Pre- and Post-WTO Changes in Oilseed Economy of Karnataka: A Case of Groundnut

The growth in exports, economics of production and global competitiveness of groundnut has been reported over the period of 20 years (1984-85 to 2004-05) in Karnataka by collecting data from various published sources. Techniques used for the analysis are growth functions, tabular function, nominal protection coefficient and domestic resource cost. The analysis of export trends of groundnut from 1985-86 to 2004-05 has shown that quantity of groundnut export has grown annually at a compound growth rate of 9.52 per cent, whereas the value of groundnut exported has grown at a much higher rate of 13.13 per cent. Structural changes in costs are due to changes in quantity and quality of inputs associated with the technological process and also due to their prices. Groundnut has shown competitive disadvantage during the pre-WTO period, as values of NPC and DRC are more than one. But, during the post-WTO period, the competitiveness has increased as is evident from the NPC and DRC values which turned out be less than one. The study has suggested to exploit the competitiveness of Karnataka in groundnut and other oilseed crops.International Relations/Trade,