Labor market effect of modern rice technology and its implications on income distribution in Nepal
1988
Upadhyaya, H.K.
The results indicated that irrigated areas had much larger proportion of rice planted to modern varieties, higher rice yields, greater cropping intensities and rice intensities than the rainfed areas. Estimation results of a series of labor demand functions suggested that modern rice technology and farm size had significant positive impact on the demand for hired labor, while the number of family farm workers had significant negative impact on it. The results showed that permanent immigration in a village was more affected by the availability of agricultural land, while the seasonal labor immigration was significantly influenced by the level of technology in that village. In other words, favorable areas had significantly higher rate of seasonal labor immigration than unfavorable areas. Estimates of wage functions indicated that the wage rates of casual laborers in paddy farms, in most cases, did not vary significantly with variation in the level of technology adoption across villages. Specifically, the wage rates were lower in villages that were located farther from industrial or commercial centers, and that had greater proportion of households employing permanent laborers. Irrigation was the single most important constraint to the adoption of modern rice technology. Tenants gained most, while landowners suffered from its adoption in a village. The technology increased the household income from rice crop, but had no effect on the total annual income. Also it had no effect on the distribution of household landholding and income across villages.
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