International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

The present study to evaluate composition and utilization of workforce was conducted in the Lower Brahmaputra Valley Zone of Assam. Multistage stratified random sampling technique was used for selection of 500 numbers of farm households, 100 each from five districts selected for the study. Farm households were categorized into four size classes as marginal (<1.00 ha), small (1.00-2.00 ha), medium (2.00 - 4.00 ha) and large (4.00 ha and above). Primary household level information were collected for the study.

The findings of the study revealed that the composition of male and female population in the households was 51.11 percent and 48.89 percent of the total population, respectively. On average, total working population constituted 50.35 percent of the total population, comprising male (29.08%) and female (21.27%) of the total workers. The gender variation in worker population was attributed to lesser participation of female workforce in non-farm activities accounting for 46.3 percent to their male counterpart (52.61%) in primary occupation, whereas it was 53.06 percent to 61.06 percent in secondary occupation, respectively. The farm households found to utilize the workforce (46.59%) in agriculture and allied occupations followed by salary and wages (32.12%), business (16.61%) and remittance (4.69%). The marginal and small groups of households were found to involve in multiple activities to utilize workforce throughout the year based on availability of opportunities both in farm and non-farm sector compared to their larger peers. The size of workforce of the rural households, gender-wise composition, qualification and skill set found to be the deciding factors for better utilization of the workforce for higher income and livelihood security.