Abstract

                                This paper combines policy analysis matrix techniques to model the analysis of profitability from cotton cultivation. Policy analysis matrices are computed for a sample of cotton growers located in the dry land of the Tamil Nadu under observed conventional and profit-efficient farming conditions. In this study cotton had been not competitive for most of the period under consideration. EPC estimates showed that it was more than unity like DRC in the most of the study period. However it could be seen that these had been a decreasing trend in the values of EPC and DRC from 2007-08.Since NPC value are less than unity it indicates that the state had not protected the crop at the farmers level. The estimates of DRC revealed that the state had comparative advantage in cotton export. The main conclusion is that the usefulness of the policy analysis matrix might be substantially enhanced by simulating profitability after efficiency- improving managerial decisions have been adopted.

Key words : Tamil Nadu cotton cultivators, Policy Analysis matrix, NPC, EPC, ERP, DRC, Indian agricultural policy, multifunctionality.