Irrigation and Other Factors Contribution to the Agricultural Growth and Development in India: A Cross-State Panel Data Analysis for 1970 to 94

Abstract

"The major objective of this study is to better analyze the factors contributing to multifactor agricultural productivity (Total factor productivity) and production growth in India. This study quantifies the incremental benefits of major factor inputs (such as, irrigation, crop technology and infrastructures) in over time variation of agricultural performance and agricultural productivity across the states in India and then it discussed the policy implications of these findings. This is done using annual time series and cross section data of 14 major states of India for the period of 1970 to 1995, which accounts for more than 90 % of the agrarian economy of the country. It adopts fixed effect panel model with weighted least squared estimation technique (Generalized Least Square technique) to correct for scale and size effect related biases associated with state level aggregate data series across the states in India. In addition, we have also used here actually farm-level realized indicators of factor inputs in explaining the variation of agricultural performance unlike in the previous studies on the topic that used the government spending in each sector to assess the factors contribution on productivity growth. Therefore, this study contributes to methodological refinement as well as providing an improved policy information on factors responsible for the interstate variation for agricultural productivity growth in India over the two and half decades."