Key findings:

The study examines the growth trends of urdbean cultivation in India, focusing on area, production, and productivity. Using statistical tools, it finds a positive annual growth rate in these aspects, although fluctuations occur due to factors like climate, soil conditions, and government policies.

What is known and what is new?

The study contributes to the existing knowledge by providing updated insights into the growth trends of urdbean cultivation in India, which is crucial for understanding the dynamics of this important crop. The findings confirm the positive growth trajectory in terms of area, production, and productivity, highlighting the continued significance of urdbean in India's agricultural landscape. Additionally, the study's use of statistical tools adds a quantitative dimension to the analysis, enhancing the understanding of the factors influencing urdbean cultivation. The research underscores the need for policymakers and agricultural stakeholders to consider these factors when formulating strategies to support and sustain the growth of urdbean production in India.

What is the implication, and what should change now?

The study's findings have several implications for policymakers, agricultural researchers, and practitioners. Firstly, they highlight the need for targeted interventions to support the continued growth of urdbean cultivation in India, given its importance for the farming community and the country's overall socio-economic development. This could include measures to improve access to high-quality seeds, enhance agricultural extension services, and provide support for implementing best practices in urdbean cultivation.

Puls one state to others, still the climatic condition of India is favourable for urdbean cultivation. Hence urdbean is produced across different states of India.Major producing states of urdbean crop are Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. It is a crop of having tropical region, hence requires hot and humid climate for abetter productivity. It is basically a warm weather crop. The temperatures during winters are quite low in north parts of the country so it is cultivated generally during rainy and summer seasons. It is also grown during winter in the eastern states. In central and southern states, where there is not much variation in the climate, it is cultivated during winter and rainy season. A very large size of land area in Madhya Pradesh is used for urdbean production. Urdbean cultivation leads to social and economic change and its products provide employment opportunities to a large number of people. 

This industry thus plays an important role in building social infrastructure in rural areas as well as in resource rising, employment generation and income generation etc. In other words, urdbean cultivation has accelerated and facilitated the pace of rural entrepreneurship.

 Urdbean production tends to fluctuate in India. These fluctuations are caused by various factors such as uncertain monsoon, faulty policy decision on the part of the government, delay in payment, lack of improved and enhanced agricultural equipments and lack of high grade inputs etc. Therefore the present study is focussed upon analyzing the growth trends in area, production and productivity of urdbean crop in India as well as the performance of major urdbean producing states in India.

Srivastava et al., (1995) and Das et al., (1998) revealed that the yield of urdbean could be increased by 95-188% with adoption of improved technologies such as improved varieties, recommended dose of fertilizer, weed management and plant protection. Keeping this in view, frontline demonstrations on urdbean were conducted to demonstrate the production potential and economic benefits of latest improved technologies on farmers’ field.

Types of research

Present study is exploratory as well as analytical in nature.

Source of Data

For obtaining pertinent information the secondary data have been collected from various sources such as journals, books, articles, government published annuals reports, website of different government agencies etc. 

Statistical Tools Used

In order to analyze the growth performance of urdbean crop in India various statistical tools such as correlation, annual growth rate, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and t-test have been applied to draw meaningful inferences.

Hypotheses

H (₀₁₎: There is no significant difference between average growth in area and average growth in production of urdbean. 

H (₀₂₎: There is no relationship between the proportion of area utilised and proportion of production with respect to urdbean in different states. 

V. State Wise Comparison in Area, Production and Productivity of Urdbean

It is essential here to make the comparison among major urdbean producing states during 2020-21 with respect to Area, Production and Productivity. For this following table has been considered:

Table-1

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India)

The above table shows the state-wise area, production and productivity of urdbean. While analyzing the production of states, it is clear from the study that the production is directly related to the area of ​​urdbean. The total production in 2020-21 is 2682.18 thousand tonnes which indicates that the states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have contributed most to urdbean cultivation in India. 

The productivity of any crop depends on many factors, such as physical condition, technological advancement, market and payment with good product value. It is known from the figures that Andhra Pradesh has the highest productivity i.e. 884.14 Kg./ha. Jharkhand ranks second in terms of urdbean productivity with a productivity of 860.02kg./ha. West Bengal ranks third in terms of productivity with a productivity of 724.58 Kg./ha. The states of Maharashtra and Karnataka represented very low productivity due to low fertility in the soil and lack of technological progress.

Production of Urdbean in India

(A) Area, Production and Yield of Urdbean in India

As it is known that India is the largest producer of pulses in the world and it has a great influence on the country's economy. Therefore, it is important to study the area, production and yield of urdbean.

