Title: Examining productivity and farm size relationship among Indian agricultural households: patterns, determinants and implications

Authors: R.L. Manogna

Addresses: Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani, KK Birla Goa Campus, India

Abstract: Using household level data from NSSO 70th Round Situation Assessment Survey (SAS), this study employs the Tobit regression model to study the impact of various factors on the crop yield and net income generated for two major crops, paddy and cotton. The findings reveal that the farm size is seen to have a negative and significant relationship with crop Y and seen to positively impact the NI in case of both paddy and cotton, conditional on several agricultural household characteristics. Furthermore, our analysis of farm-size wise patterns of various input costs of cultivation and credit sources brings out the issue of external factors in affecting agricultural returns for marginal and small farmers. From an agricultural policy perspective, our findings corroborate the evidence on rising cost of cultivation, and suggest the need to pay considerable attention to policy measures for enhancing crop productivity without disproportionately raising cost of cultivation.

Keywords: agricultural production; farm size; agricultural credit; farmers; emerging economy; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2025.149540

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2025 Vol.50 No.3, pp.352 - 367

Received: 10 Jan 2020
Accepted: 24 Mar 2021
Published online: 07 Nov 2025 *

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