Exploring Labor Shortages in India’s Agriculture

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-620-3_17How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Labour shortages; migration; mechanization; rural agriculture; socio-economic impact; gender disparities; urban living

Abstract

This study investigates the implications of labor shortages in India’s agricultural sector, with special emphasis on how the out-migration of youth to urban areas affects farm labor supply, wages, crop returns, and profitability. It questions the decline in agricultural labor as it affects farm economics, especially in terms of labor costs and technological adaptation, as well as the role of wage fluctuations and labor-saving technologies. In this article, data was gathered through ethnographic methods by interviewing farm owners and laborers in Amravati District about the problems of labor shortages, mechanization, and socio economic hardships. Key findings indicate that the rural workforce is depleted through migration for better education and employment, making farms rely on an aging population. Mechanization may enhance efficiency but cannot substitute for the need for skilled labor. This labor scarcity enhances costs and reduces farm profitability, worsened by climate change and poor government support. Increased workload burdens women, and gender disparities in labor participation are visible. This report concludes that there is the need for urgent intervention towards combating labor shortages through improving the access of education and training towards promoting government subsidies, hence advocating for women in agriculture support. It further provides areas for more research studies expanding on diverse rural communities’ effects and assessing technology/policy interventions.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Aarya Lavale
AU  - Dhanvi Parekh
AU  - Labdhi Savla
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/31
TI  - Exploring Labor Shortages in India’s Agriculture
BT  - Proceedings of the ATLAS International Design Conference 2025 (AIDC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 279
EP  - 290
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-620-3_17
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-620-3_17
ID  - Lavale2026
ER  -