PRESS NOTE

CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE OF FARMER HOUSEHOLDS

(JANUARY – DECEMBER 2003)

The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, had carried out a survey known as ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers’ during January to December, 2003, as part of its 59^th round. The survey was sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Such a survey has been conducted for the first time in the history of NSSO. The survey was confined to the rural areas of the country and the results relate to the calendar year 2003.

Report Number 495 titled ‘Consumption Expenditure of Farmer Households’ being released is the fourth in the series of five reports based on the Survey mentioned above. In all 51,770 sample farmer households spread over 6,638 villages covering the entire rural area of the whole of the Indian Union except Leh (Ladakh) and Kargil districts of Jammu & Kashmir, interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of any bus route, and villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remained inaccessible throughout the year, were interviewed.

A farmer household was defined as one which had at least one farmer as a member. A person who possessed some land and was engaged in agricultural activities on any part of that land during the last 365 days was considered as a farmer for the purpose of Survey. Agricultural activity was taken to include cultivation of agricultural crops and horticultural crops, growing of trees and plantations such as rubber, cashew, coconut, pepper, coffee, tea, etc; animal husbandry, poultry, fishery, bee-keeping, vermiculture, sericulture, etc. A farmer who had been engaged in activities related to production of crops by tillage and ancillary jobs was categorised as a cultivator.

The report presents different facets of the variation in the level and pattern of consumer expenditure and related aspects of the standard of living of the farmer households. It covers certain demographic characteristics of farmer households such as average household size, and sex ratio for adults, children and all persons over different monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) classes. It also shows the distribution of MPCE of the farmer households across the States and at all- India level by different items of food and non-food groups and their comparison with those for the all rural households (as brought out by the consumer expenditure survey of the same round).

Consumption Expenditure of Farmer Households

The average MPCE for farmer households at all India level during the year 2003 was Rs. 502.83 (lower by 9.3%) compared to Rs. 554.15 for all rural households.

The corresponding break-ups for food and non-food groups were Rs.278.74 and Rs. 224.09 for farmer households (lower by 6.6% and 12.3% respectively) in comparison with Rs. 298.57 and Rs. 255.59 for all rural households.

At all India level, the sex ratio in farmer population was 942 compared to 957 in all rural population. The figures corresponding to children and adults were 925 and 952 compared to 915 and 982 in all rural population.

At all India level, about 4% of farmer households had MPCE less than Rs. 225, 8% had MPCE less than Rs. 300 and 15% had MPCE less than Rs. 380. On the other hand, 7.5% of the farmer households had MPCE more than Rs. 950 and 26% had MPCE more than Rs. 615.

The average household size for farmers was 5.5 at all India level. It was highest (6.9) for households having MPCE less than or equal to Rs. 225 and lowest (4.1) for households having MPCE more than Rs. 950. Also, average household size declined steadily with a rise in MPCE over successive class-intervals of MPCE.

At state level, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh registered highest average household size (6.1) for farmers, followed by Haryana (6.0) and Rajasthan (5.9). Whereas Tamil Nadu registered lowest average household size (4.4), followed by Kerala and Andhra Pradesh (4.7 each).

The average MPCE during 2003 was highest for the farmers of Kerala (Rs. 900.59) followed by Nagaland (Rs. 882.93) and Punjab (Rs. 828.01).
The average MPCE during 2003 for farmer households was lowest for Orissa (Rs. 341.75), followed by Jharkhand (Rs. 352.85), Chhattishgarh (Rs. 378.89) and Bihar (Rs. 403.60).

The sex ratio in farmer population was highest in Himachal Pradesh (1089), followed by Kerala (1048) and Uttaranchal (1014). It was lowest in Assam (849), followed by Punjab (859) and Tripura (870).

In terms of value of per-capita consumption of cereals, Manipur registered the highest i.e. Rs. 193.31 (33% of MPCE); followed Arunachal Pradesh: Rs. 167.84 (29%); Nagaland: Rs. 166.76 (19%) and Mizoram :Rs. 150.77 ( 23%).

The consumption of cereals was lowest in Punjab : Rs. 73.46 (9% of MPCE); followed by Haryana : Rs. 74.01 (10%) and Gujarat : Rs. 80.16 (14%).

The percentage share of all food taken together to total consumption expenditure was highest for the farmer households of Assam (65%); followed by Jharkhand (64%), Bihar (62%), West Bengal (61%) and Sikkim (60%).

An estimated 22% of the farmer households in Orissa, 11% in Jharkhand 8% in both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and 6% in Bihar had MPCE less than or equal to Rs. 225.

About 57% farmer households in Orissa, 50% in Jharkhand, 44% in Chhattisgarh, 37% in Madhya Pradesh and 34% in Bihar had MPCE less than or equal to Rs. 340.

On the other hand, 94% farmer households in Nagaland, 68% in Punjab, 67% in Kerala, 63% in Jammu & Kashmir and 59% in Haryana had MPCE more than Rs. 615.

About 36% of the farmer households in Nagaland, 35% in Kerala, 28% in Punjab and 23% in Haryana had MPCE more than Rs. 950.

Per capita consumption of ‘pan, tobacco & intoxicants’ per 30 days was highest in Meghalaya (Rs. 43.30), followed by Mizoram (Rs. 40.53), Aurnachal Pradesh (Rs. 30.75) and Tripura (Rs. 29.96).

Per capita monthly expenditure on education was highest in Nagaland (Rs. 77.21); followed by Haryana (Rs. 48.01), Punjab (Rs. 42.87) and Kerala (Rs. 42.36).

Per capita monthly medical expenses was highest for the farmer households belonging to Kerala (Rs. 97.78), followed by Punjab (Rs. 63.04), Tamil Nadu (Rs. 48.76), Maharashtra (Rs. 47.71) and Haryana (Rs. 46.98).