Indian saffron is cultivated on a large scale in Jammu and Kashmir valley where the cool dry climate and rich soil with excellent drainage and organic content make the area ideal for this spice. India exported 5.5 MT of saffron, the world's costliest spice (saffron). The Jammu and Kashmir state enjoys a virtual monopoly in the cultivation of saffron and contributes almost 99% of the national production of saffron. Keeping in this view, an attempt was made to analyze the cost and return structure of saffron crop in Kashmir valley. For the present study purposive and random sampling techniques were adopted to select the districts, block, villages and farmers from district Pulwama, as it had the highest area and production of saffron cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir. The overall cost of cultivation was estimated Rs 263138.82 per ha for 9 years and net returns comes to Rs 412709.83 per ha respectively. The per ha overall farm business income comes to Rs 628397.81 in 9 years from this crop, while family labour income was calculated to Rs 423836.47. The overall benefit-cost ratio comes to 1:2.57 on sample farms under study.
Cost-return, family labour income, farm investment income, farm business income, benefit-cost ratio
