Growth Trends and Productivity Drivers in Sorghum Cultivation: A Comparative Study of Ajmer District and Rajasthan State (2001-2021), India

Sorghum is one of the most important cereal crops in the world. It is India’s fifth most produced crop after Rice, Wheat, Maize and Pearl millet by marginal and small farmers in semi-arid regions. It is an important source of feed, fodder and bio-fuel apart from food. Due to importance of the crop, the present study examined its trends in area, production and productivity in Ajmer district as well as Rajasthan state. Methodology: Study was based on secondary data collected from Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Pant Krishi Bhawan, Govt. of Rajasthan, Jaipur for a period of 20 years i.e. from 2001-02 to 2020-21. The study had performed by using two methodology. First is, to calculate, compound annual growth rates in area, production and productivity of sorghum in Ajmer district and Rajasthan state by testing Linear and semi log and exponential function of growth rate. Second is, decomposition analysis, which was used to calculate the proportional impact of area and yield on the change in overall output for the sorghum crop. Key Findings of the Study: In case of Ajmer district, exponential function for area and semi-log function for production and productivity was best fitted. For Rajasthan state as a whole, exponential function for area and productivity and for production, semi-log function was best fitted. Results revealed that area, production and productivity were significantly positive at 4.31, 12.29 and 11.96 per cent, respectively for Ajmer district. For Rajasthan state as a whole, it was significantly positive at 0.93, 7.02 and 12.55 per cent, respectively. Results were significant at 1per cent level of significance. Decomposition of these trends further showed that growth in sorghum production in Ajmer was 59.60 per cent due to yield effect, followed by 32.86 per cent interaction of yield and area and 7.53 per cent due to area effect alone, while, in Rajasthan state, growth in sorghum production was mainly due to yield effect i.e. 67.97 per cent followed by interaction effect i.e. 37.15 per cent and area effect i.e. -5.12 per cent. Conclusion: Decline in area along with enhanced productivity might be a good sign for sorghum production for the state, still efforts should be put forth to bring new high yielding varieties of sorghum to take the full advantage from the crop.