Groundnut Cultivation in Punjab- An Approach towards Crop Diversification

The present study was undertaken in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab to estimate costs-and returns from groundnut in relation to its competing crop/crops,to work out the-level of productivity of groundnut on the farms of different size groups and to analyze-the constraints associated with production of groundnut in the study area using the primary data collected from 60 groundnut growers during the year 2017-18.The study revealed that per acre gross returns received from groundnut crop were higher by Rs. 694 as compared to maize crop while in case of paddy the gross income was higher by Rs. 24442 as compared to groundnut crop. The total variable costs came out to be less in maize crop than groundnut crop while in the production of paddy, more of Rs. 32556 were spent on variable expenses than the groundnut crop. The returns over variable costs from maize and paddy were worked out to be Rs. 7822 and Rs. 27859 respectively whereas from groundnut it came out to be Rs. 6355. Although paddy was found to-be more profitable crop yet farmers in the study area preferred to grow groundnut-as the expenses incurred on fertilizers ,human labour, machine use , plant protection chemicals on paddy were more as compared to groundnut crop. Majority of the farmers used local varieties of groundnut crop which gave less yield and consequently less-profits. The high cost of seed, labour, hiring of farm machinery and other farm inputs-were main constraints faced by the farmers in the cultivation of groundnut. Availability-of hybrid seeds on subsidy, provision of subsidized inputs (plant protection chemicals), better marketing infrastructure and effective public procurement of the groundnut at-the minimum support price (MSP) will promote its cultivation in the state.