Trends and Economic Analysis of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Cultivation in India with Special Reference to Haryana

Background: The place of pulses in agricultural production and in human diet is very important. India is a leading pulse growing country in the world. In 2016, India’s contribution to world’s area was around 38 per cent, whereas in terms of production, it was 23 per cent. The pulses are the essential part of the cropping system in the Indian farming. The CGRs of area and production of pulses showed a positive sign in India however, it indicated declining trend in Haryana. In the study, an attempt has been made to analyse the economics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in Haryana. Methods: For the present study, the data were collected from the chickpea growers out of total 161 farm households from 30 clusters out of most growing area in Haryana state following stratified random sampling technique. The cultivation/production cost of chickpea was calculated as per the standard cost concepts framed by Directorate of Economic and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. In the economic analysis, cost of cultivation, cost of production, costs of various inputs used in production and returns were worked out for different periods from 2004-05 to 2016-17. Result: The total cost of cultivation worked out was Rs.12163/- and Rs.9241/- for the period x-I (2004-05 to 2007-08) and it touched to Rs. 36036/- and Rs.39207/-per ha in the period x-IV (2014-15 to 2016-17) for India and Haryana, respectively. On an average 74and 42 kg/ha seed; 285 and 292 human labour (man hours) were utilized for cultivation of one hectare unit of land. Out of total human labour, about 50 per cent was contributed by farm family itself. The share of fixed and variable cost to the total cost of cultivation was found 59:41 and 44:56 per cent, respectively for India and Haryana. The net profit of chickpea in the study period increased by three times in India and seven times in Haryana. The value of B-C ratio was found more than one in Haryana and India reveals that chickpea cultivation is profitable entity.