Profitability of farming systems on tribal farms in Udham Singh Nagar District of Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

The motive of this study is to identify the most profitable farming system on tribal farm. To identify the same, this study was conducted in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. The study was based on data collected from 60 tribal farmers for the agricultural year 2008–09. To measure the profitability of farming systems, total cost and total return were calculated. Total costs were calculated by estimating total material cost, total operational cost and other costs. Total returns from the farming systems were calculated by valuing the total output at the prices received by the farmers. It was observed that the net returns over total cost from FS-I (crop + livestock) was estimated to be highest among all the farming systems while net return over variable cost was highest from FS-III (crop + livestock + orchard). Crop enterprise shared more than 89 per cent net return over variable cost among all the farming system except FS-IV (livestock). While livestock and orchard enterprise didn't emerged as more profitable. Crop production appeared as the main source of income on tribal farm drawing more attention towards its improvement in the study area.