An economic analysis of augmentational trends in production and productivity in Karnataka: A case of cotton

Cotton plays an important role in the national economy in terms of generation of direct and indirect employment in the Agricultural and Industrial sectors. It is traditional and important commercial crop has been in cultivation in India for more than five thousand years. About 74 per cent of the total area and production of cotton in the country is contributed by four states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab. The study revealed that annual growth rate of area was less than the annual growth rate of productivity in Karnataka, which clearly shows that positive annual growth in cotton production was due to increase in productivity rather than increase in area, which was due to the fact that adoption of improved technologies like IPM, IRM, introduction of Bt cotton and low insect pest pressure in major cotton growing tracts has enabled this transformation in production and productivity. Introduction of Bt cotton was the major factor expressed by most of the farmers with a mean score of 67.2. So this factor got assigned first rank because it's giving double yield as compared to the traditional cotton varieties and it's also covers the resistance pest like helicovarpa armizera and other sucking pests.