Journal de l'économie mondiale

Growth and Instability of Onion Production in Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Immanuelraj TK, Dastagiri MB and Sajesh VK

This study mainly focused on Maharashtra’s onion growth and instability. Erratic weather, volatile market price and lack of adequate storage and market infrastructure caused instability in production through preventing the farmers in taking the optimal decision on allocation of area and raising farm productivity. Study categorized period as follows; Period I: 1980-81 to 1989-90, Period II: 1990-91 to 1999-00 and Period III: 2000-01 to 2010-11 and revealed that onion production in Maharashtra is mainly driven by acreage allocation. But in the long-run increasing area under onion may not be feasible without reducing the area of other important crops. Hence, solution lies in by bridging the yield gap or increasing the yield potential. The major reason for the instability of onion production after period II was mainly due to area instability and partly due to yield instability.