The Profitability of Paddy Cultivation and Farmers’ Perception in West Bengal with Special Reference to Purba Bardhaman District

Abstract

Many economists and experts opined that agriculture is an unprofitable activity in India nowadays, mainly because of increasing cost and low prices of farm produce. However, during the field survey in Galsi-I and Galsi-II Blocks of Purba Bardhaman, it was observed that many farmers do not think so. In this context, using the secondary data on the cost of paddy cultivation for the period 1996–97 to 2015–16, this paper analyses the cost and returns from paddy cultivation in West Bengal. It is observed that the cost has increased at a very high rate. Paid out cost at current prices during the last decade has increased by 12.1 per cent per annum. However, they do not realise the right price of their produce, and consequently, the profit margin has declined. Data reveal that farmers incurred losses in paddy cultivation upto 14 times except for in 2007–08 and in 2009–10 during 2000–01 to 2015–16. They are also being deprived of getting even the minimum support prices (MSP) due to loopholes in government initiatives. Using primary data, this paper explains why many farmers think that paddy cultivation is still a profitable activity. In doing so, the research finds that they miscalculate the cost of cultivation and that is why they perceive the profit margin to be higher. The kinds of cost that they do not calculate include family labour, depreciation charge, interest on capital, the rental value of owned land, and others. Another cause for exaggerated profit is that farmers include income from paddy business as return from agriculture.

An Economic Analysis of Technical Efficiency of Paddy Cultivation of Erode District in Tamil Nadu

“…They were unable to distinguish causes of inefficiency due to the biological nature of agricultural production from farm-specific differences in the use of available technology because they represented the sample farms' production process on an input-output space (production function) with a given technology. Since the 1970s, efficiency assessments have been undertaken in Indian agriculture, despite conceptual problems and analytical discrepancies (Huang and Bagi, 1984;Kalirajan, 1981;Junankar, 1980;Sidhu, 1974;Lau and Yotopoulos, 1971;Alam, Siwar and Talib, 2010;Tadesse and Krishnamoorthy, 1997;Suresh and Keshava Reddy, 2006;Bhagat, Singh and Vishwavidyalaya, 2007;Ajit Singh, H L Singh and V S Chaudhary, 2013;Agarwal, Yadav and Mondal, 2018;Meenasulochani et al, 2018;Paul, 2019;Sharma et al, 2019;Thayaparan and Jayathilaka, 2020; K.S.R., Paul, 2020); in fact, the latter two measured relative technical efficiency using shadow profit function. With particular reference to rice farming, the studies by Shanmugam and Palanisami (1993) in Tamil Nadu, Datt and Joshi (1992) in Uttar Pradesh, and Jayaram et al (1992) in Karnataka are among the prominent works.…”

Self-Sufficiency of Rice Consumption and Farm Entrepreneurship of Operating Farmers in Rural Areas of West Bengal, India: An Empirical Interpretation from Socio-Personal, Agro-Economic, Socio-Psychological and Communicative Variables

“…It is well-known that how much rice means as a means of food and as well as a commodity for availing foreign exchange in India. Rice is also a staple food for more than half of the world population and in Asia alone more than 2000 million people obtain 60-70 per cent of their calories from rice and its products [5]. In spite of a spectacular growth in the food grain sector during the past two decades, a huge gap exists between availability and requirement of products.…”

“…The kinds of cost that they do not calculate include family labour, depreciation charge, interest on capital, the rental value of owned land, and others. Another cause for exaggerated profit is that farmers include income from paddy business as return from agriculture [6]. Non availability of grading facilities in some market yard is serious problem for the farmers due to which they were not getting actual price of produce.…”