Present Scenario of Rice cultivation: Just for food not for profit

    Now the crop fields of Tripura are covered with golden sheets because! Rice crop is in harvesting stage, early adopter have already reaped the good harvest by this time.

Farming activities is in full swing for two reasons one for harvesting of Rice and second for growing of winter vegetables.

    Let us see the profit a rice farmer gets from a hectare of land. In Tripura production of rice in a unit area is very erratic and inconsistent. In a fertile land like, in the river bank it is 6250 kilograms per hectare whereas in rain fed condition it is merely 5200 kilograms or even less.

   Let us consider the case of fortunate farmer of fertile land; Rice yield is 6250 kilograms now, if the farmer sales his produce what he gets is rupees 46875 from a hectare of rice crop that is at the rate of rupees 7.50 per kilogram of rice.

     Now, if we see the investment aspect of farmer, what he has to incur for rice cultivation are rupees 150.00 per man day as labor wages and rupees 260.00 per hour for power tiller for tilling of land. In addition, expenditure in connection application of chemical fertilizers like Nitrogen, Potash, and Phosphorus and also organic manures which makes significant parts of expenditure for rice cultivation. Of course there are many more that come in the way of whole rice cropping periods.

     When investment and income is compared, the differential amount will hardly be exceeding rupees 15000 per hectare of rice crop.

     Now, the question is; whether the profit is worth for consideration? It is absolutely impossible with such meager income for surviving and leading a meaningful life.

    This is the general trends, I could see as far as the rice crop of Tripura is concerned.

In Tripura, rice is the main crop but with every passing day the main food crop becoming un-viable and un-rewarding. Many farmers simply go for rice cultivation because there is no choice of option.

    Therefore, it can be presumed that rice cultivation no longer entails for profit rather it is for our daily requirement of food.