Non-Farm Enterprises: An Instrument to Economic Development in Rural Punjab

High value non-farm enterprises are often suggested as a means of rapid rural development in India. The present study, based on the primary data, has examined the economic feasibility of agri-enterprises, viz. dairy, bee-keeping, fisheries and poultry in Punjab through a randomly selected sample of 120 farmers taken from the entire state. It has been found that the state has better prospects in dairy enterprise. Bee-keeping requires less capital but provides better returns with an input-output ratio of 2.08. Fish farming is a specialized enterprise which requires lot of financial abilities, entrepreneurial abilities, technical skills and quick marketing disposals. The cost of production of fish remains below its respective price, making fish farming a profitable enterprise. In broiler farming, the feed cost and chick cost are the main items of expenditure. The net returns per annum have been estimated to be 124769 for one unit of thousand broilers per annum. The paper has concluded that these non-farm enterprises lessen the farmers’ dependence on food crops and provide supplementary income, which sustain them even in unfavourable circumstances besides providing employment to the family.