Background: Productivity, as a source of growth has been a significant premise of analytical investigation in economics all along, however it gained an empirical momentum in the recent years only and has become a necessary index to growth. Present paper estimates growth rate of area, production and productivity of food grain and oilseed crops in Rajasthan.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: To analyse growth performance of food grain and oilseed crops Rajasthan time series, data on area, production and yield were collected from 1976-77 to 2018-19. The time-series data were collected on area, production and yield of selected crops from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Directorate of Agriculture (DOA) and Rajasthan State Agriculture Department. The compound growth rates (CGRs) of area, production and productivity of selected crops in Rajasthan were calculated using the exponential function. 
 
Result: The study revealed that production, productivity and area of total food grains was recorded a positive and highly significant annual growth at the rate of 3.18%, 2.19% 0.63% per annum, respectively. The production, productivity and area of total oilseed was observed a positive and highly significant annual growth rate of 7.63%, 2.07% and 4.27% per annum, respectively. The area under barley, gram and sesamum reduced during the study period. Therefore, the technological support through the varietal improvement and extension support is required.

An Analytical Study on Growth Performance of Major Food Grain and Oilseed Crops in Context of Food Security: Rajasthan, India

<div>Background: Freshwater in sufficient quantity and adequate quality is a prerequisite for human societies and natural ecosystems. To adequately feed 9.3 billion people in 2050, consumptive water use (i.e. transpired water) by all food and fodder crops needs to increase from its present estimated level of 7000 km3/year to 12,586 km3/year. However, fresh water resources are increasingly getting scarce because of increased competition among a multitude of users. Getting agriculture to perform with progressively smaller allocation of renewable water resources will remain a challenge on global scale. To meet the challenge there is an urgent need to improve the crop water productivity to ensure the sustainability of agriculture. 
 
Methods: An experiment was carried out at village Menawali, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan during both kharif and rabi seasons to assess productivity, economics, N-uptake and water use of different crops. An area of 187 ha comprising 25 farmers irrigated by common irrigation channels were selected to collect the information. The information required i.e. soil, crop management, growth, phonological, yields, water balance, N-uptake and water use efficiency of each crops were collected from 15 farmers. Bt-cotton and clusterbean of kharif and wheat and Indian mustard in rabi were prominent crops, cotton-wheat, cotton-mustard, clusterbean-wheat and clusterbean-mustard were major cropping sequences of the study region. 
 
Result: In kharif season, Bt-cotton gave higher economic yields than clusterbean and amongst rabi season crops, economic yields of wheat and mustard were 4255, 1778 kg/ha, respectively. The economic yield of cropping sequences varied from 3741-6514 kg/ha and were higher for cotton-wheat (6218 kg/ha), intermediate for clusterbean-wheat (5785 kg/ha) and lower for cotton-mustard (3741 kg/ha) and clusterbean-mustard (3308 kg/ha). The cotton-wheat (₹1181.2 mm) sequence had highest water use. Clusterbean-wheat cropping system recorded highest water productivity (16.5 kg/ha mm) followed by clusterbean-mustard (14.9 kg/ha mm). The clusterbean-mustard (₹456/ha mm) cropping sequence was most profitable and fetched highest net return followed by clusterbean-wheat (₹383/ha mm).</div>

Assessing Crop and Water Productivity Performance of Different Crops and Cropping Systems

Background: In contemporary world food crop production is under pressure due to change in climate. In developing nation climate change is a treat both in food crop production and food security. Analysing farmers&rsquo; climate change adaptation measures and understanding the barriers provides clear guidance to address constraints that impede food crop producers&rsquo; adaptation. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: A stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 200 food crop producers for primary data gathering. The multinomial logit model was used to determine the factors that affect the selection of adaptation measures to climate change and factor analysis was used to identify factors that impede food crop producers&rsquo; ability to adapt to climate change. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The result of the multinomial logit model shows that various socio-economic factors&nbsp;(family size, education, climate change awareness, farming experience, nonfarm income, farm size, distance to farmland, extension services and access to credit) influence farmers&rsquo; choices regarding climate change adaptation strategies in the study area. The result of the varimax rotate principal component analysis found four factors that are detrimental to food crop producers in adapting to climate change. These principal constraints are institution and government, technology and inputs, information and knowledge and belief, culture and participation as factors that hinder farmers from adapting to climate change.&nbsp;Thus, there is room for government and development partners to strengthen the adaptive capacities of farmers by resolving problems related to institutions, government policy, technology, inputs availability and information regarding climate change to minimize the potential impact and loss in the future.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Climate Change Adaptation Measures and Constraints among Smallholder Food Crop Farmers in Sayo and Dale Sedi District, Ethiopia

