CHAPTER - Ill GROWTH PERFORMANCE, INSTABILITY, ACREAGE AND YIELD RESPONSE OF PULSE CROPS

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1 CHAPTER - Ill GROWTH PERFORMANCE, INSTABILITY, ACREAGE AND YIELD RESPONSE OF PULSE CROPS Introduction Economists have extensively investigated the growth performance of rice and wheat during the past four decades. It has been widely researched at global, regional, national, state and household levels. Unfortunately, scant attention has been paid to the study of pulse crops, which play an important role in sustaining crop systems and the nutritional security of the population in India. Although, evidences are available for sixties, seventies and eighties, inadequate recent information has impaired the policy initiatives in the changed agricultural scenario in the country. Therefore, an attempt must be made to provide current evidence on temporal and spatial dimensions of the pulse development. The present chapter is devoted to the analysis of growth performance and instability in the area, production and yield of five important pulse crops (gram, arhar, moong, urad and massar) along with total pulses at the all India level and in major producing states of the country between and In addition, acreage and yield responses have also been examined. The entire study period is sub-divided into two periods. The first period relates to eighties beginning from to and the second period to nineties from to These represent the pre and post reforms periods. The cut off point of has strategic significance, as pulse crops were included in the Technology Mission during this year. Given this framework, three hypotheses are proposed for testing. First, pulse production performance in India is poor due to low growth of acreage and yield in the study period. Second, non-price factors are more important than price factors in acreage allocation to pulse crops by 62

2 farmers. Third, expenditure on seed, fertilizer and magnitude of rainfall influence the yield of pulse crops. The methodology followed for each aspect is different. For measuring the growth rates of area, production and yield, semi log functions were used while instability indices were estimated by applying Coppock's methodology of log variance. The Nerlovian modified model of distributed lags was used to identify the factors influencing acreage of important pulse crops. Finally, the Cobb Douglas regression model is applied for segregating the factors effecting yield of referred pulses. The details of the methodology used are given at the relevant place in the analysis. This chapter is organized as follows. The first section examines the state-wise growth performance of major pulses in India in order to assess the nature of stagnancy in pulse production in the background of the changing agricultural scenario in the country. In addition, it looks into the farm size variation.the second section is devoted to the analysis of instability in area, production and yield of referred pulses. The third section identifies the factors influencing acreage and yield of major pulse? in the core states in India. Section -I: Growth Performance Some scholars have attempted to document the detailed performance of pulse crops since independence. The annual growth rate of production in the pre-green revolution period ( to ) with a base year of triennium ending was 1.41 per cent per annum, which dropped significantly in the seventies. It was only in the eighties that growth rate crossed 1 per cent per annum. During this period, pulse ' Chopra Kusum and Gurushri Swamy, "Pulses: An Analysis of Demand and Supply in India, ", Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, ' Sadashivam S, "Pattern of Pulses Production: An Analysis of Growth Trends": Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXIV (51-52), Satyapriya V.S., "Pulses in India - Growth, Regional Distribution and Area Responses," Oxford and IBH Publishing Company, New Delhi,

3 production grew at the annual growth rate of 1.52 per cent per annum. The economic re-structuring during the nineties did not prove beneficial for pulse production and its growth declined substantially. It became 0.61 per cent per annum between and (Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 2003). But, the individual pulse crops behaved differently. The annual increase in gram production was above average while it was negligible for arhar. Given this background, it is pertinent to examine the state-wise growth performance of individual pulse crops in India for the aforesaid periods. The semi-log equation of the form log y = a + bt is used to estimate state-wise growth rates in area, production and yield of gram, arhar, moong, urad, massar, rabi pulses, kharif pulses and total pulses during the first, second and entire study periods. Gram The most important pulse crop in India is gram which occupied an area of about 5712 thousand hectares during It constitutes nearly two fifth share of the area of total pulses. It is a multi-purpose crop. Its leaves are largely eaten as Vegetable and the grain is eaten raw. When ripe, it is used as a whole, split and after grinding as flour (besan) etc. It is sown during October and November~ Many times, it is mixed with wheat, barley, mustard and pea. The crop matures within 95 to 150 days depending on the variety grown. The crop is irri9ated once or twice only when soil gets dried up in November or December. Being a leguminous crop, gram utilizes atmospheric nitrogen through its root nodules. The crop is neither manured nor fertilized by most of the farmers. The information on area, production, yield and percentage of irrigated area in important states during triennium ending is given in Table

