An Economic Assessment of Sugarcane Production in Belagavi District of Karnataka

India is the second largest producer of the sugarcane in the world. States of Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar are the maximum producers of sugarcane. An annual production of 3,41,400 Thousand Metric Ton in the estimation of the year 2022.  In Karnataka, the district of Belagavi is referred to as the Sugar district of the state. This district got its name due to its scope for being the largest sugarcane producer and harvester and cultivator of the crop. It is also called the 'Sugar Bowl' of the state of Karnataka. Belagavi district in Karnataka. The district has 150,000 hectares used for commercial sugarcane production. The present study is concerned with the cost and return of sugarcane production of Belagavi district Karnataka.  It was conducted in Athani, Chikkodi, Gokak, Raibag and Khanapur taluka of Belagavi district of Karnataka state.  150 farmers were selected on random basis from five talukas out of which, marginal (40), small (65), medium (34) and large (11). The primary data was called for the year 2021-2022. The study observes that the average size of farm was 2.18 hectares. The total irrigated land of randomhousehold was seen to be 1.19 ha/farm provided with water resource through pipelinewhich shared the maximum area of 64.00 per cent. The overall cost of cultivation of sugarcane was Rs. 87491.30 per hectare and cost of production was Rs. 100.70 per quintal of sugarcane. The yield of sugarcane was 831.23 q/ha in sample farms. The input output ratio over total cost was 1:2.56. The study suggests that during the peak period of agricultural operations, the shortage of workers was at very high cost. To avoid the upheaval of cost and better use of inputs mechanization may be encouraged. Cost and return of sugarcane production in the study indicates the decreasing return on the scale.