A study was conducted on the resource use efficiency of major food crops under rainfed conditions in Central Dry Zone of Karnataka (CDZ). The major crops of CDZ are ragi, maize and groundnut. The data

was collected from rainfed farmers of CDZ of Karnataka. Cobb-Douglas production analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis was used. The inputs used are human labour, bullock labour, machine labour, seed, fertilizer and farm yard manure (FYM). In rainfed ragi, the regression coefficients for bullock pair (1.27) and FYM (0.94) were positive and statistically significant. In rainfed maize, the elasticity of production for human labour was highest (1.18) followed by production co-efficient of seed (0.98) and fertilizers (0.63).

The elasticity co-efficient in rainfed groundnut with respect to seeds was 0.41, while that of fertilizers was 0.71 indicating the scope for higher use of these inputs from the present level to optimise returns. The ratio of MVP to MFC was differed from unity in all major crops, indicating scope for reallocation of expenditure among various resources. Among the crops technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and economic efficiency scored impressively in rainfed maize was 0.83, 0.69 and 0.6, respectively.