Water Productivity and Profitability of Spring Maize Hybrids

The study was conducted in districts Kapurthala and Jalandhar during Kharif 2016 season. A total of 110 farmers were randomly selected and interviewed 4 times during the crop season and the information was collected as per questionnaire. The results revealed that majority of farmers were opting for recommended input application with more than 90 per cent farmers using seed treatment of insecticide and more than 60 per cent applying urea and DAP at recommended levels. Four spring maize hybrids prominent in the region were found to be DKC 9108, P 1844, 31Y45 and P 1855. Among these hybrids, 31Y45 is of longer duration as compared to other 3 hybrids, so its water requirement is more. For growing spring maize hybrids, irrigation water used was 9840 m³/ha with water productivity of 0.95 kg/m³ and grain productivity of 79.3 kg/ha/day. Contrary to last two years, farmers shifted area from 31Y45 to new hybrids such as P 1844 due to its higher yield. The gross income of Rs 90, 093/-ha obtained by the farmers seems to be very profitable but on the other hand, if the cost of irrigation water is taken into consideration then net returns reduce from Rs 59, 293/-ha to Rs 49, 453/-ha. Hence, farmers must adopt some other short duration, low water requiring crops like summer moong, musk melon, and watermelon, groundnut, etc.