Economic analysis of dairy and fish farming based integrated model in Punjab

The present study has been carried out in South-Western and Central agro climatic regions of Punjab state for studying the cost-returns and marketing pattern of dairy and fish farming based integrated model. It was observed from the study that the net returns from crop farming was ` Rs.65,852 per farm per year, whereas the net returns on per acre basis were found to be ` Rs.32,328 per acre per year. Further, the net returns from dairy farming were found to be ` Rs. 4,928 per farm per year and ` Rs.8,822 per acre per year. From fish farming, net returns were observed to be ` Rs. 2, 47, 396 per farm per annum and ` Rs.84,725 per acre per year. Total profitability of the crop-dairy-fish farming integrated model was observed to be `Rs. 4,58,176 per farm per annum, and net returns per acre from this model were ` Rs. 53,030 per year. Hence, it may be inferred that dairy and fish farming are more profitable as compared to crops and when adopted in an integrated manner along with crops, can enhance the overall profitability of the farm by efficient utilisation of farm waste products and by-products. At the same time, there is need of creating awareness among the farmers regarding the importance of dairy and fish farming based integrated models, so that they can adopt these types of models for enhancing their income levels.