Objectives: Fruits production plays a significant role for improvement of economic wellbeing in the country. We have examined growth and instability of selected fruit crops and crop-groups namely, mango, banana, papaya, guava, litchi, other fruit groups, all fruits combined, total foodgrains, total non-food grains and all crops combined in West Bengal vis-a-vis India and also in Burdwan, a district of West Bengal during 2000-01 to 2014-15.
Methods: Here unconditional and conditional annual compound growth rates have been measured by fitting appropriate trend equations when the underlying series are found to be respectively stationary and non-stationary. Instability of those selected crops has been measured by using Cuddy-Della Valle index. The secondary data on area, production and productivity are collected from different issues of Statistical Abstract of West Bengal, Statistical abstract of India, Horticultural Handbook of India and RBI Handbook.
Findings: The production growth rates of crop-groups are found to be significantly positive in West Bengal and India. But in case of all fruits combined, Burdwan experienced significantly positive growth in its production. The production growth rate of papaya is significantly positive in Burdwan, West Bengal and also in India. The production growth rates of mango and litchi are significantly found to be positive in the country as well as in the state.
Application: The production instability of crop-groups except non-food grains is low compared to the individual fruit crops in our study areas. No positive relationship between growth and instability is found here in fruits farming.