In response to groundwater depletion and increased irrigation costs, sharecropping with inter-linked land, water and labor market transactions have evolved in groundwater dependent villages of north Gujarat. Farmers with large land holdings adjust to declining profit from agriculture through appropriation of surplus through elaborate share contracts on the one hand and long-distance international migration on the other. As the profit margin gets tighter, the exploitative class structure reasserts itself and the burden of resource depletion is transferred to those down in the socio-economic hierarchy. With the help of an illustrative case study, this paper captures this transition.
In response to groundwater depletion and increased irrigation costs, sharecropping with inter-linked land, water and labor market transactions have evolved in groundwater dependent villages of north Gujarat. Farmers with large land holdings adjust to declining profit from agriculture through appropriation of surplus through elaborate share contracts on the one hand and long-distance international migration on the other. As the profit margin gets tighter, the exploitative class structure reasserts itself and the burden of resource depletion is transferred to those down in the socio-economic hierarchy. With the help of an illustrative case study, this paper captures this transition. 
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