Levels, Pattern and Distribution of Income of Farmers and Agricultural Labourers in Rural Punjab: Inter-Regional Analysis

Abstract

The objective of present paper is to analyze levels and pattern of income of farmers and agricultural labourers in rural Punjab across the regions. An average sampled farm and agricultural labourer householders the highest income in the Central Plains Regionf ollowed by the South-West Region and the Shivalik Foothills Region. The study reveals a positive relationship between farm-size and income levels. Farm business income is the most important component of household income of farmers in all the three regions. In the case of the agricultural labourers, Hiring out labour in agriculture is the most important component of household income of agricultural labourers. Per capita income of the sampled farm households and agricultural labourers is also the highest in the Central Plains Region followed by the South-West and Shivalik Foothills Regions. Aninter-regional analysis shows that the sampled farm households have a relatively less skewed distribution of income in the Central Plains Region. The Gini coefficient shows that concentration of per capita income is higher in the Shivalik Foothills Region in comparison to the remaining two regions. The Gini coefficient also shows that concentration of per household income is greater than the per capita income in all the three regions.