Impact of Crop Production Technology of Soybean on Income, Employment and Profitability in Western Maharashtra

By conducting the pooled analysis for three years, viz. 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14, the study has investigated extent of employment, income and expenditure pattern, effects of improved production technology, costs and returns, resource-use productivities, constraints in adoption of improved production technologies, input-use gap and yield gap in soybean production in Maharashtra. For study, 450 oilseeds growers (150 from each farm-size group) were selected and the extent of adoption of all technologies has been estimated by calculating Technology Adoption Index (TAI). The functional analysis has been carried out by using Cobb-Douglas type of production function. The average annual employment of sample family has been found to be 551 days. The annual employment of a male worker has been found highest for the low adoption group (476 days), while annual employment at the overall level has been found to be 409 days. The total employment of a female worker has been found 142 days at the overall level. The total employment of a female worker has been found highest for the medium adoption group (148 days). The average annual gross income of the soybean sample families at the overall level has been computed to be 4,96,899. The ICBR ratio has indicated that the high adopter farmers were in profit with 2.23 ICBR ratio, followed by medium adopters with ICBR ratio of 1.84. It clearly indicates that the farmers should adopt the oilseed technologies of soybean to the fuller extent to maximize returns.