ABSTRACT
The single most significant statistic in India's agricultural system is the dominance of subsistence farming. Farm management studies in the 1950s in India revealed that investment in implements, wells, draught animals, and other equipment per unit of land was inversely proportional to farm size. The energy used in subsistence sector farming is difficult to isolate, but one can calculate the total use of energy in Indian agriculture and take per capita utilisation as a fair indication of the level of energy use in subsistence agriculture. Rural households meet their energy needs mostly from firewood, agricultural residue, and animal waste. The energy needs of households, and production in the agricultural and transport sectors can be aggregated to get a broad picture of the per capita energy needs of the subsistence sector. The pattern of fuel forms used to meet specific energy needs is a function of the relative availability of those fuels, their prices, and interchangeability.
