Economics of mustard cultivation in Jammu district of J&K

The study was conducted in Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir UT. We have used multistage random sampling method. We have selected two blocks namely; R.S. Pura and Bishnah from Jammu district and from each block, four villages were randomly selected and finally ten farmers from each village were chosen. Both primary and secondary data has been collected. The results of the study has revealed that the variable cost, fixed cost, managerial cost and total cost for overall mustard farms was recorded at Rs. 21912.19, Rs. 11291.22, Rs. 3320.34 and 36523.75 per ha, respectively. The gross returns and net return obtained from this was Rs. 53953.98 and Rs. 20750.58 per ha respectively. The cost benefit ratio was found to be 1:1.62. The efficient resources used for producing mustard crop were machine labour (β = 0.69) at 5% level of significance, seeds (β = 1.52) and fertilizer (β= 0.61) at 1% level of significance and these factors collectively explained 70.10% variations in the output (R²= 0.7010). The marketing pattern was also evaluated during the study and have found that two marketing channels viz; “Producer - Village trader -Processor” (Channel-I) and “Producer -Processor” (Channel-II). Channel-II is more efficient than channel-II with marketing efficiency 51.91%. From this we have concluded that the mustard crop is economically viable and profitable and producer’s share in consumer rupee can be increased through channel-II.