Labor absorption in agriculture : case study of Pakistan Punjab

Abstract

This study on labor use in agriculture attempts to investigate factors affecting labor use in Punjab's agriculture. It aims at finding whether the major source of labor was still the family even after the green revolution, whether farm size and land tenures differ in labor use. Besides, effects of seed-fertilizer technology, tubewell irrigation and tractor use on labor absorption are quantified. For this purpose two types of data were used; first, the 'time series cross-sectional' (or pooled) data for 17 farms over 6 years (1966-72); and second, 'cross-sectional' data of 204 farms for 1981-82 crop year. The problem was approached by two ways. First, the labor use on different farm categories and for both time periods was compared on the basis of mean values; and second, 'labor use functions' were estimated separately from both the sets of data. It was observed that the use of labor had increased over time and that the relative share of family labor had also increased. Cultivated area was found to be negatively correlated with the labor use. Tractor use was found to be negatively associated with total and family labor. But the association in the case of casual and permanant hired labor was not clear. Tubewell irrigation when used alone was associated with high doses of labor. The effect of seed-fertilizer technology could not be quantified directly, however, indirectly it was found that it is labor using technology.