Determinants of Labour Allocation Between Farm and Off - Farm Works in Hambantota District

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to identify the determinants of labour allocation between farm and off-farm works in Hambantota district. At the present labour is very important factor as production factor in our country. Using multi- stage sampling technique, primary data was collected in 2021 from five villages in Ambalantota division and from each village, 40 small scale farmers were selected randomly. Time allocation for farm and off-farm works were taken as dependent variable and demographic, socio-economic and farm production characteristics were taken as independent variables in the study. Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to explore the basic features of the respondents and the results of frequency analysis showed that 64.5% of the farmers allocate their time for farm works and 35.5% of them allocates their time for off - farm works. This represent that majority of farmers allocate more hours for farm works. According to the descriptive statistics, average age of farmer was nearly 42 years old and respondent farmers are earning average Rs 34365/= with maximum of Rs 45000/= from their activities. The average farm experience of farmers was about 12 years reported and it included 40-years maximum time period. Results of chi-square test proved that gender, marital status, education level, availability of capital, ownership of land and availability of subsidies were significantly associated with labour time allocation between farm and off-farm works in the study. Further, results of Tobit model revealed that, age, educational level, gender, farm income, farm experience and availability of subsidies were significantly impact on labour time allocation for both farm and off-farm works, while availability of capital significantly impact on farm work, but only marital status and availability of credit significantly impact for off-farm works in the study.