4 Table: 3.1 Area, Production, Yield and Irrigated Area of Gram in Important States in India (TE ) State Area % Share Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan Maharashtra Karnataka Andhra Pradesh Bihar Haryana West Bengal Gujarat Orissa Punjab Tamil Nadu India* * Includes mmor producmg states Production % Share Area in '000 ha Production in '000 tonnes Y' 1e ld. 1n K,qs./h a Yield %of lrrg. Area Rank NA NA NA Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture,Government of India,New Delhi,

5 - Table: 3.2 Growth Performance of Gram in Important States of India ( ) _{Per cent per annum) State Area Production Yield Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan Maharashtra Karnataka Andhra Pradesh Bihar Haryana West Bengal Gujarat Orissa Punjab c Tamil Nadu '0.3 India Source: Based on data from "Area and Production of Principal Crops in India", and data complied from Directorate of Economics and Statistics ( ), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

6 It may be noticed that gram is extensively cultivated as a winter crop in India especially in the state s of Madhya Pradesh (38.29 per cent), Rajasthan (15.28 per cent), Maharashtra (13.80 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (13.46 per cent). These states together accounted for 81 per cent of all India area under gram. These are also leading states in terms of production but Uttar Pradesh crossed Maharashtra and Rajasthan due to highest productivity. Further, disparities in yield rates were also found significant. The state of Uttar Pradesh was leading with a yield rate of 996 kgs/ha. The other high ranking states were Bihar (979 kgs/ha.), Punjab (943 kgs/ha.) and Andhra Pradesh (923 kgs./ha. ). Nonetheless, these yield rates are much below the potential yield of qtls/ha. It is largely due to low proportion of irrigated area to total area. Only 30.9 per cent of gram area was found irrigated during The states with higher irrigated area are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana. On the other hand, merely 6.8 per cent of gram area was found irrigated in Andhra Pradesh. After analyzing the geographical spread of gram cultivation in India, it is imperative to examine growth performance in terms of area, production and yield between and It may be observed from Table 3.2 that growth rate of gram area was found negative at the all India level. The gram area declined at the rate of 0.8, 0.7 and 0.5 per cent per annum during the eighties, nineties and the entire study period. It appears that inclusion of pulses in the Technology Mission on Oilseeds and Pulses (TMOP) in 1990 did not make any impact to incentivise farmers to grow this crop. The performance of gram area was found poor in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The largest decline in gram area was noticed in the case of Punjab (16.6 per cent per annum) followed by Haryana, which are well-irrigated states. After the success of green revolution in the sixties, farmers here 67

7 shifted to wheat, which yielded relatively higher profitability per unit of land in irrigated regions. In rain fed areas of Haryana, mustard replaced gram. This has happened despite higher growth of gram yield in these states. But, productivity growth could not compensate for area decline and hence, production declined at a high rate of 14.0 per cent and 4.9 per cent per annum during the study period. The drop in gram production was relatively higher in the nineties as compared to eighties. On the other hand, gainer states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa have exhibited a significant expansion in the area under gram. It was as high as 7.9 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and 5.3 per cent per annum in Karnataka during the study period. The clear-cut shift of production base from traditional to new southern states was noticed. The gram area. in southern states became almost equal to northern states. Since, yield performance was also commendable in these states, production grew at the rate of 12.7 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, 7 per cent in Karnataka, 6.2 per cent in Maharashtra and 3.4 per cent per annum in Madhya Pradesh during the reference period. Unfortunately, production of gram in Orissa has exhibited a decline due to negative growth in area as well as in yield. The higher rate of gram production in Andhra Pradesh may be attributed to high productivity coupled with favourable prices, good monsoon and availability of improved variety seeds and efficient extension services. In fact, gram's competitive edge has weakened in northern states due to shift towards the more profitable crops like wheat in irrigated areas and mustard in un-irrigated areas. Moreover, this period faced only three un-favourable monsoon years in late eighties and one in This partially explains the good performance in production. In addition, there are evidences to show (NSSO Report, 451) that pulse growers in Andhra Pradesh are using improved seeds for pulse cultivation and adoption rate is as high as per cent against an all India average of 47 per cent during The tendency of increasing area under. gram in rain fed areas of these states 68

