Development and Decomposition of Agricultural output in Rajasthan
Author: Dr Ravindra Singh Shekhawat

There is two way relationship between the development and the change, i.e. development influences and is influenced by change. Change implies physical, technological, economical, social, cultural, attitudinal, organizational and political change. A change may be either good (development) or bad (retrogression). Generally development is identified with the level of per capita real income. Thus, underdeveloped country is one “in which the per capita real income is low when compared with the per capita real income of the USA, Canada, Australia and Western Europe (UNO, 1952). Indian Planning Commission defined underdeveloped country as one “which is characterized by the co-existence in greater or less degree of unutilised or underutilised manpower on the one hand and of unexploited natural resources on the other” (Planning commission, GOI, 1952). Rajasthan is the largest producer (38.39 lakh tonnes) and occupied maximum acreage (39.56 lakh hectare) under bajra crop in the year 2012-13. It is also good producer of rapeseed & mustard, gram and wheat produced 37.59, 12.77 and 107.67 lakh tonnes, respectively. But, average foodgrains yield of Rajasthan is 9.3 quintal per hectare, which is about half of national average i.e. 18 quintal per hectare. (Statistical abstract of Rajasthan, 2012). Agricultural development directly or indirectly related to the yield of major crops and development of livestock sector. Rajasthan state is the largest state of country and have various agro-climatic situation and very diverse nature of soil and vegetation characteristics. Therefore, there is a need of inter-district study. To estimate the growth rate in area, production and productivity of major crops (bajra, gram, rapeseed and mustard) and major inputs (gross irrigated area, fertilizer use, bank credit, area under high yielding varieties and net cropped area) use annual compound growth rate was worked out and “t-test” was used to know the significance of calculated growth rate. The contribution of various components to the growth of aggregate agricultural output of the districts was estimated by using a seven factor decomposition model developed by Minhas and Vaidyanathan. Overall, Rajasthan state as a whole and districts as well showed significant improvement in the yield of the major crops of Rajasthan. Jaisalmer district showed significant improvement in the acreage under different crops by which production was increased significantly. It was mainly possible due to extension of Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) by which barren land came under cultivation. Rajasthan is a major producer of gram, but acreage under gram in the state as a whole decreased significantly, but in desert districts (Bikaner, Churu, Jaisalmer, Nagaur) acreage had increased. Overall, acreage under gram crop has decreased across almost all the districts. It is an alarming situation because gram is an important pulse crop and is rich source of protein and suitable for dry agro-climatic condition. Rajasthan state as a whole showed positive and significant growth rate in all the major agricultural inputs except net cropped area. Desert districts i.e. Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur and Churu) showed significant increased in irrigated area and other major agricultural inputs, this was a great achievement for Rajasthan state. Overall, almost all the districts showed increasing pattern in major agricultural inputs which is a good sign of agricultural development of Rajasthan. Desert districts of Rajasthan performed very well in term of productivity of various crops because of availability of irrigation water from IGNP. Decomposition analysis revealed that Rajasthan state as a whole showed that all three effects i.e. area, yield and interaction contributed positive to change in crop output for all selected crops except bajra during which indicated that area and yield effects affect production of crops positively in the state of Rajasthan. Seven factor decomposition analysis indicated that there is a further scope for increasing output in the state through enhancing the productivity of crops and necessary changes in cropping pattern. Further it was observed that change in output growth in the districts or state as a whole was brought by increase in yield and change in cropping pattern, while area expansion did not play a major role.

Conclusion

Irrigation has a significant impact on the level of agricultural growth and development of any district. As Rajasthan is dry state, the proportion of irrigated area to net sown area is very small, which is major obstacle in agricultural development in the state as a whole in general and western districts in particular. Therefore, efforts needed to intensify by the government to increase the irrigation facilities in the desert districts of Rajasthan. In desert district like Jaisalmer, change in production was mainly due to area expansion but productivity was declined so concentrate efforts should be made to increase productivity of crops. Acreage and productivity of pulses should be increase as pulses is an important source of protein for vegetarian people. Area under forest should be increased as forest has indirect impact on agricultural development. Livestock rearing should be encouraged in all the districts particularly in desert districts.


About Author / Additional Info:
I am currently working as Scientist, Agricultural Economics at ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi.