4.1 Cost Components Production costs in paddy cultivation can be broadly classified into material costs, labour (human, animal and machine) costs and miscellaneous expenses. The different
cost items for the marginal, small, medium and large sample farmers in the study area are separately estimated in this part of the present study.
4.1.1 Material Costs Material costs
consist of the cost of seeds, fertilizers, weedicides, insecticides and lime.
a. Cost of seeds About in place of nearly 95 percent of the sample farmers in the study area purchased seeds during the last crop season. Nearly 25 percent of them bought seeds from cooperative societies and 18 percent bought it from seed farms at subsidised rates. More than 50 percent of the paddy farmers relied on farmers of other areas who had raised the second crop, to meet their seed requirements. Even though the farmers had to pay higher prices to purchase seeds from private farmers the quality of such seeds had been relatively better. Many of the farmers who had got seeds from cooperative societies and government seed farms at a lower price complained that the germinating rate of the seeds was very poor. There are instances in which farmers had to sow their fields fora second time due to the poor quality of the subsidised seeds. Even though the recommended quantity of seeds needed per acre is 40 kilograms, sample
farmers in the study area, guided by their past experience, use 50 to 60 kilograms of seed per acre in their fields. They had to pay 7.5 to 12 rupees per kilogram for seeds. On an average a sample paddy farmer in the study area spent Rs as the cost of seeds per acre. The per acre costs
of seeds for the marginal, small, medium and large farmers are estimated as Rs, Rs, Rs and Rs respectively.
Share with your friends: 
