Issues and Challenges of Contract Farming in Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The paper analyses the issues and challenges of the existing institution of contract farming in theselected villages of Nagapattinam district. The tenants are selected from four different types of contractfarming viz., Cash Contract, Sharecropping, Mortgaging and Temple contract lands.Among the fourdifferent contract lands, cash and sharecropping is short-term contract and mortgage and temple landsarelong-term contract.The tenants are reluctant to invest on long term technologies and activities on contractland such as bore well, land reclamation, tree and etc. In conclusion, long term contract assures securerights for the temple land tenants while insecure rights have affected the agricultural activity of cash,sharecropping and mortgage tenants. Thus, it is important thata tenancy reform hasto be initiated forstrengthening the contract farming.