Farmers’ Perceptions on Performance and Utilization of Improved Sorghum Cultivars

Abstract

India is the second largest producer of sorghum in the world, production being 7.8 million tons in 2001-02 (CMIE 2004). Sorghum in India is grown in the rainy season Uu ne-October in around 4. 5 million ha) and in the post-rainy season (September-January in around 5.4 million ha). In Andhra Pradesh rainy season sorghum is grow n on 0.30 million ha producing 0.29 million tons of grain while the post-rainy season sorghum accounts for 0.34 million ha and 0.35 million tons of grain (GOAP 2003). Generally, resource-poor small-scale farmers with poor and marginal soil, where other crops cannot perform in the semi-arid regions of Andhra Pradesh, grow sorghum to meet household requirements of food and fodder with a small marketable surplus. During the last two decades the food demand for rainy-season sorghum grain has declined in India, while at the same time, new alternative markets for sorghum grain uses are emerging in poultry feed, livestock feed, alcohol manufacturing etc., (Kleih et al. 2000). However, owing to scattered and small-scale production farmers are unable to take advantage of the industrial demand since industries need the grain in bulk quantities with uniform quality. The existing marketing channels are not geared to meet industrial requirements of sorghum (Marsland and Parthasarathy Rao 2000)