Agriculture Labour Supply in Irrigated Plains of Punjab Options for Small Rural Household

Abstract

Due to modernization in agriculture sector, agricultural labour migration from on-farm to offfarm work and from rural to urban areas is becoming common practice. Punjab Labor Policy 2018, addresses agriculture labor on the lines of industrial labor to improve its supply. This study is designed to ascertain the factors effecting agricultural labour supply of irrigated area of Khushab District of Punjab. Primary data of three villages was collected having different cropping patterns and irrigation systems of the study area. Multivariate model was developed to ascertain the various socio-economic factors i.e., off-farm work, farm size, farming experience and family size, on changing dynamics of agriculture labour. Results indicated that socio-economic factors significantly affect the agriculture labour dynamics in irrigated areas. Off-farm work has inverse relationship with agriculture labour supply indicating inter-sectoral labor migration, while family size, farm size and farming experience has direct relationship with agriculture labour supply. It is therefore suggested that government may focus on fixing minimum ceiling limit on ancestral land transfer and more emphasis will be given on capacity building of farmers for improving agriculture labor supply in rural agriculture labor market.