Wheat VS Canola-Economic Comparison of Production Cost, Yield and Net Profitability

Canola, sunflower, mustard, soya bean and cotton seed are the most common sources of edible oil in Pakistan and many farmers are shifting from wheat to oilseed crops thanks to its more financial benefits as compared to wheat. However, among all oilseed crops, canola has become the most frequently adopting crop due to the support of government. Well, the low cost of production is the other key factor behind giving preference to canola over wheat. In this study, the results of economic comparison of wheat vs canola has been discussed in terms of production cost, economic cost and gross income after performing the on-farm real-time experiments in the four districts of Punjab. The result of production cost of wheat showed the higher value as compared to canola i.e., Rs. 54,546 and Rs. 43,031 respectively. Similarly, wheat showed an expressively higher average yield per acre of 49.4 mounds as compared to canola for which this figure was 22.2 mounds per acre. This trend depicts that although wheat has the higher cost of production, it makes more profits due to better yield which is revealed in the form of financial profit of Rs. 159,715 per acre as compared to Rs. 134,779 which is for canola. The similar trend was observed for economic profit also in which wheat value was Rs. 107,132 compared to canola for which this value was Rs. 85,026. So, the aim of this research work is highlighting the importance of growing canola crop by improving its yield per acre.