Dynamics of Labour Use in Cotton Farming in India: An Economic Appraisal

In India, a large proportion of the workforce is still dependent on the agricultural sector (63.32% employment share in 1990-91, which reduced further to 42.61% in 2019-20. A gradual diminishing pattern has been observed in percentage of agricultural workers to the total workforce in the country and it is projected to reach 25.7% by 2050 creating a critical shortage of farm labour. This paper is intended to understand the dynamic changes in the labour utilization, farm mechanisation and labour productivity across the States in cotton farming during the years 2007 to 2019 by using cost of cultivation scheme data. Eleven major cotton growing States have been selected for the study. The data on cost of cultivation scheme of Government of India was used to calculate the changes in crop profitability, labour use, labour costs and labour productivity indices. In spite of increased growth in wage rate, the labour productivity growth is not that significant in most of the States. Selective mechanization wherein the labour shortage is crucial affecting the crop productivity should be identified and given impetus.