Basmati Cultivation for Sustainable Agriculture in Punjab

Abstract

The present study examines the impact assessment of Basmati rice in terms of input use, cost-effectiveness, and addressing the sustainability issues at the farm level in Sri Muktsar Sahib district of Punjab using primary data. From the study area, a sample of 120 farmers randomly selected from two blocks and from each block, 30 basmati, and 30 non-basmati adopters were selected. Input use pattern revealed saving of 3.07 per cent in human labour in basmati as compare to non-basmati. The machine labour saving in basmati was 1.82 per cent against non-basmati. The results brought out that saving in number of irrigations for basmati was 16.50 per cent. The per hectare total variable cost in basmati (26051) was lower when compared with non-basmati (27268) and the return over variable cost in basmati was 3.69 per cent more than non-basmati. The returns per rupee spend on basmati was 4.26 against 4.00 in non-basmati. The study suggested that for faster adoption of basmati, both State, as well as Central Governments, should frame a policy to save farmers from price fluctuations through ensuring some minimum income support to its cultivators and improvement in the knowledge of farmers regarding new techniques and technologies. Even though the research and extension linkages in Punjab are fairly strong, the qualitative improvement by reaching low productivity farmers through the involvement of crop scientists and extension personnel is very much needed.