Rural Road System And Its Effect On Farmers: A Case Study On Katwa Sub-Division, District: Burdwan, West Bengal

Research Article
Sourama Saha
DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2018.0902.1568
Subject: 
science
KeyWords: 
Road, subdivision, blocks, road side, remote side, farm practices, transportation cost, equipments etc.
Abstract: 

The impact of the transport system at the village level in particular upon the well being of the farmers or the people based on agriculture is, no doubt, very important aspect today since about 60 percent of India’s population is still dependent on agricultural activities, producing 20 percent of national income. In this paper, we like to estimate quantitatively the economic benefits of the farmers at Katwa sub-division derived from the improved road system. It is because of the fact that transport cost per unit of final goods and the means of production is inversely proportional to dilapidated road conditions or ever deteriorating road system. The magnitude of enhanced transport cost per unit because of the shortage of road coverage or worst road condition in this sub-division matters much in the new millennium. Per road facilities in this sub-division is estimated at 0.22 kilometer whereas in India 0.26 km, state of west Bengal is 0.10 km and Burdwan district is 0.17 km revealing serious bottleneck in providing public road facilities to the people of Katwa subdivision and hence government should come forward in constructing road infrastructure when private investors abstain to invest fund in this head. In the present study, we selected 60 villages purposively in five blocks at Katwa sub-division to estimate the benefits of the roads or the markets to the agricultural people to speak off road facilities. Our findings based on data reveal that farmers nearer to relatively better road system are economically able to enjoy agricultural equipments or machineries at a higher rate as compared to geographically backward villages. According to our data, farmers adjacent to better road facilities appropriate better market prices of all crops under study relative to backward villages if we do not consider the nature of the price-spread. Our data suggest that cost of transportation per quintal per unit of distance of different crops as well as means of production are close to double to remote farmers compared to road-side farmers. Epilogue suggests that expansion of public infrastructure like first class road communication benefits farmers by all means when communication could be taken as engine of the growth and development of a nation today.