Benefit-cost analysis of tenant farmers: A case study of sugarcane cultivation

The present paper has been designed to study input-output ratio, cost and return pattern of sugarcane cultivation for the tenant as well as the owner farmers. The study has been based on the primary data collected from 60 farmers (40 tenant and 20 owner), spread over sub mountainous zone of Punjab pertaining to the year 2017-18. The study highlighted that the operational cost of sugarcane cultivation per hectare was found slightly lower (Rs.94621) in case of tenant farmers as against Rs.96144 for owner farmers. The returns over variable cost was found to be higher on tenant farms (Rs.200081/ha) as compared to owner farms (Rs.187784/ha). Total cost of cultivation (C₂) was also observed to be lower in case of tenant farmers (Rs.177578/ha) as compared-to (Rs.186846/ha) on owner farmers, resulting into the higher profitability of tenant-farmers (Rs.117124 / ha) in relation to (Rs. 97082/ ha) owner farmers. The benefit-cost ratio was recorded 1.66 in case of tenant farmers as compared to 1.52 in owner farmers. The study emphasizes to strengthen tenant farmers for optimum utilization of fallow land or farm resources.