The present study was undertaken to estimate the costs and returns structure of maize cultivation and identifying the prominent production constraints in West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. A sample of 60 farmers was randomly drawn from six villages of Mawthadraishan and Nongstoin block of the selected district. The costs and returns per hectare were calculated on the basis of cost concepts and Garett ranking method was used for employed for determination of constraints in maize production. The overall cost of cultivation was found to be ` 37185.22 per ha and the major cost components were manures (48.25%) and human labour (34.73%). The overall net return was evaluated at ` 19038.20 with small, medium and large farmers having similar returns with the exception of marginal farmers gaining a net return of only ` 13889.83 which was 27.04 per cent lower than the average return among the sample farmers. It may be attributed to their heavy dependence on labour and lack of investment on irrigation, plant protection and better-quality seeds. The realised average yield was found to be 23.65 q/ha which was abysmally low compared to other maize producing states of India. A positive trend between the return over cost ratio and the operational holding was observed with an average of 1.51. The prominent constraints as perceived by the farmers were unfavorable weather conditions, the incidence of pests and diseases and costly fertilizers and manures with the Garrett’s score of 64.70, 62.75 and 54.40 respectively.

Highlights

• Cost of cultivation was comparable among all the farm holdings.
• Net returns were lower in marginal farmers in comparison to other farm groups.
• Return over cost ratio was found to be proportional to operational holding.