COST OF PRODUCTION OF COTTON AT THE GOVERNMENT FARM, KOILPATTI

Abstract

The economics of crop growing is always a subject of great importance to all farmers since the prime object of farming is, as in other industries, to obtain profits. This term expresses the relationship between expenditure and income. The former is greatly influenced, especially in India, by the wages paid to the labour engaged, while the latter is mostly dependent on the prices obtained for the agricultural produce. If the prices paid to labour and to the various commodities grown on a farm move in conso- nance, a constancy in the profits will result. On the contrary such a simple situation rarely occurs. As the problem stands at present, there is a ruinous slump in the markets for all agricultural products and there is no corres- ponding change in the labour bill and in the standards of living which have risen considerably during the war. This lag has caused great anxiety in the minds of cultivators. The margin of profit has become very narrow. only they possess an accurate knowledge of the cost of production of each crop they grow, they can face the crisis by cultivating the crops that will pay them to grow without at the same time impoverishing the natural fertility of the land. But every Indian ryot feels shy to keep accounts of his husbandry and is consequently in a fix to decide intelligently how and where to effect a retrenchment. It is thought desirable at this juncture to present the data relating to cotton-the chief money crop on the black soils.