~ 106 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2021; Sp 10(1): 106-109 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 www.phytojournal.com JPP 2021; Sp 10(1): 106-109 Received: 16-11-2020 Accepted: 24-12-2020 Yash Gautam Research Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India PK Singh Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India OP Singh Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: Yash Gautam Research Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India Financial profitability and resource use efficiency in sorghum production under rainfed condition Yash Gautam, PK Singh and OP Singh Abstract Sorghum is a coarse cereal crop which is cultivated for grain and also as a major food crop. It is one of the important staple food crops for the poor and food insecure people in the semi-arid tropics of Africa and Asia. In India, Maharashtra is the highest sorghum producing state. Earlier, coarse cereals were considered as poor man’s food because poor people used to get good amount of nutrition at less cost. But, with time it has become an important part of diet of all income groups. Due to the increasing health problems like diabetes, obesity, etc doctors and dietician are emphasizing on inclusion of coarse cereals in the diet. Rising incomes and urbanization are causing diets to shift towards high protein, fats and sugar. In addition, livestock and bio-fuel production have and will most likely grow at a faster rate than crop production. This is causing a shift away from crops like wheat and rice towards coarse grains and oilseeds to meet demand for food, feed and biofuel. Sorghum cultivation in Maharashtra is carried out mostly in rainfed condition. Considering the importance of the crop following study has been performed to estimate the profitability and resource use efficiency of inputs under irrigated condition. CACP Cost concept was used to estimate the profitability of the crop and Cobb Douglas production function was used to estimate the resource use efficiency. Keywords: CACP Cost concept, Cobb Douglas, resource use efficiency, Sorghum Introduction Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a coarse cereal crop cultivated which probably originated in Ethiopia and has spread to other parts of Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Australia and the United States. It is a major food crop in much of South Asia, Africa, and Central America. It is one of the main staple food crops for the world’s poor and food insecure people. It is an important source of feed, fodder and bio-fuel apart from food. The crop is genetically suitable to the hot and dry agro-ecological regions characterized by low rainfall. Because of its easy adaptability to hot and dry agro-ecologies it has become a climate change compliant crop. In India it is commonly known as Jowar. India contributes significantly in world’s total sorghum production. India contributes about 16% of world’s total sorghum production (Zalkuwi et al, 2015) [6] . Maharashtra is the one of the highest sorghum producing state in India. In year 2017-18, Maharashtra contributed up to 33.45 per cent of the total sorghum production of the country followed by Karnataka (23.74 per cent), Tamil Nadu (8.96 per cent), Rajasthan (6.26 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh with (6.26 per cent) (DAC&FW, 2019) [5] . But yield of sorghum in Maharashtra is much lower than that of yield in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In fact, among major sorghum producing states, yield of sorghum is one of the lowest. According to 4th advance estimates, area under sorghum in 2018-19 was 1.4 million hectares which was 36.35 per cent of total area of India. In 2015-16, area under irrigation was only 9.5 per cent of the total area under sorghum in Maharashtra (DAC&FW, 2019) [5] . Hence, sorghum production in Maharashtra is mostly rainfed. Distinct trends in production, area and yield of sorghum were observed post independence. Till 1970, a substantial increase in area, production and yield was observed in sorghum throughout India. After 1970, there was a continuous decline in its area, but on an average, yield and production continued to increase till 1990. The increase in production was attributed to the improvement in the yield by the introduction of popular hybrid varieties. Sorghum production increased from 5.5 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 12.90 million tonnes in 1989-90 and thereafter it started to decline with some exception years. In year 2013-14, sorghum production was about 5.54 million tonnes (DAC&FW, 2019) [5] . The area under sorghum in Maharashtra showed a similar declining trend. The growth trend analysis suggests that it was declining with a compound growth rate of -1.18 per cent per annum during 1965-2015.