TECHNICAL CHANGE AND FUNCTIONAL INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN PADDY PRODUCTION - A CASE STUDY OF TRIBAL FARMS OF RANCHI DISTRICT, BIHAR (INDIA)

The new seed technology is said to affect different categories of farmers differently. The present paper attempts to determine and compare the relative and absolute factor shares for various inputs accruing to marginal, small and other categories of farms in Ranchi, a tribal dominated district of Bihar. The study revealed that new seed technology under rainfed condition was biased in favour of labour and against capital but was neutral to the use of land. There were gains in all the factors of production, but the per hectare gain to labour was the highest, followed by land and capital. However, gain from land by the large farmers will still remain higher than additional income of the small farmers by increased use of labour and capital. Therefore, adoption of new seed technology will not reduce the disparity in personal income distribution in the area which is dominated by small farmers commanding small proportion of total cultivated land