• AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF COARSE CEREALS IN TAMIL NADU

Abstract

Agriculture is the main stay of Indian economy. As much as 75% of the population is engaged in agriculture that provides employment to almost two third of the working force. Though the share of contribution of agriculture to domestic product has been reduced over the period, still agriculture plays significant role in the form of producing food for the people of the country and other agricultural commodities to support industry and service sector. Agriculture is characterized by small holdings, low capitalization and low yield per unit of land. In agriculture sector, food crop plays predominant role, which includes cereals, coarse cereals, and pulses etc. Cereals are major dietary energy supplier all over the world. Under this a significant change in cropping pattern and shift in cultivation leads to variation in area, production and yield factors of coarse cereals production are witnessed. India is the largest producer of many kinds of coarse cereals. However, realizing the nutrient richness of coarse cereals they are now considered as “Nutria cereals”.