Assessment of agricultural efficiency and productivity: a study of Hugli District, West Bengal, India

Today, India has been facing two most vital problems which are directly related to agriculture, the first one is to meet the swelling demand for food and other agricultural products, and the second is enervating the widespread poverty in rural areas by the ever increasing population. The good performance in agriculture can diminish levels of rural poverty and meet increasing demand of agricultural products (Ahluwalia, 1978). Agricultural productivity is a measure of the efficiency with which inputs are used in agriculture to produce an output. When a given combination of inputs produces a maximum output, the productivity is said to be at its maximum. The measurement of agricultural productivity enables a comparison of relative performance of farmers between farms, between the types of farming and between geographical regions. The comparison of productivity goes on to the heart of economic performance and can provide the guidance for planning and development decisions (Kravis, 1976). Present study confined to such an analysis of agricultural development in terms of efficiency and productivity of Hugli District, which is one of the agriculturally prosperous district in West Bengal due to the presence of Gangetic fertile alluvial tract, better irrigation facility and high demand of agricultural products in different agro-based industries. Besides measuring the level of efficiency and productivity at block level, an attempt has been made to find out the major controlling factors of overall agricultural system based on PCA analysis. Finally this work concluded to make some suggestions and management plans to enhance the agricultural output in terms of yield as well as money.