Growth and Instability in Cotton Cultivation in Northern India

Abstract

The cotton industry has witnessed many technological breakthroughs as well as policy changes. Setbacks such as disease and pest infestation and erratic rainfall patterns continuously confront cotton cultivation. These continuous changes and confrontations invariably affect the trend, growth and stability of the economic performances of cotton. Hence, based on secondary data from 1966-67 to 2013-14, the study assessed the trends, growth and instability in area, production and yield of cotton in Haryana using semilog linear function, compounded annual growth rate and Cuddy Della Valle Index. The study revealed a positive significant (P<0.01) trends with low annual growth rates of area of harvest (2.00%), production (3.99%) and yield (1.66%). Instability was high and also inclined at an annual rate of 30.96% in area, 25.76% in production and 28.04% productivity in the same order. The study, therefore, recommended the development and spread of innovations at an affordable price to farmers. Effective disease and pest control measures should be developed to check the perennial pest infestation of cotton in the state.