This study conducted in north-western Rajasthan, has examined the capital cost and subsidy in the installation of solar tubewell, its feasibility and benefits realization and has identified constraints in the adoption of solar tubewells. Following random sampling technique, primary data were collected from 124 sample farmers. The study has shown that although, adoption of solar tubewell has a direct relation with farm-size, a considerable proportion of small and marginal farmers also adopted solar tubewells. In recent years, the subsidy component has been reduced in total investment on solar tubewells. Solar tubewells provide impressive economic and water-saving benefits to the farmers and investment with current rate of subsidy in solar tubewell has been found to be feasible. However, without subsidies, investment in solar tubewell is not economically feasible. Due to financial considerations, all categories of farmers were reluctant in adoption of solar tubewells to the expected extent. To realize the benefits of solar energy use in agriculture, efforts should be directed towards more financial incentives to ensure faster adoption and group-adoption and provision for buy back of surplus power to discourage over-exploitation of groundwater and realization of extra income by the farmers.

Cereals occupy prime position in diet composition of all human beings, with rice, wheat and maize being the major staple cereals with more than 70% share among all the food grains. With the inception of green revolution, India from being a food deficit and net importer of food grains not only became self reliant but also one of the major exporters of food grains with the adoption of modern wheat and rice varieties. Thus the present study was undertaken to analyze the trends in area, production and productivity of rice, wheat and maize for the period 1990-91 to 2012-13 obtaining data from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and coefficient of variation were also used to see the growth patterns and instability in the production and productivity of these cereals overtime. The results showed that in both rice and wheat instability increased in area, production and productivity but most of the states registered an increasing growth trends during the period. Notably Maize showed increase in area, yield and production since 2000 due to its increasing demand for industrial usage and had significant growth in the decade due to its growing commercial value with emergence of promising new hybrids. The study points out to the significant intervention of policy to helpmaintain stability in case of major cereals of India’s food security.