Agricultural Economics Research Review

This study has looked into the performance of selected pulse processing mills in the Solapur district of Maharashtra. The selected dal mills were divided into three capacity-based groups, viz. small (25–75 q/d) small, medium (100–150 q/d) and large (175–200 q/d)y. In these 20 dal mills, 7 each were in small and medium size groups and 6 were under large size group. The break-even and B:C ratios were worked out with appropriate formulae. The data pertained to the year 2010–11. The total capital investment (inclusive of land) was worked out to be 78 lakh. The total quantity of pigeonpea, chickpea and green gram processed by different dal mills during the year was 2,93,654 q, 62,614 q and 15,591 q, which constituted 78.97 per cent, 16.84 per cent and 4.19 per cent of the total quantity of pulses processed, respectively. The magnitude of profitability of pulse processing was closely associated with the installed capacity and its utilization. At the overall level, the benefit-cost ratio in pulse processing was worked out to be 1.09. The study has suggested that the millers, besides processing should perform the job of customers by extending pulse processing services to the people. They should also market pulses after processing. The cultivators may also plan establishing processing units under co-operative sector in the state.