The present study was conducted to study the economics of production, processing and marketing of fodder crops in the Punjab state. One most important fodder crop each in the kharif, rabi and summer seasons viz. sorghum, berseem and maize fodder respectively were selected for the in depth analysis. A sample of 150 farmers was selected randomly and the reference year for study was 2008-09. The livestock population in the state had been decreasing continuously from about 97 lakh in 1990 to about 71 lakh in 2007, decreasing at the rate of 1.5 per cent per annum over this period. Presently, Punjab is dominated by the buffalo population, as its share in total livestock population was about 69 per cent in 2007. In Punjab, on an average, about 5.83 lakh hectare area was under fodder crops during the period 2005-09. Sorghum, berseem and maize fodder were the important fodders during kharif, rabi and summer seasons covering about 24, 34 and 4 per cent of the total area under fodder cultivation in the state. During the period 1990-91 to 2008-09, most of the fodder crops showed decrease in area except guara during kharif season and oats during rabi season. The area under sorghum crop was found to decrease continuously to 1.37 lakh hectares in the period 2005-09 as compared to the average area of about 2.34 lakh hectares during the period 1990-94. The area under berseem crop was also found to decrease continuously to average of about 1.95 lakh hectares during the period 2005-09 as compared to the average of about 2.55 lakh hectares during the period 1990-94. The area under maize fodder was found to decrease continuously from average of about 21 thousand hectares during the period 1990-94 to about as compared to 17 thousand hectares during the period 2000-04, but has shown the increase during the recent years (2005-09) when the area had again reached to the average of about 21 thousand hectares. The average operational holding size of sample household was 5.88 hectares. Sorghum, berseem and maize fodder were the important fodders during kharif, rabi and summer seasons and these crops occupied about 7, 8 and 6 per cent of the net cropped area. The total variable cost on per hectare basis for sorghum, berseem and maize fodder was found to be Rs 11946, Rs 18231 and Rs 8948, respectively. More than 60 per cent of the variable cost was incurred on human labour, most of which was required during the harvesting of the crop. Berseem was found to be more remunerative as compared to sorghum but still the returns over variable cost were only 65 per cent as compared to the most important competing crop during the rabi season (wheat). Likewise, during the summer season, maize fodder was found to be less remunerative as compared to most important competing crop during the season i.e. maize grain. Only a few farmers were growing fodder on commercial scale as these crops were found to be less remunerative than the competing paddy and wheat crops. The two marketing agencies operating in the study area which are handling the fodder sold by the growers are forwarding/commission agent and consumer. More than 51 per cent volume of the total produce was directly sold to the forwarding/commission agent by more than 23 per cent of fodder growers. In Channel-I (Producer-Forwarding agent/Commission agent-Dairy owner/Consumer), the producer’s share in consumer’s rupee was found to vary from 74 to 77 per cent for the different fodder crops. In Channel-II (Producer-Forwarding agent/Commission agent-Chaff cutter-Consumer), the producer’s share in consumer’s rupee was about 65 to 70 per cent for different crops. The practice of fodder processing was not popular in Punjab. Only less than 5 per cent of the fodder growers were found to practice it. Silage or ensilage method of processing was more popular in Punjab as compared to hay making. This is practised during the kharif season when sorghum and bajra are mixed, chaffed and put in the underground pit. The post harvest operational cost involved in for silage making was about Rs. 11/q. About 74 per cent of the operational cost had to be incurred during chaffing followed by transportation (18 per cent) and pit making (about 6 per cent). Supply of poor quality and un-recommended varieties of seed, shortage of labour especially during harvesting of the crop, lack the technical knowledge, acquisition of credit, low price in the market, lack of market information and delayed payment for the produce by the commission agents in the market were the major problems faced by the fodder growers during production and marketing of these crops. The study emphasized the need to evolve the high yielding varieties, provision of adequate short-term credit facilities, effective extension programme for these crops, establishment of regulated markets and popularization of processing of various fodder crops.