8 may likely to continue due to availability of short duration varieties of gram with better adaptation in rainfed areas and efficient extension services available to farmers. Arhar ranks second amongst the pulse crops of India. It is largely eaten in the form of split pulse (dal) while its tender green pods constitute a favourite vegetable in some parts of the country. The outer integuments of its seed together with part of the kernel provide a valuable feed for the milch cattle. The stalks are utilized for various purposes such as roofing and basket making. Arhar is a long duration crop. It is sown in July with - first rains of the monsoon and ripens about March. But, now short duration varieties are available with lower maturity periods. At times, it is grown as. a mixed crop with jowar, bajra and groundnut. This practice not only offers insurance against the crop failure but also enables the cultivator to obtain a variety of harvests from the same piece of land. The information on area, production, yield and irrlgat~d TE is presented in Table 3.3. area of arhar in important states of India in It may be noticed that arhar was grown on 3493 thousand hectares of area in India. The crop is more extensively cultivated in states of Maharashtra ( per cent), Karnataka ( per cent), Andhra Pradesh (13.02 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (11.67 per cent). Their shares in all India production were per cent, per cent, per cent and per cent respectively during triennium ending The state of Maharashtra is leading by showing little less than one third of all India area and production. The yield rate for the country as a whole was 693 kgsjha. Bihar was leading in productivity with an yield of 1257 kgs./ha. Among the major producing states, Uttar Pradesh was far ahead in productivity than Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The proportion of irrigated area to cropped area was however, only 4.2 per cent. This indicates poor status of arhar in receiving irrigation. The highest 69

9 proportion of irrigated area was observed in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat against a low share in Bihar (0.3 per cent of cropped area). Having looked into the geographical spread of area and production, we proceed to examine state-wise growth performance of area, production and yield of arhar between and It may be observed from Table 3.4 that growth of arhar area in the country during the study period was 0.8 per.cent per annum. The first period was major contributor but area declined at the rate of 0.3 per cent per annum during the second period. The gainer states included Haryana (3.7 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (2.9 per cent), Maharashtra (2.5 per cent), Orissa (1.8 per cent), Karnataka (1.2 per cent) and Gujarat (1 per cent). However, states of West Bengal (9.0 per cent), Punjab (6 per cent) Madhya Pradesh (2.2 per cent) and Bihar (1 per cent) were found to be looser in terms of area during the study period. The states, which have gained in area, also exhibited positive growth rates in production. Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have gained more in terms of production due to yield improvement. The rate of increase in production was observed to be lower in the nineties as compared to eighties. The states with significant growth rate in yield are Andhra Pradesh (3.2 per cent) and Rajasthan (3.5 per cent). The performance of all other states was found dismal in growth of yield. Thus, growth of arhar production was merely 0.3 per cent per annum and that too was due to area expansion at the rate of 0.8 per cent per annum between and The contribution of yield was found negative. It implies that farmers are either not adopting improved seeds or their success rate is low. 70

10 Table: 3.3 Area, Production, Yield and Irrigated Area of Arhar in Important States in India (TE ) Area in '000 ha. Production in '000 tonnes Y iel d. 1n K \gs. I ha. Area Production Yield % lrrg. Area State %Share %Share Rank Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Andhra Pradesh Orissa Bihar Tamil Nadu Rajasthan NA Haryana NA Punjab NA West Bengal NA India* * Includes mmor producmg states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

11 Table: 3.4. Growth Performance of Arhar in Important States of India ( ) (Percent per annum) Area Production Yield State Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Andhra Pradesh Orissa Bihar Tamil Nadu Rajasthan Haryana Punjab West Bengal ~ India Source: Based on data from "Area and Production of Principal Crops in India~ Government of India,New Delhi, and data complied from Directorate of Economics and Statistics ( ), Ministry of Agriculture, 72

