Comparative study on cost of cultivation and net returns from major crops in eastern plain zone of Uttar Pradesh

The present study aimed to estimate the costs of cultivation, production, returns and profitability of paddy, wheat, mustard and sugarcane in the Eastern Plain Zone of Uttar Pradesh during the agricultural year 2022-23. On an overall average, the cost of sugarcane production was ₹ 132.56 per quintal, with net returns per ha, calculated by deducting Cost C3 (total cost of cultivation) from gross income, amounting to ₹ 249894.90 per ha. Whereas, the cost of production for paddy, wheat and mustard was ₹ 1421.96, ₹ 1632.50 and ₹ 3624.49 per quintal, respectively, while their corresponding net returns per ha were ₹ 27134.86, ₹ 21413.67 and ₹ 24847.01. The observation indicates that sugarcane had the lowest per-quintal production cost and the highest net returns per ha, outperforming the other crops in terms of economic viability. Although all the crops studied-sugarcane, paddy, wheat and mustard-were profitable, sugarcane emerged as the most lucrative due to its superior cost efficiency and higher per ha profitability.