker during the 2000–2016, the period marked with the launch of employment guarantee programme in rural India in 2006 and 2007. The study observes a significant growth in agricultural labour productivity despite variation in their sources, across the states in India during the sample period. While growth of India’s agricultural labour productivity mainly depended on the accumulation of inputs and technical progress, efficiency changes contributed more towards regional disparities in agricultural productivity growth. Improving efficiency to promote TFP growth is important for agricultural labour productivity growth for the low-performing states.