Abstract

Improvement in agricultural productivity can reduce rural poverty in a major way. In India, various studies inferred that rural poverty is inversely related to the agricultural productivity and argued that agricultural productivity growth reduces rural poverty effectively as it generates income for poor farmers. Indian states are characterized by high variations in rural poverty levels, particularly, in Uttar Pradesh which is the most populous state of India. The economy of the state is rural-based, predominantly agrarian, with 80% of population living in villages. The incidence of rural poverty in the state is very high as compared to most of the other states of India. It demands for an in-depth analysis of rural poverty in Uttar Pradesh and the role of agricultural productivity in reducing rural poverty. Present study attempts to estimate rural poverty and disparity in it within the state. The linkage between rural poverty and agricultural productivity has also been examined. The study analyses that there exists no significant differences in the incidence, depth and severity of rural poverty across the regions, while variations are significant across the districts. The linkage between agricultural productivity and rural poverty are found to be significant in the state. This shows that as agricultural productivity increases, the incidence, depth and severity of rural poverty decreases in all the districts. The findings of regression analysis further provide evidences that the negative impact of agricultural productivity on the incidence, depth and severity of rural poverty is statistically significant across the districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Key words: Rural poverty, agricultural productivity, districts, Uttar Pradesh.