Resource use and economic potential of pigeonpea cultivation in Haryana

Abstract

Pigeonpea is one of the protein-rich legumes of the semi-arid tropics grown throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.India is the largest producer of pigeonpea sharing for 66 percent of total production and the other major pigeonpea producing countries are Myanmar, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania. The crop is cultivated on marginal land by resourcepoor farmers, who commonly grow traditional medium and long-duration landraces. Conventionally, the use of inputs such as chemical fertilizers, irrigation and pesticides is minimal as cultivated in rainfed areas. Greater attention is being given to raise productivity to meet growing demand in India. The data pertains to various aspects of pigeonpea cultivation was collected from 60 cultivators of Haryana during 2019-20. Simple budgeting technique was employed to draw practical implications and Cobb- Douglas production function was used for measure the extent of resourceuse in pigeonpea cultivation for taking policy decisions to encourage its cultivation in Haryana. The positive growth rate of area, production and yield of pigeonpea was estimated in India during last two decades (1998-2018). But negative growth of area and production of pigeonpea was observed in Haryana in same period owing large replacement of area towards cotton, sugarcane and pushing cultivation on marginal land.The gross and net returns of pigeonpea cultivation in Haryana worked out were Rs. 54487 ha-1 and Rs. 7073 ha-1. The MVP of human labour, machine hour, seed, chemical fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and irrigation was greater than unity revealing the lower utilization of these resources.