Cost of Production of Sweet Sorghum

In 2008, total cost of cultivating sweet sorghum was Rs. 15,804 ha^-1.Land preparation and composting with 26 % was the highest component of cost of cultivation of sweet sorghum followed by harvesting and threshing activity with 22 %.Among resources utilized for cultivation of sweet sorghum, human labor with 56 % was the highest resource component followed by bullock labor with 19 %. However, the cost of cultivation both for 2009 and 2010 declined by 27 and 21 % respectively relative to 2008 mainly due to non application of farm yard manure (FYM) by many farmers. The FYM application during 2009 declined by 55 % in comparison to 2008 since application of FYM is done in alternate years.The cost of cultivating sweet sorghum was Rs. 11,502 ha^-1 during 2009and Rs.12,414ha^-1for 2010. The activity-wise break-up of cost for 2009 and 2010 present’s similar findings of that observed during 2008 (Table 1). The inputs utilization for cultivation of sweet sorghum for all the three agricultural years is presented in Table 2.

Table 1: Activity wise costs break-up (% share) for sweet sorghum cultivation, Ibrahimbad

Variables	2008	2009	2010
Land preparation + Compost	26.5	16.6	19.3
Ploughing / Sowing	12.6	21.3	16.5
Fertilizer	14.8	17.7	22.5
Interculture, weeding & thinning	17.6	20.6	22.9
Watching & irrigation	6.2	1.0	1.3
Harvesting & Threshing	22.3	22.8	17.5
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0

 Table 2: Input utilization of sweet sorghum, Ibrahimbad

		Year
		2008	2009	2010
Inputs utilized (ha-1 )
Labour (days)	Male Hired	15	10	9
	Male Family	54	8	6
	Female Hired	66	38	30
	Female Family	28	15	13
Bullock Pair (days)	Hired	3	8	4
	Own	9	3	4
Tractor (hr)	Hired	7	2	7
	Own	0	0	0
FYM (kg)	Own	1800	800	600
	Buy	100	200	300
Seed (kg)	Own	0	0	0
	Buy	7	5	6
Total fertilizer(kg)		275	257	280
Irrigation/Machinery(hr)		1	0
Thresher(Days)(hired &family)		0	0	3