Dynamics of Labour Supply and its Absorption in Gujarat Agriculture

The agricultural sector has undergone a perceptible change since the 1990s, and an apparent shortage of labour is observed in rural farms in India as well as in Gujarat. This study aims to examine the district wise temporal changes in agricultural labour supply during 1981 to 2001 by using district level workers' data and growth rates of labour absorption for different crops in Gujarat from 1990-91 to 2009-10 by using time series data on labour used for different crops. The results revealed that the share of agricultural labourers (both male and female) decreased during 2001 as compared to the year 1981 in most of the districts in Gujarat. The male and female workers depending on agricultural labourers increased across districts from the period from 1981 to 2001. It was also found that the growth rates of agricultural labourers had slowed-down during the 1990s. The results also revealed that the labour absorption declined in case of most of the foodgrain crops, while a reverse situation was observed in case of horticultural crops. Encouragement of micro-agricultural enterprises, integration of production practices with the market through value addition and research, and giving extension priority to female labour friendly farm equipments are the major suggestions that emerged from the present study.