Potentials in organic farming for sustainable agricultural development

The extant literature shows that yields and incomes are lower in organic farms, especially in the first few years. Few studies are available on economic analysis of organic farming where production and productivity are higher and cost of production is less. In this paper, we study the costs and returns of organic and conventional farming. Two districts of Punjab were selected for a case study. Both organic and conventional farmers were selected based on their cropping system and rotation of crops. Simple statistical tools were used for analysis. The results showed that gross returns and net returns are higher among the organic farmers compared to the conventional farmers. Particularly, net returns in paddy, sugarcane and potatoes are much higher in organic farming but in case of wheat the margin is less. On the other hand, the variable cost is much less for all the crops under organic farming for which organic farmers are earning much higher net returns. Some farmers who have adopted organic farming with missionary zeal are gaining much as compared to the conventional farmers. Though the conventional farmers are also earning relatively higher but the earnings are more than double in case of paddy under organic farming.