Quantitative assessment of the contribution of the various factors to the growth of cotton is helpful in reorienting the programmes and priorities of cotton growth so as to achieve higher rates of growth. The factors which essentially determine the growth of cotton are the rate of growth in land area, area sown more than once, the yield per hectare, rainfall and substitute crop acreage to name a few. Acreage response to relative price for cotton in Thiruppur market center in the pre reform period reveals that this district takes two years and six months for full adjustment to bring about acreage allocation when there is change in price of cotton crop and in the post reform period this market center takes nearly three years for full adjustment due to rigidities in cotton acreage allocation.

KEYWORDS: cotton, crop process, crop yields, crop acreage, cotton market