Drip Irrigation System in Cotton Cultivation: One Step Enroute Intended for Sustainable Agriculture

Maharashtra is the leading cotton producing state of India with the area of 40 lakh ha under cotton cultivation and a production of 82 lakh ha But it lags much behind in term of productivity (379 kg per ha), which is far below the national average productivity of. 482 kg per ha. The present study was conducted in Jalgaon, the highest cotton producing and drip using district of Maharashtra, with the objective to estimate the costs and returns faced by farmers in adoption and non-adoption of drip system. The results revealed that at aggregate level total cost of cotton cultivation at farms using drip irrigation method (Cost C3) was estimated to be 66531 per ha whereas the same was estimated to be 66355 per ha on farms using conventional irrigation method. Per hectare net returns over Cost C3 at aggregate level of farms growing cotton with drip irrigation method were estimated to be 36509 per ha while the same, on the farms growing cotton with conventional irrigation method were estimated to be 26907 per ha.