Selvaraj N and Balajikumar P
Agriculture plays a crucial role in the development of the Indian economy. It accounts for about 19 per cent of GDP and about two-thirds of the population is dependent on the sector. The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Five Year Plan has set a target of 4 per cent for the agriculture sector within the overall GDP growth target of 9 per cent. Capital investment in agriculture was made by farmers in various forms, such as farm lands, bunding and other land improvements including land reclamation, farm equipment, farm buildings, livestock, irrigation, poultry, storage arrangements and transport equipment. An attempt has been made in this paper to find out the extent of capital investment in agriculture made by the sample farmers and the factors that had influenced the capital investment in agriculture. Capital investment in agriculture made by farmers and the level of capital investment made were measured with the help of a scale constructed with the help of ten selected components. The number of farmers and the level of capital investment made by them are found to be more in the case of those who had reported a medium level of investment, followed by the number of farmers who had reported a low level of investment and those who had reported a high level of investment. The personal factors influencing the level of capital investment in agriculture, namely, educational qualifications and the size of family had a role to play in establishing the level of capital investment in agriculture. The other personal factors of farmers such as their experience in farming, use of communication media and their participation in training programmes had also a lot to do with the level of capital investment. Agriculture in India, viewed as a way of life, was not considered a productive proposition by the socially, economically and technologically backward population. The inter-sectoral mobility of personnel, resources and technology was very limited and it had created a vicious circle of technological isolation in the agricultural sector.
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