Abstract

Agriculture farm enterprises comprise of cultivation of multiple crops such as field crops (cereals and millets), horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, flowers and plantation crops) and commercial crops (cotton and sugarcane) etc., along with sericulture (mulberry), livestock, poultry etc. Diversification in agriculture reduces income risk to farmers and increases the returns. This study was conducted in the selected 3 taluks/blocks of Kolar district in Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka. Agriculture and allied enterprises comprising dairy and livestock, sericulture and crops such as tomato, cabbage, carrot, mango, beans, potato, marigold, cotton, ragi etc. was a common practice in the study area. Different sources of income of the sample farmers and the risk involved in them were analyzed and tabulated. The least risk was in sericulture at 64. 55 percent in Malur taluk followed by 57. 73 percent in Mulbagal and 7 percent from Srinivasapura taluk. It showed that income from sericulture was significant and a rise led to the decrease in income risk for farmers. The cost and returns of sericulture enterprise is divided into two parts namely mulberry cultivation and silkworm cocoon rearing. The average area under mulberry cultivation was 1. 88, 1. 42 and 2. 00 acres growing V-1 variety of mulberry in Malur, Mulbagal and Srinivaspura taluks, respectively. The total cost per crop of mulberry was lowest at Rs. 46875 in Mulbagal taluk followed by Rs. 58137 in Malur taluk and Rs. 58822 in Srinivaspura taluk (2016-17 prices). On an average, four crops were taken up in a year. The average shed size for rearing silk worms was 1400 sq. ft. in Malur taluk, 375 sq. ft. in Mulbagal talukand 600 sq. ft. in Srinivaspura taluk. The total cost of rearing one cycle of silkworm was Rs. 66354, Rs. 65621 and Rs. 60786 in Malur, Mulbagal and Srinivaspura taluks, respectively. Average cocoon yield was 280, 300 and 240 kgs with a total return of Rs. 61600, Rs. 54000 and Rs. 38400 in Malur, Mulbagal and Srinivaspura taluks, respectively. On an average, 2 rearing in Malur, 4 and 5 rearing in Mulbagal and Srinivaspura taluks were taken up. The total net return per year was Rs. 34044, Rs. 84418 and Rs. 57318 in the respective taluks. The return per rupee of expenditure was 1. 38, 1. 64 and 1. 43 in Malur, Mulbagal and Srinivaspura taluks, respectively. Therefore, sericulture income has lower Coefficient of Variation because of the stability in the flow of income. Thus it can be inferred that inclusion of sericulture enterprise along with crop cultivation leads to stability in farm income.

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