Average yields, gross returns, production cost favour paddy

Chandigarh: While referring to crop residue burning as a key contributor to air pollution in Delhi, the Supreme Court had recommended phasing out paddy cultivation in Punjab by directing the Centre to explore the aspect of minimum support price (MSP) for alternative crops. However, the odds are stacked against crop diversification if one looks at costs, yield and gross returns of other kharif (summer-sown) crops, especially coarse cereals and maize.In its ‘Price Policy for Kharif Crops: Marketing Season 2023-24’, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) had projected the cost of production (CoP) of various crops for the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2023-24 based on which the Centre announced the MSP.

For calculating the CoP, the CACP takes into consideration actual paid out cost (A2), actual paid out cost plus imputed value of family labour (A2+FL) and comprehensive cost (C2) including rental value of own land (net of land revenue and interest on value of own fixed capital assets, excluding land) costs. The commission takes the state-wise actual cost estimates to project the CoP for each crop. It considered the cost of production in KMS 2022-23 for projecting the CoPs for the KMS 2023-24.The projected C2 CoP for 2023-24 kharif season was calculated for paddy at Rs 1,911 per quintal (1 quintal=100 kg). The MSP for common and Grade A varieties of paddy is Rs 2,183 per quintal and Rs 2,203 per quintal respectively. The C2 COP for maize is pegged at Rs 1,797 per quintal while its MSP is Rs 2,090 per quintal for the KMS 2023-24.Among the coarse cereals, the projected cost of production is the lowest for bajra (pearl millet) at Rs 1,811 per quintal followed by jowar (sorghum) and ragi (finger millet) at Rs 2,833 per quintal and Rs 3,328 per quintal respectively. The MSP for bajra, jowar (hybrid), jowar (maldandi) and ragi is Rs 2,500 per quintal, Rs 3,180 per quintal, Rs 3,225 per quintal and Rs 3,846 per quintal respectively.The projected yield of paddy for the KMS 2023-24 is significantly higher than millets and maize. For paddy, the projected per hectare yield is 43.66 quintals per hectare as against 13.56 quintals per hectare for jowar, 16.87 quintals per hectare for bajra, 19.02 quintals for ragi and 36.96 quintals per hectare for maize respectively.If we look at the gross returns, paddy had the highest average gross returns over the cost of cultivation (CoC) for kharif (summer-sown) cereal crops in the 2021-22 kharif marketing season in India.As per the calculations of the CACP, the average gross return of paddy over CoC A2 (paid-out cost) and A2+FL (paid-out cost plus imputed value of family labour) during the triennium ending (TE) 2021-22 was Rs 23,495 per ha (Rs 9,398 per acre) during TE 2021-22.The average gross returns over CoC A2 (paid-out cost) and A2+FL (paid-out cost plus imputed value of family labour) for jowar, bajra, ragi and maize were Rs 7,214 per hectare, Rs 8,294 per hectare, Rs 2,277 per hectare and Rs 20,247 per hectare respectively during TE 2021-22.