ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the current theoretical understanding and explanation of the peasant question. It presents empirical evidence. A terms of trade squeeze of agriculture is seen as a necessary condition for accumulation in industry; a large segment of small farmers/petty commodity producers is an impediment for long term growth productivity and production in agriculture. This has made the condition of agrarian transition as a necessary element for making industrial capitalist growth redundant, and thereby the former is argued to have been bypassed. The authors collected information on land ownership, production, marketed surplus, costs and prices on nine major crops, and employment and social welfare benefits received from various governmental programmes. They have examined two aspects, one their share in the production and two, their marketed surplus to assess their nature and significance. Non-agricultural incomes of households are calculated from the reported information on employment, wages, salaries, and revenues from self-employed activities.