12 Moong Moong is fairly important as a pulse crop in India as it contributes per cent in area and 8.30 per cent in production of total pulses at the country level. It is mainly cultivated as kharif season crop in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. But, in states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, it is also grown in- rabi season as a second crop after p(,lddy. In , moong occupied 2372 thousand hectares in kharif season producing nearly 617 thousand tonnes of beans whereas during the rabi season only 617. thousand hectares were under this crop giving 245 thousand tonnes of production. It is also grown as a summer crop in states of Punjab and Haryana. Summer crop is generally sown in March and is harvested in June before the monsoon sets in, thus making the land available for the next paddy crop. The information on state-wise area, production and yield of moong in triennium ending is presented in Table 3.5. The all India area under moong was 3015 thousand hectares in TE Maharashtra (23.34 per cent), Rajasthan (17.41 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (16.09 per cent) and Karnataka (12.18 per cent) together cropped around 70 per cent of all l~dia area. Besides, it is grown in Bihar, Orissa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh as well. The states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh contributed m ore than 40 per cent of total production of the country. Surprisingly, Rajasthan and Karnataka had higher shares in area but due to dismal performance in the yield, their proportion in production declined. Specifically, share of Rajasthan declined by almost 7 per cent. The yield of moong was observed to be as low as 357 kgs./ha. in TE It could be partly due to drought conditions in and partly due to low yield in normal years too. It is not possible to analyse irrigation status due to non-availability of data on this aspect. 73

13 Table: 3.5 Area, Production and Yield of Moong in Important States in India (TE } Area in '000 ha. Production in 'OOO.tonnes Y" 1e ld. 1n K.gs./h a. State Area Production Yield %Share %Share Rank Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Rajasthan Bihar Tamil Nadu Gujarat Uttar Pradesh Orissa Madhya Pradesh Punjab India* * Includes m1nor producmg states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture,Government of India,New Delhi,

14 Table: 3.6 Growth Performance of Moong Important States of India ( ) (Per cent per annum) State Area Production Yield Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Rajasthan Bihar Tamil Nadu Gujarat Uttar Pradesh Orissa Madhya Pradesh Punjab India Source: Based on data from ~rea and Production of Principal Crops in India", and data complied from Directorate of Economics and Statistics ( ), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India,New Delhi,

15 The growth rates in area, production and yield of moong for India and important growing states between and are shown in Table 3.6. The all India area grew at the low rate of 0.2 per cent per annu':l during this period. The first period indicated a positive growth of 2.1 per cent while it was observed to be negative in the second period. At the state level, Rajasthan, (5.9 per cent) followed by Karnataka (3.4 per cent) and Gujarat (2.5 per cent) were the major gainers while Orissa (6.9 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (4.3 per cent) al'id Uttar Pradesh (2.2 per cent) were the major loosers in moong area during the study period. Surprisingly, production of moong in India has declined at the rate of 0.2 per cent per annum during the study period. Particularly, production performance was found poor in the second period with a negative growth rate of 2.3 per cent per annum. The performance of Rajasthan (8.4 per cent) followed by Maharashtra (4.3 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (4.1 per cent) was commendable. But, these gains could not compensate for the losses in major states. Like arhar, productivity has been the greatest casualty in the case of moong, which declined at the rate of 0.4 per cent per annum during the reference period. Although, it grew at the rate of 0.7 per cent in the eighties, the dismal performance of nineties with a negative growth rate of 1.6 per cent became responsible for overall decline in the growth of production. To conclude, growth performance of moong during the past. two decades had been extremely poor because neither area nor yield favoured this crop. Urad, like moong is primarily a warm season crop. It is also grown both in. kharif and rabi seasons. It is a kharif season crop in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. But, some of these states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal along with Assam grow it in the rabi season too. The crop is mainly grown for its beans, which are used as a whole or split. The geographical distribution of area and production along with yield in TE

