An Economic Analysis of the Cost Structure and Constraints of Maize Cultivation in Hyderabad-Karnataka Region

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most versatile emerging crops, with a wide range of adaptation under a multitude of agro-climatic conditions. It is primarily a kharif crop (the kharif cropping season is also called as fall harvest season and is from July to October during the south-west monsoon in Indian subcontinent), with 85 per cent of the area under cultivation during kharif season. After rice and wheat, maize is India's third most important cereal crop. The current study attempts to analyze the cost and return structure of the maize crop in Koppal district of Karnataka state, as well as the marketing costs incurred by 120 maize respondent farmers and the constraints coupled with maize production and marketing. The study concluded that large farmers have incurred higher costs in all the inputs such as seed, farm yard manure (henceforth FYM), fertilizer, plant protection chemicals (henceforth PPCs), human labour and machine labour. For cultural operations, both medium and large agriculture depends on machine labour rather than bullock power. Transportation and packing costs were higher in all farmer categories. The transportation cost varied according to the quantity of produce and the distance between the regulated market and the study area. The maize respondents said that erratic rainfall behaviour was a major production constraint (90.0%), whereas lack of news dissemination was a major marketing constraint, ranking first with 85 per cent.