Impact of Shelterbelts on Net Returns from Agricultural Production in Arid Western Rajasthan

This paper has documented the impact of shelterbelt on agricultural returns by collecting primary data from 80 farmers each in shelterbelt and non-shelterbelt areas. To decompose the total change in net returns, separate production functions have been estimated for shelterbelt and non-shelterbelt farms. The study has revealed an increase of 430.8 per cent in net returns due to shelterbelt plantation, in which shelterbelt technology has contributed 399.4 per cent and increase in use of complementary inputs, 31.4 per cent. In the change of 399.4 per cent, shelterbelt has accounted for 305.6 per cent, i.e. shifting from non- shelterbelt to shelterbelt and remaining 93.8 per cent has been due to inputs used by non-shelterbelt, which might be due to improvement in soil health.