Vol. 8, Special Issue 10, Part L (2024)

The purpose of this paper was to study with the specific objective to work out the cost and returns of major selected crops in the study area, to examine the marketing pattern of major crops in the study area and to identify the constraints in production and marketing of major crops and to suggest remedial measures to overcome them. The study was carried out in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh. The major crop under this study was paddy, wheat and mustard. For the study a sample of hundred and fifty farmers from different categories of land holdings were selected randomly from five villages namely Chikhalrounda, Malni, Bhothia, Dongia and Salni. The primary data was collected by interviewing the crop growers of the sampled household with the help of well-prepared questionnaire for growth rate analysis for the year 2017-18. Secondary data for area, production and productivity was collected from Directorate, Land Record, Raipur, Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Per farm total cultivated area at marginal, small, medium and large farms is observed about 1.99 ha, 2.63ha, 2.97 ha and 4.6ha respectively. The findings of this study revealed that the per hectare cost of cultivation of paddy at sampled farm is estimated as Rs. 68867.41, Rs. 66129.87, Rs. 65068.69 and Rs. 66367.68 for marginal, small, medium and large sized land holdings respectively. The overall cost of cultivation of paddy, wheat and mustard is estimated as Rs. 66608.41, Rs. 33315.13and Rs. 24274.64 per hectare with benefit cost ratio of 1:1.73, 1:1.61 and 1:1.56 respectively. The overall marketable surplus of paddy, wheat and mustard at sampled household is observed as 111.70 quintals, 28.07 quintals and 3.66 quintals per farm respectively. Shortage of labour is the chief production constraint followed by low production due to weather change whereas lack of storage is the major marketing constraint in the study area.