Gobar or urea: what do farmers prefer?

This study enquires into the factors that influence farmers’ preference for using gobar or urea. It attempts to understand why farmers use chemical fertilizer over organic fertilizer or the two together. The focus is to identify why farmers prefer to use urea over gobar, which is free and available at home. Farmers in 300 farm households were asked what fertilizers they applied to the crops they cultivated in the kharif and rabi seasons in 2016 and why they chose those fertilizers. The findings suggest that farmers prefer to use urea because it is easy to procure, transport and apply and results are quick. The change in agriculture inputs indicates the transformation that the agrarian economy is undergoing, and policymakers should concern themselves over where it is heading and how sustainable it is in the long run.