Background: An effort was made by the Ethiopian government to increase the level of technical efficiency of farmers across the country.&nbsp; However, due to climate change, smallholder farmers were facing challenges to increase technical efficiency in crop production. Adaptation to climate change is crucial to uphold and increase food crop productivity. This study analysis the impact of climate change adaptation and policy issues on food crop production efficiency in Kellem Wollega, Ethiopia.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The data was gathered from 400 randomly selected food crop smallholder farmers. The Cobb-Douglas production function was used by including the climate change adaptation measures as explanatory variables in technical inefficiency. Simulation was made to adaption measures that can be influenced by the policy variables to see their impact on the level of technical efficiency. 
 
Result: The finding show that the use of adaptive practices (multiple crop type, improved crop varieties, adjusting planting dates and irrigation) had a significant and positive effect on technical efficiency whereas land fragmentation reduces efficiency level. Regarding simulation of policy variables the result show that the mean technical efficiency would increase with rising level of improved crop varieties, adjusting planting dates and irrigation practices. The results of the simulation of land fragmentation climate change adaptation variables show that the mean technical efficiency declines as a result of land fragmentation. Empirical results reveal that with appropriate policy intervention (climate change adaptation measures) the technical efficiency level of food crop farmers can be enhanced.

​Impact of Policy Change on Technical Efficiency: Evidence from Small Scale Food Crop Farmers in Kellem Wollega, Ethiopia

Cowpea is a major legume crop native to Africa and it provides food for man as well as livestock. Even though it is widely cultivated in Africa, a second domestication was probably occurred in Asia. Cowpea can thrive in a range of soil types, pH and temperatures. Besides, changing lifestyle and climate variability have brought in enough scope for its cultivation. Variability studies in cowpea are highly significant in order to identify superior genotypes for the further improvement of the crop. The genetic diversity analysis will help in the identification of potentially distinct genotypes with contrasting traits which can be used to operate effective selection of genetically diverse genotypes for yield improvement as well as nutritional enrichment and climate resilience. Hence, the present review is focused on the studies carried out in different parts of the world to characterize the genetic diversity in cowpea germplasm. This work was done at the Department of Botany, University of Calicut, Kerala. The study reviewed and systematically evaluated the various practices implied to assess the genetic diversity in cowpea. Literature search was done during March, 2023- July, 2024. About 150 Research papers were screened from various data bases like Google scholar, ResearchGate and a total of 79 research papers were used to write this review article. Present review article reveals the significance of cowpea as a food&nbsp; and fodder crop and the characterization of cowpea genotypes as an important genetic resource for developing climate resilient crops. The review also shed light on origin and distribution of cowpea, cowpea breeding, tools for genetic variability assessment among cowpea genotypes, new and improved molecular markers that are utilized in research and future aspects of cowpea improvement for maintaining sustainable nutrition to society.

Genetic Diversity of Cowpea: Implications for Crop Improvement&nbsp; and Food Security: A Review

Background: The study was conducted to ascertain the farmers&rsquo; willingness to stop tobacco cultivation, identify the determinants of farmers&rsquo; desire to stop tobacco cultivation and discover alternate food crops farmers are interested in cultivating in Bangladesh. 
 
Methods: A total of 377 tobacco growers in most tobacco-growing areas in Bangladesh were surveyed using a sample randomization technique using binary logistic regression and the factors influencing farmers&rsquo; choice to produce tobacco were examined. Face-to-face structured surveys from January 2022 to March 2023 were conducted in Mirpur Upazila (Sub-district) from Kushtia and Gangachara Upazila from Rangpur districts of Bangladesh. 
 