16 is presented in Table 3.7. It may be observed that urad was grown on 3069 thousand hectares in India. The leading states in area allocation are Maharashtra (18.90 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (17.87 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (17.78 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (12.34 per cent). Besides, it is also cultivated in Tamil. Nadu (9.32 per cent), Karnataka (4.77 per cent), Rajasthan (4.51 per cent), Gujarat (4.42 per cent) and Orissa (4.02 per cent). Andhra Pradesh with per cent share in all India production is the leading state. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh together grew around 40 per cent. The yield level of urad was found extremely low at all India level (446 kgs./ha.). The highest yield of 687 kgs./ha. was reported in Bihar. It is depressing to note that states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan have exhibited yield of urad between three to four qtls per hectare. The estimates of growth rates of area, production and yield of urad in all India and major growing states indicate (Table 3.8) that area under - urad remained almost stagnant (0.2 per cent per annum) during the study period. The period of eighties was favourable by indicating a growth rate of 2.4 per cent per annum but the negative growth (0.7 per cent) in the nineties became responsible for overall stagnation in area. The major states with positive growth in area were Karnataka (5.8 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (4.8 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (3.7 percent). The looser states constituted Orissa (-7.8 per cent), Bihar (-2.7 per cent) and West Bengal(- 2.3 per cent). Despite stagnation in area, production of urad grew at the rate of 1.3 per cent per annum during the reference period. The major contributors were Karnataka (6.7 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (6.5 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (4.8 per cent), Maharashtra (4.1 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (3.9 per cent). It could happen due to good performance of area in the first three cases and of yield in the remaining two cases. The growth of yield in India was 3.4 per cent per annum in the eighti_es, but growth rate of yield in the entire study period was merely 1.1 per cent per annum due to negative growth of yield (0.4 per cent) in the nineties. Among the high 77

17 yield performers, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are most important. On the contrary, yield of urad in Orissa declined at the rate of 3.4 per cent per annum during the study period. Massar Massar is recognized as a valuable pulse crop. It is known to be the most nutritive of the pulses due to high protein content. It is grown as a winter crop and sowing time extends from October to December. Since, it is a short duration crop, it becomes ready for harvest in about three months. The crop is harvested from February to April depending upon the time of sowing. The information on area, production and yield of massar presented in Table 3.9 shows that massar grew on 1413 thousand hectares and gave a production of thousand tonnes in India during TE Uttar Pradesh with per cent of all India area and per cent of production is the key state. Next in the array are Madhya Pradesh (33.64 per cent) and Bihar per cent) which produced around per cent and per cent of country's total massar. Rajasthan is a minor player in massar cultivation but its yield was as high as 1309 kg/ha during the triennium ending The productivity in Uttar Pradesh was less than 10 qtls per hectare. Amazingly, Madhya Pradesh, a second ranking state in area and production has exhibited a low productivity of 479 kgs/ha. It may be highlighted that yield of massar was observed to be the second highest among the major pulse crops of India. Massar has exhibited best growth performance among referred pulses by indicating around two per cent growth in area and yield during the study period. The acreage under massar grew at the rate of 1.8 per cent per year during this period but production has increased at more than double pace i.e. 4 per cent per annum. It could happen due to commendable performance of yield (2.2 per cent per annum). 78

18 Table: 3.7 Area, Production and Yield of Urad in Important States in India (TE ) Area in '000 ha. Production in '000 tonnes Y 1e ld. 1n K ~gs. /h a. State Area Production Yield %Share %Share Rank Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Tamil Nadu Karnataka Bihar West Bengal Orissa Rajasthan Gujarat India* * Includes mmor producmg states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

19 Table: 3.8 Growth Performance of Urad Important States of India ( ) (Per cent per annum) State Area Production Yield Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Tamil Nadu Karnataka Bihar West Bengal Orissa Rajasthan Gujarat NA 0.7 NA NA 1.6 NA NA 0.9 NA India Source: Based on data from "Area and Production of Principal Crops in India'; and data complied from Directorate of Economics and Statistics ( ), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

