RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

Table 1. All India area ('000 ha) under various careals and their relative ahara in the total cereals area.
Crops 1954/57 1958/61 1968/71 1972/75 1975/78
Rice 31 520 33 706 37 413 37 621 39 329
(36.2) (37.0) (37.1) (37.6) (38.2)
Sorghum 17 021 18 026 18 237 16 139 16 045
(19.6) (198) (18.1) (16.1) (15.9)
Pearl millet 11 318 11 197 12 486 12 345 11 119
(13.0) (12.3) (12.4) (12.3) (10.8)
Maize 3 734 4 338 5 8 1 0 5 905 5 9 1 0
(4.3) (4.8) (5.8) (5.9) (5.7)
Finger millet 2 294 2 524 2 497 2 3 8 4 2 592
(2.6) (2.8) (2.5) (2.4) (2.5)
Small millets 5 3 1 3 5 087 4 754 4.432 4 697
(6.1) (5.6) (4.7) (4.4) (4.6)
Wheat 12 383 12 974 16 941 18 685 20 859
(14.3) (14.2) (16.8) (18.7) (20.3)
Barley 3 450 3 298 2 692 2 661 2 345
(4.0) (3.6) (2.7) (2.7) (2.3)
Total cereals 87 036 91 183 100 831 100 174 102 899
(100) (100) (100) (100) (100)
Figures in parentheses are percentages.
Source: Government of India, All India Estimates of Area. Yield and Production (various issues)
Market Channels
Sorghum is primarily grown for home consumption
in India. Estimates from various studies
indicate that from 1972 to 1977 in the major
producing areas, about 1 0 - 1 5 % of sorghum on
average was sold in the market. Market arrivals
varied from state to state (Table 3). In Uttar
Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan more than 15%
arrived in the market, while for Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka this was less than
10%. For Maharashtra, unfortunately figures are
not available. Looking at the data on market
arrivals over time at the all-India level, it is found
that after a low in 1974, market arrivals increased
not only for sorghum but also for wheat and
especially rice. This may be attributed not only to
higher production during those years but also to
price policies which made market access and
interregional trade in food grains increasingly
attractive, by the provision of market places as
well as by the removal of food zoning and other
trade barriers. As has been shown elsewhere (von
Oppen 1978), this increasing commercialization
leads to increasing specialization of crop production
accompanied by a growth in aggregate
productivity. In view of the fact that these policies
continued, it can be expected that market arrivals
at present of sorghum are between 15 and 2 0 %
of the all-India level. To better understand the
market channels of sorghum and other ICRISAT
crops, several studies were conducted by ICRI-
SAT's Economics Program, some results of which
are reported below.
Market Surplus and
Market Access for
Different Farm Sizes
A detailed study of 20 villages was conducted in
Mahbubnagar district to study the effect of
market access on market surplus and aggregate
productivity.
In these villages, farmers' marketable surplus
on average is 28% of the total sorghum production
for the three landholding classes (Table 4).
The market surplus increases with landholding
size. It varies from 5% for the small landholding
class to 4 0 % for the large landholding class. Table
5 also classifies the data on the basis of distance
to the market, and the influence of the distance on
the market surplus. On an average for all landholding
classes, the market surplus is the highest with
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