Is the Green Revolution Vanishing? Empirical Evidence from TFP Analysis for Rice

A serious concern has been raised recently on the long run sustainability of the productivity effects of Green Revolution technologies in the light of decelerating trend in the yield growth of rice since the mid 1980s under irrigated ecosystem. However, the changes in physical yield are not true measures of productivity from efficiency perspective. Total factor productivity (TFP) is a true measure of economic efficiency of any technology impact. The paper addresses the crucial issue of "is green revolution vanishing" empirically by analyzing TFP for rice in India. Results suggest that various modern technologies (such as modern cultivars) adopted by the farmers over the period have continued to make considerable impact on rice productivity growth-as reflected in the increasing trend of TFP growth. However, rate of increase in TFP growth has started to decelerate under the irrigated ecosystem during the late GR period. This implies that 'level' of productivity impact of the successive generations of modern technologies (such as new modern cultivars) has apparently been going down. This is not unusual to experience plateau or deceleration in TFP growth in the progressive areas because TFP level can not be increased at the same rate during the late GR period as it was during the early GR period.Technological change, productivity, rice, India, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O3,

Optimum Cropping Pattern for Sericulture-dominant Farms in Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka

Sericulture is labour-intensive and well-suited to small and marginal farms with surplus labour, especially female labour. Ample labour and a small land-base encourage farmers to practise sericulture as a subsidiary occupation. While income from crop production is seasonal, sericulture provides a year-round income, which is an important incentive for small farmers to take up sericulture. The agricultural production is seasonal, while consumption is evenly spread over the years. Under such circumstances, the planners and policymakers are confronted with the challenge of formulating a suitable agricultural production policy with which the desired growth of agricultural production can be achieved. In the present study, optimum cropping patterns for different categories of sericulturists have been suggested by selecting Siddlaghatta in Kolar and Kollegal talukas in Mysore as study areas. The primary data have been collected using the personal interview method. The deterministic linear programming technique has been employed to work out the maximum attainable returns by small, medium and large farmers through the optimum allocation of various crops, sericulture and livestock (dairy), using the available resources. The model has suggested fewer crops in the cropping pattern of both the areas. The model has also suggested shifting of the cropping pattern from subsistence-dominated crops like ragi to commercial crops like bivoltine sericulture in the Kolar area and crossbreed sericulture in the Musore area. The suggested cropping patterns have increased the gross income in the range of 83.55 to 388.68 per cent in the Kolar area and 2.71 to 10.70 per cent in the Kollegal area.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Is the Green Revolution Vanishing? Empirical Evidence from TFP Analysis for Rice

A serious concern has been raised recently on the long run sustainability of the productivity effects of Green Revolution technologies in the light of decelerating trend in the yield growth of rice since the mid 1980s under irrigated ecosystem. However, the changes in physical yield are not true measures of productivity from efficiency perspective. Total factor productivity (TFP) is a true measure of economic efficiency of any technology impact. The paper addresses the crucial issue of "is green revolution vanishing" empirically by analyzing TFP for rice in India. Results suggest that various modern technologies (such as modern cultivars) adopted by the farmers over the period have continued to make considerable impact on rice productivity growth-as reflected in the increasing trend of TFP growth. However, rate of increase in TFP growth has started to decelerate under the irrigated ecosystem during the late GR period. This implies that 'level' of productivity impact of the successive generations of modern technologies (such as new modern cultivars) has apparently been going down. This is not unusual to experience plateau or deceleration in TFP growth in the progressive areas because TFP level can not be increased at the same rate during the late GR period as it was during the early GR period

Has the Green Revolution Bypassed Coarse Cereals? The Indian Experience

This paper analysed the growth performance of non-rice crop sectors by estimating total factor productivity (TFP) growth for the selected coarse cereals viz., maize, sorghum and pearl millet in India. The analysis indicates that the TFP growth contributed substantially to the output growth of coarse cereals over the past three decades. The TFP growth was higher in those states where coverage of irrigation was relatively high. TFP grew at an average of 1.4 percent per annum through out the Green Revolution (GR) period for sorghum in the sate of Maharashtra where about half of the India’s sorghum area is concentrated mostly under rainfed conditions. Although small in absolute terms over the past three decades, the overall findings suggest that GR technologies have contributed considerably to output growth of coarse cereals. The contribution of technological progress was considerably higher in those regions where MVs were adopted under irrigated/semi-irrigated conditions. This TFP’s contribution could further be seen more visibly if some irrigation and policy support are also provided to the coarse cereals.Total factor productivity, coarse cereals, green revolution, adoption rate, India