This paper analysed the growth performance
of non-rice crop sectors by estimating total factor
productivity (TFP) growth for the selected coarse cereals
viz., maize, sorghum and pearl millet in
India. The analysis indicates that the TFP growth contributed
substantially to the output growth of
coarse cereals over the past three decades. The TFP growth
was higher in those states where coverage
of irrigation was relatively high. TFP grew at an average
of 1.4 percent per annum through out the
Green Revolution (GR) period for sorghum in the sate of Maharashtra
where about half of the India’s
sorghum area is concentrated mostly under rainfed conditions.
Although small in absolute terms over
the past three decades, the overall findings suggest that
GR technologies have contributed
considerably to output growth of coarse cereals. The contribution
of technological progress was
considerably higher in those regions where MVs were adopted
under irrigated/semi-irrigated
conditions. This TFP’s contribution could further be
seen more visibly if some irrigation and policy
support are also provided to the coarse cereals.