Economic evaluation of rice cultivation among three categories of farmers in Bilaspur district, Chhattisgarh

Abstract

This research was conducted in the Bilha Block of Bilaspur District in Chhattisgarh, India with the objective of evaluating the gross cost, net returns, profit structure, and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) among three categories of rice farmers: small, medium, and large. A purposive, stratified random sampling technique and random sampling technique were employed, selecting 90 rice growers, 30 from each category. The economic data was gathered from the selected rice growers through a pre-testing interview schedule. The research findings revealed that the average cost per hectare at Cost at C1, C2 and C3 levels for small, medium, and large farmers was 48,636 Rs., 95,394 Rs., and 104,934 Rs., respectively. The average net returns per hectare at Cost C2 and Cost C3 were 107,386 Rs. and 97,846 Rs., respectively. The BCR for three categories of rice growers on average was 1:2.13 at Cost 2 and 1:1.93 at Cost 3. The research study concluded that large and medium farmers achieved higher profit comparison to small farmers. It also highlighted that labour costs were significantly high, suggesting the need for better planning and adoption of scientific farming technologies to reduce production cost for rice growers.