20 For expansion of area, nineties was a favourable period but for yield growth eighties were far more important. Among major growing states, Uttar Pradesh has indicated area growth of around 2.6 per cent per annum during the study period. However, it was higher than 5 per cent during the eighties. Yield also increased at the rate of 3.4 per cent per annum in this period. As a result, production of massar in Uttar Pradesh increased at the rate of 9 per cent per year in the eighties. The area expansion along with yield was responsible for production growth in Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh.and Rajasthan. Thus, massar emerges as the most important pulse crop in terms of growth during the study period. Other Pulses After reviewing the growth performance of major pulse crops, it would be appropriate to give a brief account of other pulses, which cover a small fraction of area and production of total pulses in India. The commonly used pulses include pea, moth, khesari, kulthi, lobia and rajmash. It is pertinent to present changes in area, production and yield of these crops during the study period. (i) Pea Peas are grown for use as a fresh or processed, sun dried, canned or frozen food. This is an irrigated rabi pulse crop grown extensively in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Orissa. However, Uttar Pradesh accounted for 60 per cent of all India area and 77 per cent of production. The area and production of peas have shown consistently rising trend in both eighties and nineties. The area has gone up from thousand hectares in to thousand hectares in Simultaneously, production has also risen from thousand tonnes to thousand tonnes during the same period. The yield has increased considerably during this period from 688 kgs/ha. in to 897 kgs/ha in

21 Table: 3.9 Area, Production and Yield of Massar in Important States of India (TE ) Area in '000 ha. Production in '000 tonnes Y' le ld. 1n K,gs./h a. State Area Production Yield %Share %Share Rank Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Bihar West Bengal Rajasthan Haryana Maharashtra Punjab India* * Includes mmor producing states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, 2004 Table: 3.10 Growth Performance of Massar in Important States of India ( ) (Per cent per annum) State Area Production Yield Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Bihar West Bengal Rajasthan Haryana Maharashtra Punjab..: India Source: Based on data from "Area and Production of Principal Crops in India'; and data complied from Directorate of Economics and Statistics ( ), Ministry ofagriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

22 (ii) Moth Moth is a highly drought resistant kharif pulse crop. It is sown in June-July at the onset of monsoon and harvested in October.-November. Rajasthan and Maharashtra are its major producers. Rajasthan accounted for about per cent of the all India area and per cent of production during The area under moth in India fell from thousand hectares in to thousand hectares in However, production rose from thousand tonnes to thousand tonnes in this period due to significant rise in yield from 137 kgs./ha to 272 kgs./ha. (iii) Khesari Khesari known an lathyrus is mainly cultivated for fodder. But, poor people eat this pulse due to higher prices of other pulses. It is mainly grown as rabi crop in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharasthtra and West Bengal. The area under khesari fell from thousand hectares in to thousand hectares in The production also followed the declining trend and it fell from thousand tonnes to thousand tonnes during the same period. Surprisingly, its yield has dropped from 418 kgs./ha. to 270 kgs./ha during this period. (iv) Kulthi Kulthi is grown as kharif pulse crop in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Orissa. It is also grown to a small extent in rabi season in states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu The area of kulthi fell from 2121 thousand hectares to 1024 thousand hectares between and The production also declined from 616 thousand tonnes to 398 thousand tonnes during the same period. However, yield has shown appreciable increase from 291 kgs./ha. to 389 kgs./ha. during the sameperiod. 83

23 Among minor pulses, lobia and rajmash are important and are in common use in India. Lobia is used as a fodder, a vegetable, a pulse and a green manure crop. Rajmash is popular pulse in Jammu and Kashmir. However, these are not sufficiently important pulses in terms of acreage and production. Therefore, their area and production is not recorded in the crop census of the country. Kharif and Rabi Pulse Crops In the earlier analysis, attention was drawn to the fact that pulse crops are grown in both kharif and rabi seasons. The major rabi pulses are gram and massar while kharif includes a large variety ranging from arhar to moong, urad and kulthi. The production of rabi season pulses formed about 64 per cent of total production of all pulses with about 50 per cent of total cropped area during the triennium ending Gradually, kharif pulses outpaced the rabi pulses in terms of growth in both prpduction and cropped area. As a result, share of kharif pulses in total production of pulses has increased from 30 per cent in the late sixties to around 40 per cent in the late eighties. The proportion of area under these also increased from 41 per cent to 48 per cent during the same period. Now, kharif and rabi pulses have almost same share in area but in production rabi pulses are far ahead due to higher productivity. Table 3.11 and 3.12 show that kharif pulses have their base in states with poor irrigation availability. Maharashtra (25.00 per cent), Rajasthan (17.51 per cent), Karnataka (12.66 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh ( per cent) together formed 67 per cent of total kharif pulse area during These states accounted for bulk of the production. Rajasthan exihibited precarious situation by indicating only 7.51 per cent share in country's production against per cent share in area. This is due to poor yield rate. Barring Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, yield was found extremely low i.e. around 6 qtls/ha. The high yield rates in Uttar Pradesh and some other 84

