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Abstract
Sericulture is labour-intensive and well-suited to small and marginal farms
with surplus labour, especially female labour. Ample labour and a small
land-base encourage farmers to practise sericulture as a subsidiary
occupation. While income from crop production is seasonal, sericulture
provides a year-round income, which is an important incentive for small
farmers to take up sericulture. The agricultural production is seasonal,
while consumption is evenly spread over the years. Under such
circumstances, the planners and policymakers are confronted with the
challenge of formulating a suitable agricultural production policy with
which the desired growth of agricultural production can be achieved. In
the present study, optimum cropping patterns for different categories of
sericulturists have been suggested by selecting Siddlaghatta in Kolar and
Kollegal talukas in Mysore as study areas. The primary data have been
collected using the personal interview method. The deterministic linear
programming technique has been employed to work out the maximum
attainable returns by small, medium and large farmers through the optimum
allocation of various crops, sericulture and livestock (dairy), using the
available resources. The model has suggested fewer crops in the cropping
pattern of both the areas. The model has also suggested shifting of the
cropping pattern from subsistence-dominated crops like ragi to commercial
crops like bivoltine sericulture in the Kolar area and crossbreed sericulture
in the Musore area. The suggested cropping patterns have increased the
gross income in the range of 83.55 to 388.68 per cent in the Kolar area
and 2.71 to 10.70 per cent in the Kollegal area.