Result: Only 46.4% of the farmers are willing to stop tobacco cultivation. The key determinants for their willingness to stop growing tobacco are education level, tobacco cultivation experience, incentives and organizational participation of the tobacco farmers. In the farmer&rsquo;s view, maize, mustard, potatoes and lentils are the most suitable food crops to replace tobacco. To shift tobacco farmers to growing food crops, the Government should increase the farmers&rsquo; educational level and offer inputs, loans and other incentives to promote alternate crops like maize, mustard, potato and lentil. 
&nbsp;

Farmers&rsquo; Willingness to Stop Tobacco Cultivation and Perception of Alternate Food Crops to Replace It: Case of Major Tobacco Growing Areas in Bangladesh

<div>Background: Historical records and increased scientific consensus provide strong evidence that the global climate is changing. Future climate change would lead to an increase in climate variability and the frequency and intensity of extreme events.&nbsp; Agriculture that is dependent on climate conditions is inherently sensitive to climate changes. Today&rsquo;s world agriculture has gone through challenges from population growth and has adapted to changing economic conditions, technology and resource availabilities. But uncertainty remains concerning the ability of agricultural systems to adapt to climate change. Thus, climate change adaptation of the essence for a resilient food crop production system requires economic transformation by arrangement of institutional and technology. 
 
Methods: This study uses the Ricardian model to examine the economic impact of climate change on agriculture in Kellem Wollega Zone, Ethiopia. The net farm revenue is regressed against climate variable (temperature and precipitation), soil and socio-economic variables to help determine the factors that influence variability in net farm revenues. The study was based on the data from a survey of 400 smallholder farming households interviewed across the zone. 
&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Result: The Ricardian model analysis shows the coefficients of summer, autumn and winter temperature are positive whereas the coefficient of spring temperature is negative. Regarding the precipitation, the coefficients of summer and spring precipitation are positive while coefficients of autumn and winter precipitation are negative. The marginal impact analysis results show an increase in summer and spring temperatures has mostly negative effects on net farm revenues implying that further temperature increases would be harmful to agricultural activities while increases in autumn temperatures increase net farm revenues in the study area. The summer and spring precipitation would increase the net farm revenue but the autumn precipitation reduces the farm revenue. The elasticity results show that net farm revenues are highly sensitive to changes in climate and the elasticity is relatively high for both summer temperature and precipitation. The impacts of climate change under the three special Reports on Emission Scenarios, (Canadian General Circulation Model, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research and Parallel Climate Model) predicted that by 2100 net farm revenues would decrease across all farms per hectare by US$ 942.83, US$ 1048.16 and US$ 1024.32 respectively. The finding suggests there is a great need for the concerned bodies to provide up-to-date information about climate change and rainfall patterns in the forthcoming season so that the farmers make informed decisions and develop adaptation strategies.</div>

Economic Impact of Climate Change on Food Crop Production using Ricardina Approach: A Case of Kellem Wollega Zone, Ethiopia

<div style="text-align: justify;">Improved and efficient irrigation water management through precise estimation of crop water requirement has a vital role to play in ensuring food security. However, the crop water requirement data of field crops are not locally available. In view of this, present investigation was aimed at quantifying the crop water requirement of rabi and kharif season crops grown under paired row planting in different agro climatic conditions of Madhya Pradesh. The crop water requirement was calculated based on the already developed crop coefficient and reference evapotranspiration. Daily weather data of 35 years (1979 to 2013) for twenty districts of Madhya Pradesh was collected to determine the reference evapotranspiration using Aquacrop model. The study revealed that the daily ETo increased continuously from 1st SMW to its maximum values during 21st-22nd SMW, thereafter decreased sharply and remains low from 30th to 34th SMW in all selected districts. The highest value of ETo (11.0 mm day-1) was found in Datia at 21st SMW and lowest in Betul i.e. 2.2 mm day-1 at 32nd SMW. The daily water requirement estimates showed that the water requirement of chickpea, wheat and lentil i.e. 1.73 lpd, 0.70 lpd and 0.49 lpd respectively is highest in Jabalpur. Sugarcane has the highest water requirement 13.56 lpd in Narsinghpur during mid season. &nbsp;In all kharif crops cotton has highest water requirement 6.53 lpd in Harda followed by sesame and groundnut i.e. 2.75 lpd and 2.46 lpd respectively in Datia. These results can be used in efficient management of irrigation water under drip irrigation system in selected district of Madhya Pradesh. &nbsp;</div>

