Regional model for agricultural imbalances in West Bengal, India

Abstract

Regional imbalance is a ubiquitous phenomenon in developed and developing economies. But in the latter it is more acute and glaring. It is being increasingly recognized, both on theoretical and empirical grounds, and experiences of the developing countries shows that at least in initial stage of economic development, considerable regional imbalances in development arises. Regional imbalances exist in agricultural development in West Bengal. The present studies intend to measures the extent of regional imbalances in agricultural development in West Bengal and examine the factors responsible for them. This will help to find solution to the problem of regional imbalances. The study assumes that there are two sources, i.e. input effects and spatial effect that cause variation in the level of agricultural development. The study is envisaged to the West Bengal state with 18 districts (except Kolkata) with 9 indicators is taken for that measure. The district wise related data are taken as reference period from 2009 to 2012. Principal component analysis (PCA) and method of unequal weight with beta distribution, both of the regionalization approaches have been adopted to examine the inter-regional imbalances in agricultural development and to identify the spatial pattern of agricultural development in terms of probability density function. To study the degree and cause of regional imbalances in agricultural development in West Bengal various tool likes regional balance ration, index of inter-regional imbalances, index of intra-regional imbalances and coefficient of regional imbalance has been used. The study goes into the explanation of how agricultural development can be sub-divided into a system of agricultural regions based on development criteria. Agricultural imbalances have been examined at regional level. This paper also diagnoses the factors responsible regional imbalances in the agricultural development in West Bengal. This analysis also suggests a number of measures incorporating suitable strategy for reducing regional imbalances and for securing balanced regional development of agriculture in West Bengal. The study winds up with an epilogue on regional development and broader conclusions of the study.