Economic Analysis of High Density Cotton Farming Systems in Telangana

This study was taken up in three districts (Adilabad, Warangal and Nagarkurnool) from three different zones of Telangana (Northern, Central and Southern). It evaluated the economic benefit of HDPS cotton by comparing it with non HDPS cotton. For this study, multistage sampling was used. HDPS adopters and non-adopters were equally picked from each zone based on the proportionate level of technology adoption. In order to create a sample size of 180 farmers, a total of 90 HDPS adopters and 90 HDPS non-adopters from three agroclimatic zones of Telangana. Cost of cultivation of HDPS cotton for marginal, small and large farms was found to be ₹ 96,376.74, ₹ 98,607.71 and ₹ 1,00,355.77 and in non HDPS cotton, ₹ 91,229.89, ₹ 93,211.99 and ₹ 95,346.71 for marginal, small and large farms respectively. The cost of cultivation for pooled HDPS and non HDPS farms was ₹ 98,239.49 and ₹ 93,266.07 per hectare respectively. The cost difference between the HDPS and non HDPS cotton was ₹ 4,973.42 per hectare. Among the selected three districts of three zones of Telangana, cost of cultivation of pooled HDPS cotton farmers was high for Nagarkurnool with ₹ 97,802.37 per hectare followed by Adilabad and Warangal (Urban and Rural) with ₹ 96,320.62 and ₹ 96,121.03 per hectare respectively. The gross returns and net returns were more for Adilabad district with ₹ 1,32,452.47 and ₹ 33,231.24 per hectare followed by Nagarkurnool with ₹ 1,28,254.13 and ₹ 31,982.02 and Warangal with ₹ 1,27,452.45 and ₹ 32,252.21 per hectare, respectively. The farm business income for HDPS cotton farms was found to be ₹ 75,857.40 per hectare which is higher than non HDPS farms i.e., ₹ 61,241.23 per hectare. The family labour income of the HDPS farmer was also found to be more for HDPS cotton i.e., ₹ 45,784.11 per hectare compared to the non HDPS cotton farms i.e., ₹ 31,502.68 per hectare. Because of high farm business income, the family investment income was more for HDPS cotton i.e., ₹ 65,665.92 per hectare as compared to the non HDPS cotton i.e., ₹ 53,225.01 per hectare respectively. The average gross returns of HDPS cotton across the State on selected marginal, small and large farms were ₹ 1,17,750.00, ₹ 1,28,587.50 and ₹ 1,38,125.12 per hectare, respectively. Similarly, the net profits for HDPS cotton over cost C2 basis on marginal, small and large farms in the state were ₹ 21,373.26, ₹ 29,979.80 and ₹ 37,769.35 per hectare respectively. Average yield obtained in HDPS cotton farms was 20.25 quintal per hectare and for non HDPS cotton farms it was 17.95 quintal per hectare.