Cost and return structure of wheat crop under tenant farmers in Punjab: A field survey

The present paper designed to study the cost of cultivation and returns structure of wheat cultivation for the tenant was as well as the owner farmers. The study was based on the primary data collected from 180 farmers (120 tenants and 60 owners), spread over all the major agro-climatic zones of Punjab pertaining to 2017–18. The result of the study revealed that cost of cultivation based on various cost concepts of wheat crop per hectare was slightly lower for tenant farmers in comparison to owner farmers. Cost A₂ was found relatively higher in the case of owner farmers, as it include the actual rent paid for leased-in land along with all the operational cost. The returns overall cost concepts were found to be comparatively higher for tenant farmers in relation to owner farmers. The returns over Cost A₂ were estimated 20360 from wheat on tenant farmers as compared to 68896on the owner farmers respectively. The return over Cost A₂ reflects the returns for owned human labour for the tenant farmers. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen tenant farmers by ensuring an adequate size of holding, that is, operational landholding should be distributed uniformly among all farm groups on account of providing sustainable income and livelihood to all farmers.