Growth and Instability of Foodgrains in Telangana: A State Level Analysis from 1955–56 to 2015–16

Abstract

Agricultural sector plays the pivotal role in the overall development of Telangana economy. Nearly 62 percent of Telangana’s population lives in rural areas and 55 percent of the workforce actually engaged in agricultural activities. Agricultural sector is a major source of livelihood for a large majority of the State population. In this study, an attempt has been made to know the performance of agriculture sector in Telangana state by knowing the growth trends and instability in area, production and yield of foodgrain crops in the state for the period 1955-56 to 2015-16. It has been observed that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of foodgrains production, area and yield showed a decreasing trend. The production of total foodgrains has the negative growth rate of -0.94 percent during the overall study period. The overall average production of total foodgrains is 41.92 lakh tonnes and area under total food crops is registered 34.77 lakh hectares. However, in the case of instability, Standard Deviation (absolute change) for overall period in the production of foodgrain is registered 20.74 lakh tonnes which are about 49.30 percent (Coefficient of Variation). Likewise, the total absolute change (Standard Deviation) in the area under cultivation of food grain crops is only 5.39 lakh hectares which is about 15.49 percent (Coefficient of Variation) during the study period in addition to this instability in food grains yield is showing an increasing trend over the period. Instability in production and yield is increased more and more after the introduction of economic reforms in the state compared to the adoption of new technology (green revolution) in agricultural sector.