Technological impact on energy consumption in rainfed soybean cultivation in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is a state located in the central part of India, and grows 7 3% of soybean produced in India. In five villages located in various agro c limatic regions of the state, 275 farmers cultivated soybean during 1997-19 99, of which 239 farms had practiced rainfed cultivation. A total of 188 ra infed farms had used a combination of bullock and tractor power (mixed farm ing), constituting 67.6% of the farms surveyed. The energy consumption patt erns of these farms were studied and a linear programming technique applied to determine optimal energy resource allocation for maximum yield obtainab le under business-as-usual and improved cultivation practices. The results indicated that 40.2% additional yield over average yield (achieved by the f armers under study) of 1089 kg/ha can be obtained without major change in e nergy use pattern under business-as-usual cultivation practice. With the us e of improved cultivation practices, a yield of 2274 kg/ha can be obtained through investment of 8118 MJ/ha. Adoption of the improved cultivation prac tice would improve energy productivity to 0.30 kg/MJ as compared to 0.179 k g/MJ presently achieved by the farmers. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.