~ 1037 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(4): 1037-1041 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(4): 1037-1041 Received: 21-05-2018 Accepted: 25-06-2018 Gunabhagya Ph. D Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Amrutha T Joshi Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India GN Maraddi Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Correspondence Gunabhagya Ph.D Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India Consequence of agricultural labour scarcity on cropping pattern in North Eastern Karnataka Gunabhagya, Amrutha T Joshi and GN Maraddi Abstract India has the second largest man power in the world, all sectors of the economy have been affected by the scarcity of labour, and the impact is being felt more in the field of agricultural sector. Laborers constitute a very fundamental input in agricultural production, but they are migrating to different parts of the country for earning better revenue, adding to the existing threat to the labour shortage. Hence present study analyzed the impact of labour scarcity on the cropping pattern of the selected district of the state. In order to study the cropping pattern shift, secondary data pertaining to area under the crops over the years was collected and analyzed by using Markov Chain analysis. It is interesting to note that, farmers were shifting from high labour intensive crops to low labour intensive crops over the years. Due to higher requirement of laborers for cultivating agricultural crops, farmers are taking interest in cultivating high value horticulture crops than food crops. Keywords: cropping pattern, labour scarcity, labour classification, markov chain analysis Introduction Agriculture plays a very vital role in the country’s economy. More than 60 percent of the rural populations depend on agriculture. Agriculture is a significant sector of Indian economy as it contributes about 13 percent to the total GDP and provides employment to over 60 percent of the population. At present Indian agriculture plagued several problems. Among the major problems lack of mechanization is very crucial. Most of the agricultural operations in larger parts are carried on by human hand using simple and conventional tools and implements like wooden plough, sickle, etc. Little or no use of machines is made in ploughing, sowing, irrigating, thinning and pruning, weeding, harvesting threshing and transporting the crops. This is specially the case with small and marginal farmers. It results in huge wastage of human labour and in low yields per capita labour force as well as shift in the cropping pattern from high labour intensive crops to low labour intensive crops. Due to shift in cropping pattern, area under food crops has been replaced by many horticultural crops. Agriculture labour scarcity in India Agricultural workers constitute the most neglected class in Indian rural structure. Often they are not in a position to earn just enough to keep their body and soul together and are frequently exposed to the hazards of unemployment and irregular employment and have neither private nor social security. Being unorganized, they do not have the most needed muscle to seek better living and working condition. Their income is low and employment irregular. Since they possess no skill or training, they have no alternative employment opportunities either (Padhi, 2007) [6] . Even though India has the second largest man power in the world, all sectors of the economy have been affected by the scarcity of labour, and the impact being felt more in the field of agricultural sector. Laborers constitute a very fundamental input in agricultural production, but they are migrating to different parts of the country for earning a better source of revenue, adding to the existing imbalance between labour demand and supply. (Deshingkar and Start 2003) [4] . According to Census of India there are about 402.5 million rural workers of which 127.6 million are cultivators and 107.5 million are agricultural labourers. In other words, pure agricultural workers constitute nearly 58.4 percent of the total rural workers, of which 31.7 percent are owner cultivators and 26.7 percent are mainly agricultural wage earners. There is an acute shortage of labour in every sector in India. However, in the name of welfare measures, government of India and the state governments are taking away a lot of people from workforce, thereby enhancing shortage of labour and curtailing growth in GDP. In India, particularly in the southern states, there is an acute shortage of skilled and unskilled manpower