Meaning of "Agricultural Economics"

Agricultural economics is the study of the activities related to man and agriculture and the gifts received from agriculture. How does a farmer earn his living by producing from agriculture? In other words, agricultural economics means that branch of economics in which problems, rules etc. related to agriculture are studied. The interrelationship between various resources of the farmer and the community is also studied in agricultural economics. By adding the word agriculture before economics, the study of economics becomes limited to those related to agriculture like the area of ​​agriculture, relation to agriculture, behavior of the community.

What is the definition of "agricultural economics"?

Professor Grey. According to - Agricultural economics is a science in which it applies the basic principles and methods of economics in the agricultural business.

Pro. According to Hilberd - In agricultural economics, we study the rules of earning and spending money of humans engaged in the management of agriculture.

According to Jozier - Agricultural economics is the science which contains the knowledge of the management of farming resources and how a farmer can earn profits from his business and lead a happy life.

Pro. According to Ashby - Agricultural economics tells us those principles and formulas of agriculture by which we can live a good comfortable life by doing good agriculture in less time.

According to Dr. Taylor - Agricultural economics gives knowledge of the principles that govern the problems of agriculture, what to produce and how to do, what to sell and how to sell so that it can benefit for itself in harmony with the interests of the whole society. To earn maximum net profit.

According to Dr. AB Mishra - Agricultural economics is the science in which the principles and methods of economics are applied to the specific conditions of agricultural industry. Agricultural economics studies the relationship between man's earning and spending from agriculture.

nature and scope of "agricultural economics" pdf

1. Agricultural economics is a vast subject. Which has a close relationship with other social, psychological and natural sciences. From these scriptures, agricultural economics is developed to increase its expansion.

2. All those economic motivations are studied in agricultural economics. With the help of which agricultural production can be increased.

3. Agriculture is a sure and dangerous business. Whose form is difficult to determine. In such a situation, it is difficult to determine the economic motivation, the nature of agriculture.

4. Agricultural economics is such a subject in which analytical tools of economics are widely used. And various problems related to the production of agriculture are solved by economic logic.


Field of Agricultural Economics

The following three things are studied under the field of agricultural economics -

(I) Content of Agricultural Economics

(II) Nature of agricultural economics

(III) Limitations of agricultural economics

(I) Content of Agricultural Economics -

Agricultural economics is a very deep and detailed subject, its subject matter includes the following -


1. Production - The central subject of the study of agricultural economics is the subject of increase in the production of agriculture. In agricultural economics, not only increasing the production, but the social and economic environment is also studied under it. In which agricultural work is being conducted.


2. Distribution - An important part of the study of agricultural economics is related to the distribution of benefits derived from agricultural produce. In what way and on the basis of what means should be distributed among different resources for the yield from the value obtained from agricultural produce. Such study is a distributive division in the subject of agricultural economics. In present times the problem of distribution is becoming very difficult. Because the disparity of wealth and income is increasing.


3. Division - The third important department of the study of agricultural economics is consumption, under this department various types of taxes and effects on the items of consumption of a farmer are studied. Apart from this, it makes it possible for the farmers to rationally manage their family expenses and review the parity between their selling and purchasing prices.


4. Marketing - When, where and through which medium should the farmers sell their produce so that the marketing cost is minimized and the amount of profit can be increased. In between, margin, farmer's share, government's import-export policy, international agreements, etc. are also studied.


5. Planning and policy making - Agriculture is one such occupation which is inextricably linked in the cycle of poverty. Planning is the only way to get out of this mess. In this way planning and policy making have special importance in agricultural economics. This is a separate department.


What is agricultural economics and what is the scope of agricultural economics?

(II) Nature of agricultural economics

The nature of agricultural economics means that agricultural economics is a science or an art, if it is a science then it is an ideal science or a policy-oriented science or a policy-oriented science or a real or real science.

Agricultural economics is a science - because it is related to the agriculture of a farmer, in which there is a systematic knowledge of activities related to consumption, exchange, distribution etc. It tells about the relation between effect and cause. For example, in the field of production from agriculture, it tells that if there is no progress in the art of agriculture at the same time, then by increasing the amount of capital and labor used on the land, there is generally less increase in the ratio in the total yield. In other words, the law of origin of agriculture applies.

Agricultural economics is an ideal science - an ideal science tells all those objectives or ideals for which man has been trying to achieve. This type of science gives orders and gives understanding of how it should be as opposed to how it is. Agricultural economics tells us that the agricultural production per hectare in India is very low as compared to other countries, which should be increased. In the country, the indebtedness of the farmers is going on from generation to generation. And they are being paid huge interest while doing this, life passes by. Because of which the farmer is not able to move forward. That's why we can say it is ideal science.

Agricultural economics is also an art - Agricultural economics is also an art because it explains with ideals how to increase production capacity per hectare in India and how to free farmers from debts.

Limitations of Agricultural Economics

1. Excessive dependence on the nature of agriculture

  Agriculture generally depends on the condition of nature. From sowing the seeds till the ripening of crops, the farmer remains dependent on nature.

  2. The perishable nature of agricultural produce

  The agricultural produce keeps getting destroyed due to nature and even the finished crops cannot be stored for a long time.

  3. Transfer excess

The produce produced in agriculture, being heavy in weight and large in size, occupies more space and the transfer rate of the produce is quite high.


4. Higher Marketing Expenditure

Farmers produce in small quantities due to which the cost of sales is high.

5. Absence of division of labor

Due to the dispersed nature of agricultural business, there is very little possibility of division of labor in agriculture like other industries.

In other words the following are the limitations of agricultural economics:

1. Agricultural economics studies all human activities only on economic basis.

2. Agricultural economics studies the social real and economic aspects of all human activities.

3. The parameter of agricultural economics is money.