Economic Analysis of Pearl Millet Cultivation in Rainfed Ecosystem of Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The Pearl millet is the staple and nutritive diet of farm households in developing and underdeveloped countries. It is grown as dual-purpose; grain and forage in drylands, marginal lands, and unirrigated lands of the Indian subcontinent. This study analysed the cost and returns, profitability, and resource productivity of the pearl millet growing farmers in a rainfed ecosystem of Thoothukudi District. Primary data were collected in selected blocks namely Vilathikulam and Pudur, based on the maximum area under pearl millet cultivation. The sampling design used in the study was Purposive random sampling. Totally 61 farmers were personally interviewed using a well-structured questionnaire. The Cost-C was Rs. 41115.65 per hectare. The proportionate expenditure of Hired Human Labour was 19.05 per cent to total costs. The net income was Rs. 4974.2 per hectare. The BCR was higher in small followed by medium and large farms. The partial regression coefficient of hired labour and fertilizers was 0.103, and 0.793 respectively, which were positive and highly significant. It indicated that gross return was increased by 0.793 per cent by increasing one per cent of expenses on fertilizers. The summation of all partial coefficients was 0.656 which indicated a decreasing return to scale. When the production function's returns to scale decrease, the average cost of production rises. Input prices have a significant impact on the economic profitability of farmers' crop cultivation. Rainfed pearl millet cultivation is unprofitable at market values in the Thoothukudi district. The current scenario requires the revising of minimum support prices and regulation in input market, particularly for crops grown in rainfed ecosystems.

Effects of extrusion process parameters on cooking characteristics and physicochemical, textural, thermal, pasting, microstructure, and nutritional properties of millet‐based extruded products: A review

“…As per Food Agriculture and Organization (FAOSTAT, 2019), the total global production of millet is estimated to be 28.37 million tons, where India contributes about 40.62% of the total millet production (Sruthi & Rao, 2021). Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Kerala are the top 10 millet producing states of India (Sreedhar et al, 2021). Millet is known to be drought resistant, pest resistant, disease resistant, and has short growing season as compared to other cereals (Sarita & Singh, 2016; Sruthi & Rao, 2021).…”

An Economic Analysis of Marketing of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) in Jaipur District, Rajasthan, India

“…It is the staple and nutritive diet of farm households in developing and underdeveloped countries. It is grown as dual-purpose; grain and forage in drylands, marginal lands, and unirrigated lands of the Indian subcontinent [1][2][3]. In India, there were 342.3 million tonnes of total food grain output in 2021-2022, covering around 28 million hectares.…”