Temporal changes in economics of pulses and their comparative advantage in Rajasthan

The study aims to examine the temporal changes in economics of chickpea (gram), moong bean (green gram) and urd bean (black gram) production in western State of India i.e. Rajasthan. Study was entirely based on secondary data collected from publication of Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi. The structural changes in cost of cultivation were analyzed by working out the difference in cost at two points of time (i.e. 2001-02 and 2013-14), along with relative share to total cost. Study revealed that the average cost of cultivation of chickpea, moong bean and urd bean increased from Rs.9,941.66/ha, Rs.5,954.74/ha and Rs.7,849.31/ha in 2001-02 to Rs. 24,093.71/ha, Rs.17,793.53/ha and Rs. 21,346.36/ha in 2013-14.The net income over total cost was highest for chickpea which is a major pulse crop of Rajasthan. During 2001-02, both moong bean and urd bean remained unprofitable over total cost. During 2013-14, chickpea and moong bean became profitable over total cost. The level of profit was highest for chickpea followed by moong bean. Urd bean still remained unprofitable over total cost.