In recent years, some of the state governments have also started generating, albeit based on a smaller sample compared with the one under the C.S. Scheme, their own estimates of cost of production for various crops. These estimates, based as they are on slightly different perceptions and imputing principles, naturally give different cost of production estimates. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices has been trying to reconcile such cost differences with the officials of the state governments during its periodic meeting and, happily, it has succeeded to some extent. Some differences, however, still persist. The workshop aims at developing a clear understanding of the existing methodologies and practices for computing cost of production estimates by state agencies and those obtained under the Comprehensive Scheme.

    The workshop comes in the wake of suggestions from several farmers’ organisations, state governments and public policy analysts that the basis for computing cost of cultivation under the Comprehensive Scheme for Studying the Cost of Cultivation of Principal Crops (CS), needs to be reviewed. In the several meetings that CACP had held with a diverse variety of stake holders, suggestions have been made that the methodology adopted for computing cost of cultivation, more pointedly the imputed cost of family labour, rental value of owned land and interest on working capital, needs a fresh look.