Pulses Production in India: Trend and Decomposition Analysis Y Latika Devi 1* , T. Arivelarasan 2 and Jenny Kapngaihlian 1 1 Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, PJTSAU, Hyderabad, Telangana, India 2 ABM Division, ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad, Telangana, India *Corresponding author: ylatikadevi@gmail.com ABSTRACT Pulses is a major source of protein for a huge section of India particularly vegetarian population. In the present study, an atempt has been made to analyze the trend in production of total pulses crop in India for the period 1950-51 to 2014-15, i.e. past six decades in India. The gross area under total pulses in India was in the range of 19-25 million ha per year over these six decades. The average production of total pulses was in the range of 8 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes per annum over the 6 decades. However, the yield of total pulses was increase over the year. The yield of total pulses was 400 kg/ha during 1950’s which increase to above 700 kg/ha during 2014-15. The compound growth rate of yield over six decades was positive and signifcant while area and production are non-signifcant. The decomposition analysis shows that increase in production of pulses during the period 1995-2014 was mainly due to yield efect. Since the supply of resources especially land is limited in nature, productivity of pulses should be boosted up by adoption of improved technologies like hybrid pulses cultivation and various technique of production to meet the future increased demand. Keywords: Pulses, production, compound growth rate, decomposition analysis Pulses are part of the legume family, but the term “pulse” refers only to the dried seed. It has been considered as the poor man’s only source of protein. Pulses are not only the important food grain to supply protein which forms part of the vegetarian diet, but also are useful in many ways. Dried peas, edible beans, lentils and chickpeas are the most common varieties of pulses. Besides being a rich source of protein, they are also important for sustainable agriculture. Pulses are grown in 22-33 million hectares of the area with an annual production of 13- 15 million tons (mt). India is the largest producer (25% of global production), consumer (27% of world consumption) and importer (14%) of pulses in the world (Mohanty and Satyasai, 2015).The major pulse crops grown in India are chickpea, pigeon pea, lentil, mungbean, black gram, green gram, cowpea and feld pea. Pulses enrich the soil fertility by fxing atmospheric nitrogen in the root nodules and improve the soil structure (Asthana and Chaturvedi, 1999). The tap root system opens the soil into deeper strata and heavy leaf protein increases the soil organic mater and improves the soil structure. Pulses are an ideal crop for mixed and intercropping. With this backdrop, the paper has examined (i) the trend and growth in area, production and yield of pulses (ii) source of increase in pulses production by decomposition analysis. METHODOLOGY The data for the period 1950-2015 on area, production, and yield of pulses were compiled from the Indian Agricultural Statistics and Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Government of India. In order to analyze the growth in of area, production and yield of pulses, the compound growth rate analysis was carried. The compound growth function was specifed as follows: Y = ab t e u Y = area/production/yield Economic Affairs, Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 1-4, September 2017 DOI: ©2017 New Delhi Publishers. All rights reserved