Economic insights of organic finger millet cultivation in the rainfed tribal zones of Attapady hills, Kerala

The study was conducted in Attapady block of Palakkad district of Kerala during 2023-24. Cultivating rainfed millets is one of the potential climate-smart practices in hilly tribal areas to fight malnutrition, climate uncertainties, and poverty, as millets are a rich source of nutrients. The Primary data were collected by using pre-structured interview schedules from 90 tribal rainfed farmers in Agali, Pudur, Sholaiyur panchayats of Attapady. The average cost of cultivation (cost C3) per hectare of finger millet was ₹ 62681, and gross returns were ₹ 44660. Cultivation of finger millet by tribal farmers organically in the region was found to be profitable over Cost A with a positive net return of ₹ 5541, and for every one rupee spent, the farmer realized a return of 1.14 rupees over cost A. Cobb-Douglas production function analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis were used to analyze the resource use efficiency of finger millet production and the technical, allocative, cost / economic efficiency of rainfed finger millet farms, respectively. The regression coefficients for labour (2.29) and manure (0.35) were positive and statistically significant, while for seed, it was negative (-0.19) and statistically significant. The ratio of MVP to MFC was less than unity in all the inputs, indicating scope for reallocation of expenditure among various resources. The average technical, allocative and cost/economic efficiencies were found to be 0.902, 0.876 and 0.789, respectively. Besides, the economic viability of the crop depends on external forces such as market prices of the produce and consistent demand.