24 states indicate the potential, which is not realized in major kharif pulses growing states. Like kharif pulses, rabi pulses are also primarily grown in rain fed areas of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. These two states accounted for around 53 per cent of all India area and a little higher proportion in production during Uttar Pradesh is. far ahead in yield rates. The productivity of rabi pulses in this state was 896 kgs/qtl against 789 kgs/ha. in Madhya Pradesh. The production of kharif pulses grew at the rate of 0.6 per cent per annum in the study period. The first period was better in area expansion as it grew at the rate of 0.9 per cent per year. It reversed in the second period by showing a decline of the same percentage points. The yield followed the area trend by indicating a rise of 2.1 per cent per annum in the first period and nil in the second period. The period of nineties was a goomy period because neither area nor yield of kharif pulses recorded any positive change. The production performance of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra. Pradesh and Gujarat appeared to be better than other growing states. It was primarily due to higher growth in productivity. A comparison of production performance of rabi pulses with kharif pulses indicates that former registered one and half times growth in production despite declining area in the eighties and nineties. It was on account of yield growth, which registered an almost uniform increase of 1.6 per cent per annum. In major producing states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh area as well as yield growth was responsible for good performance of production but in Madhya Pradesh, major contributor was productivity. 85

25 Table: 3.11 Area, Production and Yield of Kharif Pulses in Important States in India (TE ) Area in '000 ha. Production in '000 tonnes Yield in Kgs./ha. Area Production Yield State %Share %Share Rank Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Andhra radesh Rajasthan Gujarat Bihar Orissa Tamil Nadu West Bengal Haryana Punjab India* * Includes mmor producmg states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, 2004 Table: 3.12 Growth Performance of Kharif Pulses in Important States of India ( ) (Per cent per annum) Area Production Yield Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Karnataka M.P A.P Rajasthan Gujarat Bihar Orissa Tamil Nadu ~ West Bengal Haryana Punjab India Source: Based on data from "Area and Production of Principal Crops in India", and data complied from Directorate of Economics and Statistics ( ), Ministry ofagriculture, Government of India,New Delhi,

26 Table: 3.13 Area, Production and Yield of Rabi Pulses in Important States of India (TE ) Area in '000 ha. Production in '000 tonnes Y" le ld. 1n K,gs./h a. Area Production Yield State %Share %Share M.P Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan A. P Maharashtra Bihar Karnataka West Bengal Haryana Orissa Gujarat Punjab India* * Includes minor producing states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, 2004 Rank Table: 3.14 Growth Performance of Rabi Puls.es in Important States of India ( ) (Per cent per annum) Area Production Yield M.P Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan A. P Maharashtra Bihar Karnataka West Bengal Haryana Orissa Gujarat Punjab India Source: Based on data from "Area and Production of Principal Crops in India", and data complied from Directorate of Economics, and Statistics ( ), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,

27 Total Pulses Table 3.15 provides state-wise information on area, production and yield of pulse crops taken as a whole. Pulses were grown on around 21 million hectares of area and produced nearly 13 million tonnes of grain in TE It is clear that while pulses are widely grown in the country, some states are far more important than others as producers of these protein rich foods. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are the most important pulse producing states in that order and accounted together for nearly 66 per cent of their total production in the country. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka come next, contributing over 14 per cent of the total production. The yield levels across the states show that yield of pulses in India is much below the potential yield of qtls/ha. This is true of areas, which are rainfed as well as irrigated. The all India yield of pulses in TE was 597 kgs/ha. however, it was above average in Uttar Pradesh (883 kgs/ha.),bihar (845 kgs/ha) and West Bengal (759 kgs/ha.) and Madhya Pradesh (737 kgs/ha. ). Pulses can be further popularized in these areas in lean seasons so that these crops could become part of a crop rotation without disturbing existing major. crops. It is feasible because pulses are known for low water requirement and adaptability over a wide range of agro-climatic conditions. It would enhance income of the farmers by utilizing the available land in the lean periods and increase sustainability in agriculture. It would make a significant contribution to total production of pulses and also help to evolve a sustainable cropping pattern particularly in northern states with paddy, wheat rotation. Over the study period, from to , production of pulses in India has registered a slow growth rate of 0.7 per cent per annum. The states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have shown more than 3 per cent per year growth in pulse production. In addition, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya.Pradesh recorded around 2 per cent growth in the same period., 88

