Farmers' educational level and agriculture productivity: a study of tribals of KBK districts of Odisha

This paper examines the effects of farmers' education on agricultural productivity by using primary data collected from a household survey conducted in 2009-10 in 12 villages in KBK districts of Odisha. The study analyses the results employing Cobb-Douglas production function. The findings clearly indicate that the relationship between level of farmers' education and level of productivity is positive, continuous and significant. A similar result is also seen between level of education and other agricultural inputs. Across caste categories, the study reveals that variation in productivity increases with increase in level of education. However, the variation is more for STs than non-STs indicating that the influence of education is more pronounced in case of STs. The findings in the paper suggest that assuming the importance of education in rural development which is reflected through agricultural development, investment in education, its planning, expansion, location and delivery need to be purposefully integrated in rural areas with its thrust for raising agricultural productivity. For achieving this end, there is a strong case to be made for government and NGO intervention to encourage higher levels of investment in education in tribal dominated KBK districts of Odisha.