Page 1 of 12
AREA PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF PADDY, MAIZE,
RAGI AND JOWAR IN KARNATAKA
Abdul Rizwan Shariff
Tumkur University
Abstract
Fast growing population in many countries is one of the reasons for enormous increasing
demand for food. Farmers and researchers should be aware that cost-benefit ratio bringing
new land under cultivation is smaller than that of increasing production of already cultivated
land. Increase of food production in the available cultivated land is depending upon the
maintenance of the soil health. Continuously growing of a same crop over years in the same
cultivated area leads to ill health of the soil and cause for increase in various pest and diseases.
For the current study, the selected crop constitutes of Padyy, Ragi, Maize and Jowar based on
the area, productivity in the state of Karnataka. The areas of the study are four districts from
Karnataka which include Mysuru, Davangere, Kalaburagi and Vijaypur. The sample size of
the study is 480 farmers spread across the selected area of the study for the selected reference
crops. The data is collected to know the area, production and productivity of the reference
crops.
Key Words: Area, Production, Productivity, Ragi, Maize, Paddy and Jowar
INTRODUCTION
Aggarwal et al (1992) reported that the yield advantage of any intercrop is attributed to below- and above-ground plant interactions which are likely to vary depending upon the temporal
and spatial differences in resource use by component crops. Thus, a fundamental
understanding of how intercrops capture and use resources would provide a scientific basis of
recommending appropriate crop combinations and spatial arrangements at different locations.
Willey (1979b) reported that intercrop performance can be improved with respect to temporal
and spatial complementarities by improving the compatibility of genotypes used as
components of the mixture.
Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology
Volume XII, Issue VI, 2020
ISSN No : 1006-7930
Page No: 1641
Page 2 of 12
Presently, interest in intercropping is increasing and fast becoming important among the small
scale farmers because of their diversified needs and low farm income from the mono-cropping
system The challenge therefore is to identify crops capable of sustaining their potential yield
when grown in specific row arrangements with other crops. Spitters (1983) reported that yield
of grain per unit area is an essential measure of mixture performance which represent only a
part of total plant biomass and may not fully reflect the result of competition between species
in mixture. A number of indices such as land equivalent ratio, relative crowding coefficient,
competitive ratio, actual yield loss, monetary advantage and intercropping advantage have
been proposed to describe competition within and economic advantages of intercropping
systems (Banik et al., 2000). The idea of sustainable agriculture among others includes the
adoption of agricultural practices used in low-input traditional farming such as growing arable
crops in mixtures (intercrops). Intercropping of cereals with legumes has been popular in
tropics (Hauggard-Nielsen et al., 2001) and rain-fed areas of the world (Banik et al., 2000) due
to its various advantages (Chen et al., 2004, Agegnehu et al., 2006). Mixed cropping or
intercropping is an important practice considered as part of the subsistence farming designed
to meet the increase in domestic food requirements.
Maize: To overcome the problem of ill health one can use alternate methods like
intercropping, relay cropping, mixed cropping and so on. Maize is a principle rainy season
crop; it is extensively grown in Karnataka. Increase in the area and production has been clearly
noticed in the above table. Because of its requirement of less labour force, easy post harvest
mechanism, well established marketing and prevailing rainfall distribution, this crop is very
well catching up in the state. Maize requires high plant nutrients, hence growing of this crop
alone over the years will barren the land and cause for decline in productivity.
Paddy (Rice): Paddy (rice) has been an important foodgrain crop, which has been
traditionally cultivated and consumed throughout India. Possibly this is one among the rare
crops which is consumed by all class of consumers; poor, middle and rich income group. It is
for this reason that paddy is always treated as an important and sensitive crop from the view
point of consumers in India. It is also an important crop for farmers, since it seems to provide
an assured income for them because of having relatively better procurement and pricing
policies implemented by the government agencies. Rice originated at least 130 million years
ago as wild grass. Cultivated rice, as we know it today, was first grown about 10,000 years ago
Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology
Volume XII, Issue VI, 2020
ISSN No : 1006-7930
Page No: 1642
Page 3 of 12
in south-east Asia, probably in India. Rice is the world's most adaptable crop. It can be grown
in desert, slash and burn forests, 3000-meter high mountains, 3 meters below sea level and 8
feet of flood water. Rice is not a tropical plant, but is still associated with a wet, humid climate.
It is generally believed that the domestication of rice began somewhere in the Asian arc.
Ragi: Eleusine coracana, also known as African millet or ragi, is widely grown in Africa and
Asia. It is originally native to the Ethiopian Highlands though it was introduced in India a long
time ago. Its adaptability to the higher elevations makes it suitable to grow even at a height of
more than 2,000 meters. Although statistics on individual millet species are not very accurate,
it is estimated that ragi is grown on approximately 38,000 sq km. It is also, often intercropped
with peanuts, cowpeas, pigeon peas or other plants. Ragi has an important protein component,
amino acid methionine, which makes it an important low-cost ingredient for fulfilling the
protein intake requirements of millions of poor who generally live on starchy staples e.g.
plantain, polished rice, or maize.
Most of these benefits peg ragi with a potential to improve nutrition, food security, as well as
to foster rural development and support sustainable land use. n India, ragi is mostly grown
and consumed in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra,
Kumaon region of Uttarakhand and Goa; of which, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and
Uttarakhand produce the bulk of ragi in the country. There are significant yield variations
observed even among the top producing States. Post-harvest management of ragi is
unproblematic; the seeds are seldom attacked by insects or moulds and combined with a longer
shelf life make the finger millet an important crop in risk-avoidance strategies for poorer
farming communities. The price variations across States are not very high, hence, the
commodity has much better price stability too. Despite so many advantages the ragi has not
grown to be a major crop in our country due to it's designation as a low-value inferior crop
alongside other millets.
Jowar: Sorghum popularly known as jowar is the most important food and fodder crop
of dry land agriculture. The cereal crop is perennial in nature and possessing corn like
leaves and bearing the grain in a compact cluster. Sorghum is the fifth most important
cereal crop in the world after wheat, rice, maize and barley. It is found in the arid and
semi arid parts of the world, due to its feature of being extremely drought tolerant. The
nutritional value of sorghum is same as of that of corn and that is why it is gaining
Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology
Volume XII, Issue VI, 2020
ISSN No : 1006-7930
Page No: 1643