PATTERN AND REQUIREMENT OF COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ENERGY USE IN IRRIGATED AND UN-IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN HARDWAR DISTRICT, U.P.

Abstract

Energy has been a key factor in the supply of food and other physical comforts necessary lor the existence of mankind. Consequently, the use of energy is an inseparable part of human existence. Human beings have beei using different forms of energy for performing different kinds o: work necessary for maintaining and sustaining human life on this planet. In farming, animal power has traditionally been used for ploughing land and carrying out other farm/agricultural operations. However, with the development of technology, the pattern of energy use, over the years, has been changing. Farming, which is the backbone of Indian economy, consumes a major proportion of non-commercial and commercial energy. In irrigated farming, the use of energy has tremendously increased due to introduction of improved cultivation practices and, therefore, the demand for energy from this sector has been on the upswing with the passage of time. Similarly, due to farm mechanization and phenomenal development in industrial^ation, commercial energy consumption has been steadily increasing. About 5 decades earlier, there was perfect balance between the demand and supply of energy through renewable sources of energy, because the economic activities, in the past (i.e. before fifties) were not energy intensive. But now, with the multi-faceted human activities, energy intensive development has been emerging. Thus, the relationship between economic development and use of energy has been very close one. Studies conducted in different parts of our country and world-wide revealed that there is direct relationship between the two. Historical evidence also testifies that world energy demand has, on an average, increased iii at almost the same rate as the gross world product over the past fifty years. The process of economic development shows the tendency of increasing the share of secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy and paving the way, for natural relative decline in the share of the primary sector. The expansion in secondary sector means the development of industries, and the increase, in the share of tertiary sector is also related to the process of industrialization. With the growth of industrialization there is increase in the demand of energy for trade and commerce on the one hand and demand of transport sector for energy on the other. The modern modes of transportation are, however, more energy consuming. As regards the primary sector of our economy, ie agriculture and allied sectors, are concerned, the demand for electricity and diesel consumption have also increased on account of increased intensive activities. The domestic energy demand for meeting fuel and lighting requirement has also increased during the past three decades on account of rapid increase in population and improvement in the living standard of the people. Fortunately, the fuel requirements of rural area are being progressively met by growing biomass, kerosene oil, coal, and dung cakes. But in the urban sector, the fuel requirements are being increasingly taken care of through LPG, Kerosene oil, coal and firewood. Similarly the lighting requirements in the urban sector are being met by electricity whereas in the rural areas the lighting is generally met by electricity, mustard oil, and kerosene oil. With the advancement of technology and improvement in the level of living of the people, there has been increase in domestic use of energy per family. The life style of the people has also changed and hence, there has been significant change in the food habits of the people which has resulted in the increased use of energy. iv In this context, an attempt was made to study the energy consumption and emerging needs of irrigated farming and make projections of the energy requirements in future on account of all round development in farm sector and agro-based activities. Thus, the study focussed on ..(i) different sources of energy being used by irrigated and un-irrigated farms, (ii) the extent of use of commercial and non-commercial energy in irrigated and un-irrigated farm activities, (iii) to projecting the future energy needs for irrigated farms, (iv) estimating of theextent of biomass so as to project its potential in irrigated villages to meet its increasing requirements, and (v) analysing the feasibility of commercial and non-commercial energy in view of social cost and acceptability for irrigated agriculture. If may be relevant to point out here that very few studies were conductedso far in the study area. Since the study area provided irrigated farming system and was one of the moderately progressive area in Western Uttar Pradesh, it was selected for the present study. However, for achieving the objective of the study, a stratified random sampling of the selected farmers in a purposively selected area i.e. Haridwar District was adopted. Since Haridwar district forms a part of Western Uttar Pradesh which represents the moderately by progressive area from the point of view of farming, the irrigated villages and farms were selected from the randomly selected blocks. Out of six blocks in Hardwar District three blocks namely Roorkee, Narsan sand Bhagwanpur were randomly selected. However, the criterion adopted