Zur Differenzierung der Bauernschaft in West-Bengalen

Abstract In this article the author examines whether the emergence of agrarian capitalism, described as a process of differentiation of the peasantry, can be expected in West-Bengal in the near future. The technique of production is crucial to the survival of small farms. Under the still prevailing traditional technique, which is largely neutral with respect to size, small producers can hardly be displaced by pure market forces. With some qualifications this is also true of the package of techniques associated with the growing of "high yielding varieties". Economies of scale, accompanying the mechanisation of production, are alone the crucial lever for the displacement of small producers. The author argues that because of the lack of some necessary conditions in the industrial sector a quick implementation of the HYV-technique and of mechanisation in the agricultural sector can not be expected. Hence a significant process of differentiation of the peasantry is unlikely to take place in West-Bengal in the near future.