Eri-Culture and Its Impact on Production and Employment in BTAD and Assam, India

Abstract

Eri culture is integral part in Indian economy in production as well as in employment generationwhich helps in alleviating poverty. Eri culture has been practiced by many tribes in Assam and Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) since time immemorial. In this paper, it is tried to analyze the production and employment generation under eri culture in the state Assam and (BTAD). The paper also deals with comparative analysis of family engagement, production and employment generation under eri in BTAD and Assam and BTAD share of employment and production to Assam. The study is framed mainly for the year 2010-11 to 2019-20. To analyze the annual growth of production and employment generation, Simple growth rate (SGR) as well as average of simple (annual) growth rate (AAGR) is calculated.The employment generated through eri culture has been calculated taking the formula adopted by Deuri et.al in 2012 (Deuri, M.C.Sharma, & Azad, 2012).

It is found that Cocoon yield in Assam as well as in BTAD to have a positive trend during the study period. Comparative analysis of growth rate of cocoon yield between Assam and BTAD shows that, the growth rate for mulberry cocoon yield for BTAD with AAGR of 35.42 per cent is superior to that of Assam (24.74 per cent). The growth rate for Muga cocoon yield is also better for BTAD than Assam with AAGR of 19.42 and 6.51 per cent respectively. In case of employment, it is found that in Assam, employment generated through eri is 25.58 per cent per year over the period 2010-11 to 2019-20. In case of BTAD, it is found to grow at the rate of 17.87 per cent per year during the same period of time.