Liberalised Era and Technical Efficiency in Agriculture…自由化时代与农业技术效率.pdfVIP

Ind. Jn. of Agri. Econ. Vol.66, No.2, April-June 2011 Liberalised Era and Technical Efficiency in Agriculture: Variations in Gujarat and West Bengal Niti Mehta* I INTRODUCTION Technological innovation, exploitation of chosen technology as well as removing non-price and institutional constraints are essential for agricultural growth. Technology did play a crucial role in alleviating India’s poverty in the 1970s; since then its contribution to agricultural growth has been rather dismal. This can be supported by the fact that India’s average growth rate at 2.3 per cent per annum of the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) in two decades of the green revolution (1968-88) compares modestly with trend rate of growth for green revolution crops (rice and wheat) in most other Asian countries over that period (Ahluwalia, 1991). There also exists a wide gap in India’s performance between achievement in output and productivity. India compares poorly in terms of yield per hectare and yield gaps exist between technologically progressive and backward regions (Kalirajan and Shand, 1997). In the liberalisation phase, terms of trade for agriculture have become favourable due to exchange rate devaluation and reduced protection to industry and services. However, the favourable internal terms of trade and freeing trade in agriculture would provide only feeble inducement for agricultural progress (Kashyap and Mathur, 1999). Growth in technical change or tota