Cost-return structure of crop farming on marginal and small farms in sub-mountainous region of Punjab

The present study was undertaken in sub-mountainous region of Punjab state to examine the cost-return structure of crop farming. The results of the study revealed that a large part of fixed investment was made on tractor, trolley and electric motor on the sample farms. Maize-wheat cropping system dominated while paddy was grown in limited area. Family labour was used in higher proportion as compared to hired labour. The total cost came out to be 82517 and 201136 on marginal and small farms respectively while it was 142040 in overall scenario. Variable cost more on small farms because higher variable inputs were used on small farms then marginal farm. Gross income from crop farming came out to be 74710 in case of marginal and 205466 on small farms. The returns over variable cost were 45828 and 125392 on marginal and small farms, respectively. Returns over total cost were negative for marginal farms. The study concluded that more training programmes should be initiated to guide the farmers about the judicious use of different inputs which can result in decline in the cost of production along with higher crop productivity.