Profitability of paddy cultivation: A comparative analysis of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab

Paddy is one of the widely grown cereal crops and its contribution to the agricultural sector is very significant. In the recent years, paddy farmers in the major growing regions of the country have been raising concerns on rising cost of cultivation and poor remuneration from crop cultivation. The paddy farmers of Andhra Pradesh have even resorted to crop holiday in kharif 2011 citing poor remuneration, but it is not so in case of Punjab. In order to understand how profitable is paddy crop in Andhra Pradesh in comparison to Punjab, the cost of cultivation survey data published by CACP covering a period from 1970–71 to 2015–16 is utilised for the purpose. It comes out from the analysis that the paddy farmers of Andhra Pradesh have incurred extensive losses both during pre and post-1990s, while the farmers from Punjab benefitted from the cultivation of paddy. Besides rising cost of cultivation, poor procurement support in Andhra Pradesh appears to be the reasons for poor returns from paddy crop.