Sustainable agriculture: exploring resource use efficiency across different farm size

The present study was conducted on resource use efficiency on different sizes of farms. The study was carried out in the district Anantnag of Jammu and Kashmir during the year 2023–24. In the Study area, six key crops-Rice, Maize, Apple, Walnut, Garlic and Chili were chosen randomly for evaluating resource use efficiency, as they represent a significant portion of regions agricultural output, providing valuable insights in optimizing inputs and enhancing productivity in diverse cropping systems. Accordingly, the data were elicited from 150 farmers from 3 blocks and 2 villages. From each village 25 respondents were selected. Efficiency of the input use has been worked out with the help of Cobb Douglas production function. The resource use efficiency analysis of apple indicated that the variable inputs such as manure and labour were under utilization. In walnut, the inputs manure and fertilizer were overused and labour was underutilized. In garlic, labour and fertilizer inputs were overused and seed, manure, fertilizers, and labour used in the cultivation of rice were found to be underutilized. In maize, all of the resources were overused except manure and in chilli, the variables seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides were found to be greater than 1, indicating that there is scope to increase the level of these inputs in the production of chilli crops.