A comparative analysis of cost structure and farm business income: A case study of western Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Sugarcane is an important agricultural crop in India, which plays an important role in the national economy, contributing 1.9 percent to the GDP. The crop is cultivated on 5.03 million hectares producing over 384 million tonnes with a productivity of about 75.5 tonnes per hectare. In India, Uttar Pradesh contributes about 47 percent of the area (2.22 million hectares) and production (179.71 million tons) with 47.36 percent of the total sugarcane production. In Western Uttar Pradesh, two cropping systems mainly rice-wheat and sugarcane-wheat cover a large area under different irrigation systems. This study attempts to examine the trends in the production, cost of cultivation, benefits and profitability from sugarcane, wheat and paddy crops to investigate which crop for the farmers of western Uttar Pradesh is more profitable and economical. On an average, the cost of cultivation for sugarcane crop was Rs. 190.42 per quintal and the net return per hectare after subtracting the total cost (Cost C3) from the gross income was Rs. 138278.80. While the cost of production and returns from wheat, paddy and wheat + paddy crops was Rs. 1268.73 per quintal, Rs. 35825.40 per hectare, Rs 1645.32 per quintal, Rs. 34876.60 per hectare and Rs. 1457.02 per quintal and Rs. 70702.00 per hectare respectively. The study indicated that the cost of production per quintal for sugarcane crop was lower than that of wheat and paddy crop, on the other hand net income per hectare was highest in sugarcane crop as compared to wheat and paddy crop. Percent profit and farm business income was also getting higher from sugarcane as compared to wheat and paddy crop. All major crops like paddy, wheat and sugarcane were beneficial to the farmers under the study area, but sugarcane was the more profitable crop as compared to the rest. As the cost per quintal of production as well as returns per hectare sugarcane crop was more economical than wheat and paddy crop.