Economics and resource-use efficiency of wheat crop under rainfed conditions in the Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir

Economics of wheat crop revealed that, the cost-benefit ratio was found out to be highest in case of Jammu district and the least in case of Udhampur district. Consequently, the family labour income and farm business income were found in that order respectively. The overall yield of the wheat crop worked out to be 5.92, highest yield found out to be in the Jammu district and lowest in the Rajouri district. Similarly, the cost-benefit ratio was found maximum in the Jammu district, followed by Rajouri district, Udhampur district and finally by Kathua district. Production function analysis revealed that wheat crop yielded constant returns to scale. In addition, variables like human labour, machine labour, fertiliser, manure, etc. proved to be positively significant that could influence the yields of the wheat crop. Except Udhampur district, mustard crop in the rest of the district experienced constant returns to scale. Moreover, variables like machine labour, manure and fertiliser worked out to be significant. On the other hand, in the Udhampur district, rice crop revealed the increasing returns to scale and the rest of the districts showed the constant returns to scale. Human labour, plant protection chemicals and manure came out to be significant. Therefore, such input variables need to be taken care of accordingly.

• Cultivation of wheat crop was found out to be most profitable in case of the Jammu district, in spite of the fact that the total cost is very high in this district.

• Resource use efficiency revealed that the input variables like human labour, machine labour and plant protection chemicals proved to be most important input variables in wheat cultivation.