MELLOR'S THEORY OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
                     MELLOR'S 
THEORY OF 
AGRICULTURAL 
DEVELOPMENT
 W.J.   Mellor   in his book entitled   ‘The   Economics   of  Agricultural  
 Development’ which was published in 1966 suggested ways and 
means to transform traditional agriculture into modern agriculture.
Introduction
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According to Mellor, agriculture of an economy passes through three phases:
1. Traditional agriculture
2. Technologically dynamic agriculture- low capital technology and
3. Technologically dynamic agriculture- High capital technology
Phases
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Mellor defines traditional agriculture in a pragmatic way. According to him 
traditional agriculture  is  one  which  is  backward,  labour  intensive  
agriculture  with  low  productivity.
Most of the farms in traditional agriculture are peasant farms in which bulk of 
labour force, management and capital are supplied by the same household. 
Traditional 
Agriculture
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The principle inputs used in traditional agriculture are  land and labour. 
The use of additional labour is the only  source of increasing production 
and income. But the use of more labour on a given farm heads to 
diminishing marginal productivity.
Principle 
Inputs 
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 According  to  Mellor,  there  is  under-employment   in   traditional 
agriculture. This is mainly due to inequality in the distribution of land. 
 The farmers having bigger  farms  have  the  option  to  choose  
between  leisure and work because of higher income. This lends to  
under-employment. 
Under-
employment
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 According  to  Mellor,  the  total  supply  curve  for agricultural 
produce in traditional agriculture is backward sloping. This is due to 
negative income   effects   on   use   of   labour   when  prices   
changes.
Backward  
Sloping  
Supply  Curve
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 It is generally argued that there exists zero value labour in agriculture and 
its withdrawal will not reduce the total output. 
 However, Mellor believed that any withdrawal of labour from the 
agriculture  will result in a fall in output. This is because of increase in per 
capita income of remaining labours which causes the use of less labour.
Impact of 
withdrawal 
of labour
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 In  this  phase,  new  inputs  with  high  marginal  productivity  and  
complementary  to labour  are  used  in  agriculture. The use of such 
inputs encourages the use of  traditional inputs by raising their 
productivities.
Technologically 
Dynamic 
agriculture
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 The  definition  of  traditional  agriculture  given  by  Mellor   is   
more   pragmatic.   He defines traditional agriculture as on which is a 
backward and uses labour as the main factor of  production.  He  
argues that  if  labour  is  withdrawn  from  that  agriculture,  
agricultural production will fall.
Critical 
Evaluation of 
Mellor’s Theory
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