1. Sorghum: Lessons from the evidence gathered from Village Level Studies By K.P.C.Rao Principal Scientist (Village Level Studies) ICRISAT,Patancheru,Hyderabad. In Session – IX of the 35 th Annual Sorghum group meeting, 21-23 April, 2005 at ANGRAU Auditorium, Hyderabad.

2. Introduction  Reduction in Sorghum area  Declining demand for Sorghum grain  Problem aggravated by subsidies for Rice and Wheat in the Public Distribution System  Minimum Support Price not backed up by procurement  Productivity gains failed to stem the rot

3. Table 1: Percentage share of sorghum and sorghum-based intercropping systems in the gross cropped area

4. Table 2: Grain and fodder yields of sorghum in VLS villages

5. Table 3: Costs and returns of Kharif sorghum in Mahaboobnagar VLS villages (Rs/ha)

6. Table 4: Costs and returns of Kharif Sorghum in Akola villages (Rs/ha)

7. Table 5: Costs and returns of rabi sorghum in Solapur villages (Rs/ha)

8. Table 6: Net Returns to management, land and capital from Sorghum in VLS villages (Rs/ha)

9. Conclusions  Impressive productivity gains seen from the micro-level data  Non-viability of Sorghum due to growing input prices and stagnant product prices  Average returns per hectare declined since the base year  Sharper decline in area in kharif Sorghum areas than in rabi areas  A lot needs to be done on the policy front