Study on crop water requirement of field crops under different climatic conditions of Madhya Pradesh

<div>Deleterious effects of climatic changes and diverse environmental conditions, possess a major threat to agriculture in terms of growth and yield. So, to meet these challenges, there is a need to develop new crop varieties containing traits resistant against abiotic and biotic stresses and enhanced input use efficiency. Compared with domesticated cultivars, crop wild relatives maintains much higher level of genetic diversity. The high nutrient and bioactive content of many wild edible plants make them valued contributors for balanced diet and play significant role in human nutrition. In this review article, we discussed the importance of crop wild relative in crop improvement programs by giving examples of wild relatives that have been used to enhance abiotic and biotic stress tolerance and yield in various crop species. The advancement in DNA sequence technology enables plant breeders to produce high quality food. Further, combination of re-sequencing and de novo sequencing are efficiently used to explore genomic variation in crop wild relatives and moreover the genome analysis study results in detection of beneficial alleles in wild relatives which has been lost in cultivated species. Thus, conservation of genetic pool of crop wild relatives is essential to maintain sustainability of agriculture and food production.</div>

Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) a Genetic Pool for Crop Improvement: A Review

<div style="text-align: justify;">Agriculture must become nutrition-smart. Food security without nutrition security is not enough. Our basic food systems have to be optimized to provide the greatest amount of nutrients per square meter per unit time, especially in the face of climate change. &nbsp;Majority of the Indian people are vegetarian and they depend primarily upon grain legumes for dietary protein. Unfortunately the production of grain legumes in India has remained stagnant since 1950 causing declining per capita availability and widespread malnutrition. This is because most of the good lands have gone to the green revolution led &lsquo;wheat-rice&rsquo; and &lsquo;rice-rice&rsquo; cropping systems and food legumes have been pushed to marginal lands. Also, the traditional food legume varieties are late in maturity with low yield potential. This has led to inadequate protein and minerals in the diets of rural and urban masses on one hand and imbalanced soil fertility due to cereal-cereal rotation on the other hand. Therefore, increased cultivation of pulses is urgently needed. How can this be achieved with the limited land is one of the major challenges of agricultural research. The only answer is to breed and cultivate short duration food legumes in the existing niches between cereal-cereal systems. Wheat is harvested in March&ndash;April and rice is transplanted in July leaving about 80-90 days gap in which a short duration food legume can be grown. A number of photo-insensitive and heat tolerant &lsquo;60-day cowpea&rsquo; varieties have been recently developed by Pantnagar University which were tested under farmer participatory on-farm trials and All India Multi-location Coordinated Trials with the support from Harvest Plus Project of CGIAR. These varieties can be grown as a niche crop in the wheat-rice cropping system of northern India which has a potential area of over 10 million ha. and also fit well in rice fellows in southern India.&nbsp;</div>

An Analytical Study on Growth Performance of Major Food Grain and Oilseed Crops in Context of Food Security: Rajasthan, India

Assessing Crop and Water Productivity Performance of Different Crops and Cropping Systems

Climate Change Adaptation Measures and Constraints among Smallholder Food Crop Farmers in Sayo and Dale Sedi District, Ethiopia

Impact of Policy Change on Technical Efficiency: Evidence from Small Scale Food Crop Farmers in Kellem Wollega, Ethiopia

Genetic Diversity of Cowpea: Implications for Crop Improvement and Food Security: A Review

Farmers’ Willingness to Stop Tobacco Cultivation and Perception of Alternate Food Crops to Replace It: Case of Major Tobacco Growing Areas in Bangladesh

Economic Impact of Climate Change on Food Crop Production using Ricardina Approach: A Case of Kellem Wollega Zone, Ethiopia

Study on crop water requirement of field crops under different climatic conditions of Madhya Pradesh

Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) a Genetic Pool for Crop Improvement: A Review

Short durartion cowpea varieties for cultivation as a niche crop in various cropping systems for enhanced pulse production