Table-2

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India)

From the above table it can be seen that area under urdbean in 2012-13 was 3152.8 thousand hectares. It has been changing and reached to 5279.09 thousand hectares in the year 2017-18. However it has decreased to 4703.35 thousand hectares in 2020-21. It is also clear from the table that production and yield have been fluctuating over the study period. It is due to various incentives and higher yielding works etc. It is clear from the study that the trend of urdbean cultivation is an uneven.

(B) Production of Urdbean in major producing states

Tabe.3 Urdbean Production in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India.

The above table reveals that in the year 2000-01 the production of urdbean in Andhra Pradesh is 390.3 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean decreased to 350.1 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate of 6.4%. In the year 2000-01, the productn of urdbean in Maharashtra is 205.1 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean decreased to 134.0 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate as -11.4%. In the year 2000-01, the production of urdbean in Madhya Pradesh is 105.8 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean increased to 875.09 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate of 73.87%. In the year 2000-01, the production of urdbean in Tamil Nadu is 127.2 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean increased to 286.3 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate of -9.67%. In the year 2000-01, the production of urdbean in Rajasthan is 32.5 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean increased to 288.7 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate of 133.6%. In the year 2000-01, the production of urdbean in Jharkhand is 27.9 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean increased to 111.9 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate of 0.33%. In the year 2000-01 the production of urdbean in Uttar Pradesh is 162.9 thousand tonnes. The production of urdbean increased to 296.0 thousand tonnes in the year 2020-21 having growth rate of 20.8%.

Table.4 Urdbean Production in Major Producing States Of India (Production In ‘000 Tonnes)

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India.

From the above table it can be seen that in the year 2015-16 urdbean production has been highest in Andhra Pradesh as compared to other years, while highest production of urdbean in Maharashtra has been recorded in the year 2002-03. At the same time Urdbean production in Madhya Pradesh shows that it is high in the year 2017-18 when compared to other years.It has been found that among the seven states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, the urdbean production in Madhya Pradesh is high in the year 2020-21 when compared to other states. The state of Andhra Pradesh stands second and Uttar Pradesh stands as third in the production status of urdbean.

 (C) Analysis of t-test

H₀₁: There is no significant difference between average growth in area and average growth in production of urdbean.

As per the above table calculated value of t is 2.36. Table value of t at 5% level of significance and 7d.f using two tailed test is 1.89. Here the calculated value of t is more than the table value hence null hypothesis is rejected. Thus there is significant difference between average growth in area and average growth in production of urdbean. 

2. H₀₂: There is no relationship between the proportion of area utilised and proportion of production with respect to urdbean in different states. 

From the table-1 calculated value of Karl pearson’s coefficient of correlation between proportion of area utilised and proportion of production is 0.99. Thus null hypothesis is rejected here and hence there is sufficient evidence to conclude that there is significant linear relationship between the proportion of area utilised and proportion of production with respect to urdbean in different states. 

Findings

1. A significant difference has been observed between the trends of increase in the average area utilised for urdbean and average growth of its production during the study period.

2. There is an evidence of a high degree of positive relationship between the proportion of area utilised and proportion of production with respect to urdbean in different states.

3. Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra there always been leading states with respect to production of this crop. 

4. Madhya Pradesh and Tamilnadu have shown a significant improvement its production during recent past.

5. The average production of Tamilnadu state has been recorded the highest during the study period.

6. It is found that among the states namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh ranks first in term of its production, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.

7. It was found that among the seven states namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh ranks first in the consistency of urdbean production having coefficient of variation as 20.47%. Uttar Pradesh ranks second in the consistency of urdbean production having coefficient of variation as 27.40%. 

Indian pulses industries are facing two big challenges in recent times which are high production cost and inadequate supply of capital. Therefore, new technologies should be introduced to produce urdbean at low cost to capture the growing international market. Besides, supply of raw material should be brought under control, labour rate should be held in check, and proper policies are to be framed to maintain a sustainable growth. It can be concluded here that the pulses industries in India have flourished in the past because of its favourable environment, availability of labour and its demand from national and international markets etc. Therefore, chances are still there for a hike in Indian pulses industries and for this purpose some true initiatives as suggested above, need to be taken to replace this present inconsistent growth by a consistent one and hence help the industry to grow further and sustain for a longer period.

Funding: No funding sources 

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Lucknow University Lucknow

1. Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 2019

2. Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India.

3. .www.iipr.icar.gov.in/e-pulse-data-book-state-wise.html

4. Annual Progress Report, DPD, Bhopal

5. Annual Report, Agriculture Ministry of India