RESUMO
Maize is the most important cereal and it is mostly used as grain, feed, fodder, and industrial products. In the present study, an attempt was made to calculate the cost of cultivation and to evaluate the of maize conducted in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu. Totally 98 respondents were purposively selected and interviewed from the district to examine the cost and returns of maize among the farmers in the study area. The data was gathered in the form of pre-structured interview schedule. Random sampling technique was adopted for selection of respondents. The study shows cost and returns of rainfed maize and irrigated maize cultivation per hectare and benefit cost ratio in different farm size groups. The total cost of cultivation of rainfed maize was identified as Rs.58338.54 for marginal farmers with benefit cost ratio 1.03, Rs.56301.69 for small farmers with benefit cost ratio 1.08 and Rs.54090.75 for semi-medium farmers with benefit cost ratio 1.15. The total cost of cultivation of irrigated maize was identified as Rs.94442.74 with benefit cost ratio 1.35 for marginal farmers, Rs.92473.29 with benefit cost ratio 1.38 for small farmers and Rs.91857.83 with benefit cost ratio 1.43 for semi-medium farmers. Those cost of cultivation includes all the expenses like, plant protection chemicals, land preparation, harvesting and other intercultural operations. This study clearly shows cost of cultivation decrease with increase in farm size.