New Technology and Process of Differentiation: Two Sugarcane Cultivating Villages in UP

The study examines empirically the 'new technology' and the process of differentiation of peasant households in Muzaffarnagar district, in western Uttar Pradesh, India. High-yielding varieties (HYVs) of sugarcane were introduced to certain parts of the district in the late 1970s and early 1980s which has dramatically increased yields of cane per acre. The empirical study is focused on a region which is generally associated with the development of capitalist farming, on the assumption that any proposition which could be proved for these areas is likely to hold for other regions undergoing similar processes of change. We analyse the various impacts of 'new technology' on two different villages and examine the resultant changes at the household level. The study examines the effects of the 'new technology' on process of differentiation of the 120 sample households. A clear picture emerges that capitalist farming is expanding and economic differentiation is increasing