Comparative economic analysis of crop yield under organic and conventional farming systems in Punjab, Pakistan
Waqas Aslam1, Rana Shahzad Noor2, Saif Ullah1, Hong Chen1*
1College of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
2Department of Agriculture, Biological, Environment and Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
Abstract
Agriculture is one of the main sources of economic sustainability across major developed countries in the world. It is in view of these, that this study seeks to investigate the perceived comparative advantage of organic and conventional farming systems in recent times. This study aimed at comparing the inputs and outputs of organic and conventional farming systems in Punjab province in Pakistan. In terms of farm inputs, the study revealed that organic crop farmers experienced higher mean expenses on irrigation and labor force with 12% and 7% difference respectively while on fertilizers and pesticides, the conventional farmers’ mean expenses were significantly higher. In terms of farm outputs, the study also revealed that the conventional farmers yield was higher than that of the organic farmers by 11%. Irrespective of the findings, it was realized that people preferred to consume organic crops based on the quality of the crops prompted using natural manure unlike the conventional crops where the fertilizers are more of chemicals.
