Comparative Analysis of Profitability of Rice and Wheat in Different Irrigation Systems across Different Landholding Groups in Haryana: A Case Study of Karnal District

Abstract

Purpose – To study the comparative analysis of profitability of rice-wheat cultivation in different irrigation systems across different landholdings groups.

Design/methodology/approach – The data of cost of cultivation and net returns are collected by simple random sampling method from 300 sample farming households, drawn from three villages of Karnal district are analyzed and presented in this paper.

Findings – The data indicating that the incurring cost on seeds, fertilizer and micronutrients, insecticides, weedicides, and pesticides are positively related to the size of the landholding, and this is bigger the landholding size greater is the investment in the different inputs. Nevertheless, in the case of hired applications such as irrigation, the incurring cost of irrigation is negatively related to the landholding size; this is bigger the landholding size smaller. The marginal and small farmers incur a lower yield of rice-wheat crops in all irrigation systems than the large and medium farmers. The examination of net returns reveals that the traditional wheat crop shows the highest net returns for all the farm categories. It also shows fewer variations indicating comparable profitability for all farmers' groups irrespective of the operational holding size. The cost of cultivation of rice crop is much greater than wheat crop and this cost increases with the scarcity of water, i.e., cost of cultivation of rice is higher in the groundwater depleted tubewell irrigation village of Kurlan than tubewell irrigation village of Barsat. Nevertheless, it is also seen that not only the cost rises with depletion, the inequality in cost and returns also rises with falling water tables. It was seen that with the advantage of mixed irrigation, farmers in Kheri Man Singh village gained a net return of Rs. 2.79 and Rs. 2.78 on incurring a rupee cost for rice and wheat crop respectively, which was highest compared to the other two irrigation systems under study.

Social implications – The rise in the cost of cultivation and the decline in farmers' net income are significant issues confronting present-day agriculture in Haryana. Degradation of land and depletion of water resources has led to rising discontent among the farming community due to their failure to get aspired farm incomes. The gap in income between small and large farmers is increased day by day. The resource-poor (small) farmers are exploited by resource-rich (large) farmers.

Originality/value – This is the first paper to study the comparative analysis of profitability of rice-wheat cultivation in different irrigation systems across different landholdings groups in Haryana state (Karnal district).

Keywords – Groundwater Depletion, Agriculture Profitability, Irrigation Systems, Land-holdings Groups, Rice-Wheat, Haryana, Karnal