Estimation of Cost and Profit in Farming Some Major Crops During Last Two Decades in West Bengal: A Case Study in Birbhum District

The growth of agriculture in West Bengal significantly contributes the food supply through nationwide since last few decades. The cost of farming specially seed cost, irrigation cost increases rapidly. Though modern mechanization has been introduced for few crops to reduce the animal and human labor cost yet an unregulated market structure overall cost of farming increased during last two decades. The present paper emphasises the growth of cost and profit in cultivation for last twenty years in West Bengal. With the help of secondary data it has been tried to measure the cost and profit structure for seven major crops in West Bengal since 2001. The impact of various cost components on profit has also been derived with the help of a primary survey in the district of Birbhum.