Economic Performance and Optimum Cropping Patternbased on Alternative Price Scenarios in Arid-Western Plain Zone of Rajasthan State

The present investigation was undertaken to work out the economic performance and optimum cropping pattern based on alternative price scenarios in the Arid-Western Plain Zone of Rajasthan state. In the present study, the unit-level cost of cultivation data of various crops for the triennium ending year 2013–14 which were collected from “Comprehensive Scheme to Study the Cost of Cultivation of Principal Crops in Rajasthan state. The performance of different crops was assessed by calculating net returns under three alternative price scenarios, i.e. (i) Market prices (MP) (ii) Economic prices (EP) and (iii) Net income based on natural resource valuation technique (NRV). This study has considered subsidy as a cost to society. Similarly, greenhouse gas emissions from the crops have been taken as a cost to society and nitrogen fixation by leguminous crops has been taken as gain to the society. Results from the study show that the groundnut-barley combination of crop sequence was found the most remunerative in economic return generated over the year of 59418 per hectare followed by groundnut-vegetables (53930/ha) and groundnut-gram (52879/ha) combinations. The net gain to the farmers based on the alternative price scenarios viz. market, economic and natural resource valuation prices was estimated as 114.38 lakh, 114.45 lakh and 138.82 lakh, respectively. The overall gain to society has increased at economical prices by 49.39 lakh, whereas it was decreased by 93.24 lakh at natural resource valuation due to the lack of cultivation of legume crops. The optimal plan was suggested that more areas under cultivation of legume crops like groundnut, cluster bean, and gram because of they are less water-intensive and more environment-friendly and thus have a positive impact on natural resource valuation with the existing water availability.