28 Table: 3.15 Area, Production and Yield of Total Pulses in Important States of India {TE ) Area in '000 ha. Production in '000 tonnes Yield in Kgs /ha Area Production Yield State %Share %Share Madh)l_a Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Bihar Gujarat Tamil Nadu Orissa West Bengal ' Haryana Punjab India* * Includes m1nor produc1ng states Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, 2004 Table: 3.16 Growth Performance of Total Pulses in Important States of India ( ) (Per cent per annum State Area Production Yield M.P Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra Rajasthan A.P Karnataka Bihar Gujarat Tamil Nadu Orissa West Bef!g_al Haryana Punjab India Source: Based on Complied data from Area and Production of Principal Crops,(1981 to 1998) and data compiled from Directorate of Economics and Statistics,(1999to 2002), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, Rank

29 On the other hand, Orissa, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal and Bihar have exhibited negative growth in pulse production. If we consider two sub-periods, our conclusions change. The period of eighties with 1.9 per cent growth in pulse production in India appeared to be much better than the nineties with negative growth of -0.3 per cent per annum. The state-. wise changes in production of pulses in the sub-periods show that rates of growth of total pulse production in eighties were more than one per cent in seven states out of eleven major states. But, in nineties, this number has been reduced to three only. The differential growth rates in the pulse production have brought some important changes in the locational pattern of pulse production in the country. The higher growth of production in states of Maharashtra, Andhra - Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in nineties implies that growth centres of pulse production shifted to southern states. In most of these states, acceleration in production was primarily due to yield improvement Specially, states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka exhibited a yield growth of two per cent per annum in the study period. The area expansion in these states was also around one per cent per year. Thus, whatever little growth has been achieved in pulse production came mainly from yield growth. Contribution of yield growth to production growth was higher in the eighties. However, yield growth itself was low. The yield growth of total pulses between and was merely one per cent per annum.agricultural scientists believe that yield of pulses can be easily raised to above 10 qtls/ha. in rain fed areas. Therefore, efforts should be made to raise yield levels by popularizing available improved technology for pulse cultivation through implementation of pragmatic policies. Farm-size Variation The state level variations in the area, production and yield of pulses are determined by variations at the farm size level that are influenced by 90

30 agronomic factors and other farm characteristics. In view of the given predominance of small and marginal farmers in number and of large farmers in area, the concerns regarding farm size in increasing production of pulse crops appear to be relevant. The past studies conducted on pulses in India offered many reasons for the stagnant production. The main arguments advanced range from allocation of rain fed poor quality land to non-adoption of improved. seeds and low consumption of yield raising inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation. Since most of these studies are based on secondary data, these reasons are given on the basis of macro indicators like low irrigation status of pulses in India. These inferences are useful to understand the trends in area and production. Supplementing the field experiences across farm sizes can further enrich these findings. Unfortunately, farm size evidences on indicators like percentage of land allocated to pulses, their irrigation status and yield realized are scarce. The data published in Agricultural Censuses, Input Surveys and Package of Practices provide knowledge about the first two aspects but are silent about the productivity, which is most crucial in enhancing production of pulses. However, the status of pulses in farming across the farm sizes overtime can be well understood by analyzing the results of the above sources. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the status of pulses on different categories of farms by operational holdings in and and ownership holdings in In addition, farm size evidence is cited from two Indian state.s - Haryana which has made significant progress in agriculture due to success of the Green Revolution and Madhya Pradesh which is the largest producer of pulses but lagging behind in agricultural productivity at the macro level. The main findings of secondary data on allocation of land to pulse crops by farm size during , and 1998 are summarized in Table It may be noticed that the percentage of GCA devoted to pulse crops was significant by all farm sizes but it was comparatively higher in un-irrigated areas. It ranged between 2.86 per cent to per cent in 91