2.5. Transportation Problems and Road Network

Farmers face various transportation problems in the process of transporting their produce from the farm to their houses and markets. These problems included:

♤ Bad roads,

♤ High cost of transportation,

♤ Irregularity of vehicles,

♤ Insufficiency of vehicles,

♤ Insufficient means of transportation and

♤ Long distance from farm to their houses as well as markets.

Road network plays main role among them. This is because it is the major means of transporting agricultural produce from the farms to the markets. Road transport has both positive and negative impact on agricultural development in India.

The impacts of bad road infrastructure on agricultural output and productivity are following: -

♤ The agricultural sector accounts for a large share of gross domestic product. Poverty is concentrated in rural areas. The relatively low levels of road infrastructure and long average travel time’s result in high transaction costs for sales of agricultural inputs and outputs, and this limits agricultural productivity and growth.

♤ Many farmers are reluctant to grow a marketable surplus second crop because it cannot be sold or because the difficulty and expense of transport significantly reduces the returns to labour.

♤ Agricultural productivity will be low and there is a lack of innovation because extension information and inputs do not reach the farmers.

♤ Rural people often are too poor to own their own motorized vehicles and depend on public transport to gain access to locations outside their communities. When rural roads deteriorate public transport becomes more expensive and transport operators eventually decide to stop their business.

♤ Some of the variables that determine the level of development in a given environment are easy accessibility and mobility.

♤ A strong relationship between road transportation, underdevelopment and rurality has been identified by various researches.

♤ When the distance of farm to the market is far and the road is rough perishable crops may be destroyed and farmers may run at a loss.

♤ With improved roads, transport cost savings occur both through lower costs of existing traffic and lower costs of generated and attracted traffic. The assumption is that traffic will grow as a result of road improvements. A deterioration of the road network on the other hand will gradually reduce traffic levels. Moreover the unit transport cost will increase.

♤ When the roads become impassable, there will be a shift to less-effective modes of transport, replacing motorized transport by more costly non-motorized transport. The move to non-motorised transport often implies that a lot of transport simply ceases to take place. If motorised transport is not available, bulky goods can only be transported for short sections.

♤ By the reduction in competition in the transport sector due to lower traffic levels, results in the increased cost of transport and that is passed to the farming households.

♤ A well maintained road network keeps input and transport prices down and, hence, production costs lower and can lead to improved livelihoods through higher incomes.

♤ The quality and density of the rural road network makes a significant difference in the cost of agricultural inputs, the quality and value of outputs as well as the delivery of extension services.