A study of farm household income and resource allocation in the eastern hills of Nepal : (with special reference to Barbote panchayat)

Abstract

The success of any development project aimed at improving the economic conditions of the people in an area depends to a large extent on the degree of understanding about the socio-economic conditions of the people in the area. The present study is an attempt to shed some light on the existing economic conditions of the farm households in the eastern hills of Nepal. This is attempted through the investigation of the major socio-economic determinants; the pattern of distribution of income of the household; and the assessment of the efficiency of farm resource use given the traditional technology and production function. The major determinants of income of the farm households are investigated by using correlation analysis and the regression analysis. The results of these analyses indicate that land is the most important determinant of income followed by ratio of lowland to total land and age of the household head. The variable 'adult members of the household' failed to be an important determinant of income of the household. The analysis of income distribution reveals that farm income is more unevenly distributed than farm household income, while income on a per capita basis appeared to be having a relatively more even distribution than on a per household basis. The inequitable distribution of incomes appears to be closely associated with the distribution of size of land holdings. The assessment of the allocative efficiency of farm resources exposed a situation of under-utilization of labour in rice production. The under-utilization of labour, especially in a country where a substantial portion of labour is believed to be idle, is considered as a matter of great wastage. An attempt is made to explore the probable reasons for the under-utilization of labour, but to ascertain the possible ways of increasing the labour utilization in crop production needs further investigation.