for selection of villages was mainly irrigation facilities both surface and ground water. For the purpose of the study, the selected farmers were classified into three different groups viz. highly progressive, moderately progressive and less progressive. A 'Control Unit' i.e. unirrigated farms from unirrigated village were also selected in the adjoining area with the objective of comparing the use of commercial and non-commercial energy i.e. consumption both in irrigated and unirrigated farms. Finally, a sample of 92 irrigated farmers and 23 unirrigated farms (farmers) were selected for the study. The farmers irrigated their crops by canals, tubewells and ponds etc. Further, the selected farmers were categorised according to unit of holding i.e., size of holding namely - marginal, small, medium and large. On the whole, 39 marginal (less than 1 ha.), 31 small (1 to 2.5 ha.), 26 medium (2.5 ha to 4 ha) and 19 large farmers (above 4 ha) were selected. However, for collection of data, an Intensive Survey Method was adopted for which pre-structured schedules/ questionnaire were used. The required data pertaining to commercial and non-commercial energy use were collected by arranging the personal interviews of selected irrigated and unirrigated farmers. The study was conducted during the year 1991-92 and 1992-93. But the required secondary data, were collected from the respective Block Development Officer, Revenue Department,Irrigation Department, District Agriculture Officer etc. which pertained to prices/per unit rates of commercial energy i.e. electricity,diesel, fertilizer, plant protection chemicals and the wages of human labour and hiring charges of bullock labour. For estimating the extent of biomass, the cropping pattern data were collected from the selected farmers for irrigated farms and unirrigated farms as well. Irrigated farming is an energy intensive activity in rural areas where the majority of the farmers are dependent on farming. Irrigated farming consumed more than 50% of the total energy used for different activities. However, the major proportion of the commercial energy was consumed in the form of diesel, electricity, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals etc. Nevertheless, the major share of energy requirement was met by the non-conventional energy sources but the order gradually, reversed after the 'on vi set of "Green Revolution"- and thus irrigated farming emerged at the top, and cooking and domestic lighting needs slumped to the bottom. It was hypothesized that there was a strong correlation between the improved farm technology and use of commercial energy. Irrigated farming was found to be energy intensive activity. Therefore it was postulated that more human labour and bullock power were used bythe farmers on irrigated farms particularly by marginal and small farmers. Further, it was hypothesized that mechanised farm consumed more commercial energy but lesser amount of human and bullock power. The collected data were analysed and analytical tools applied. A single equation model of the form Y = f (x1 x2, x3, x4, x5 ) was used for estimating the regression coefficients of commercial and non-commercial energy i.e. fertilizers (x, ), electricity (x2), diesel (x3), human power (x.), and bullock power (x5) on the total output of the farms. Where, Y = total farm output (Rs) i.e. dependent variable and x1,x2,x3,x4 and x5 were specified as independent variables. Apart from this, tabular analysis was also attempted. The coefficient of multiple determination (i.e. R ) was calculated in order to find out the extent to which total variation in output per hectare was explained by the combined effect of independent and associated input variables. To examine the significance level of these variables •f test was used. The study also revealed that large and medium farmers comparatively had a larger potential for biomass production and availability. Keeping in view the increasing pressure on commercial energy, biomass can be substituted for oil products in very many areas. Although it may be technically feasible yet it may not be economically rational. The study revealed vi 1 that there was a strong association between size of holdings and energy consumption and also "higher the level of mechanisation, higher was the consumption of commercial energy". There was also a close correspondance between commercial energy consumption and farm income. However, the comparative study of the irrigated and unirrigated farms revealed that the intensive cultivation activity on irrigated farms was instrumental in pushing up the use of human labour and bullock power in respect of all agricultural operations (without mechanisation), and then, the share of non-commercial energy was about 40 to 50 percent of the total energy. The unirrigated farms used less human labour and bullock labour for harvesting the crop and its transportation. The study further revealed that with the increasing level of mechanisation on irrigated farms, the commercial energy consumption increased manifold. Even in many cases of irrigated marginal farms, the farmers hired tractors from neighbouring farmers for ploughing the fields or for some other agricultural operations. Similarly they (marginal) also hired pumping sets for lifting ground water. Further, it was seen that there was a strong correlation between size of holdings and fertiliser consumption (i.e. commercial energy).