FULL-LENGTH RESEARCH ARTICLE Adoption and Socio-economic Benefits of Improved Post-rainy Sorghum Production Technology Rajendra R. Chapke 1 • Vilas A. Tonapi 1 Received: 25 November 2016 / Accepted: 23 August 2018 Ó NAAS (National Academy of Agricultural Sciences) 2018 Abstract Low remuneration and adoption of sorghum production technologies were among the major constraints for drastic reduction in its cultivation. Therefore, evaluation of production potential, adoption, economic and other benefits of the technologies in social perspectives of the farmers was felt essential. The study was conducted with 200 adopted farmers under field trials organized during 5 years from 2009–2010 to 2013–2014 in five districts in two prominent sorghum growing regions in Maharashtra State of India. The yield potential and merits were measured by following before and after method, and data were collected through semi-structured interview schedule. The performance of the demonstrated technologies resulted in increased adoption (27%), higher net returns (170%), followed by grain yield (58%) with better quality (78%) and fodder yield (26%), and found to be significantly positive over the pre-FLD. It enabled to motivate farmers and increase in area under sorghum by 29%. Furthermore, the additional returns helped them in spending significantly higher on purchase of household items (111%), followed by attending more social functions (109%), purchase of animals (91%), in start of new business (86%), deposit in bank (77%) and investment in farm development activities (62%). Keywords Adoption Á Low remuneration Á Adoption of technologies Á Grain yield Á Fodder yield Á Income utilization pattern Á Post-rainy sorghum Á Yield advantages Introduction Sorghum (Sorghum bicolour [L.] Moench) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world grown in 108 countries covering 35.7 m ha with a total production of 63.56 m tons in 2014. India has largest sorghum area, comprising 16.30% of global area and 8.48% of produc- tion, whereas USA was the largest producer with 17.29% of production in the world [9]. It is a staple food for mil- lions of poorest and most food-insecure people in the semi- arid tropics (SAT) of Africa, Asia and Latin America. More than 300 million people in more than 30 countries depend on sorghum as the main source of energy and protein [12]. India is the main producer of sorghum in Asia. Sorghum is the third cereal crop after rice and wheat in India, mostly grown under marginal and stress-prone areas of SAT. With the threat of climate change looming large on crops’ pro- ductivity, sorghum has an important role in food, feed and fodder security in dryland agriculture. However, the area has declined drastically from 10.25 million ha in 1999–2000 to 5.82 million ha in 2014–2015. The total production also declined from 8.68 million tons to 5.39 million tons [4]. Major reasons for decline in the area and production are low remuneration and lack of policy support compared to commercial crops (cotton, soybean, wheat and paddy), fast changing lifestyle and food habits of the people due to urbanization, and low social status attached to the consumption of sorghum coupled with inconve- nience in food preparation. Nowadays, the people in semi- & Rajendra R. Chapke chapke@millets.res.in 1 ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad 500 030, India 123 Agric Res https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-018-0359-x