Performance of Contract farming in Bankura district of West Bengal

Abstract

Contract farming is nothing new in India. It is an agreement between a farmer and a buyer that establishes conditions for the production and marketing of farm products. It involves pre agreed price, quality, quantity and time. But till now it is not so much popular among farmers in India. There are several reasons for this. There are very few cases in India where contract farming is successfully performed. Very few studies have done in India regarding contract farming in India. So we eager to see what the farmers of Bankura district think about contract farming because Bankura is a rainfed area. Besides rice, the major crops of Bankura district are potato, wheat, vegetables, mustard, summer til etc. Like rice, this district is also surplus in Potato and vegetables. This district is lagging behind in the production of pulses and oilseeds. In this paper we want to see whether the farmers of the Bankura district are willing to join in contract farming or not. Here we identify the variables or factors which play a crucial role in determining this decision. The study is based on primary data which are collected from the Bankura district by using a structured questionnaire. Here we use multi - stage sampling method to collect the data. Here we construct a probabilistic model (Logit model) to examine whether the farmers of Bankura district are willing to join in contract farming or not.