a. Animal labour costs The loamy soil found in the paddy fields of Ramankari village is a mixture of clay and sand that gets hardened only when it is directly exposed to sunlight. The surface of the paddy lands in this area is immersed in water throughout the year except fora short period after the dewatering operations. Even at that time the moisture of soil is retained and it never becomes hard. Hence it has become a matter of contention whether ploughing has any positive impact on the yield rate. At present a considerable section of paddy farmers are of the opinion that any sort of ploughing is quite unnecessary to maintain crop productivity. During the previous puncha season 15 percent of the sample farmers in the study area refrained from ploughing their fields. More than 21 percent of the sample farmers used drought animals to plough their fields and nearly 19 percent of them used tractors or power tillers along with oxen. On an average a sample farmer in the study area spent Rs 180 as animal labour costs per acre. The per acre costs on hired animal labour for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers are estimated as Rs, Rs, Rs and Rs respectively.
