Vol. 9, Special Issue 11 (2020)

Author(s):
Pavithra S and SP Singh

Abstract:
India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and the leading in several horticultural crops namely Mango, Banana, papaya, cashew nut, areca nut, potato and okra. The scenario of horticulture crops in India has become very encouraging. The percentage share of horticulture output in agriculture sector has become more than 30 percentage of the nutritional intake from fruits and vegetables is higher among urban population than that rural population. As Cauliflower has been recognized as an important food article due to its palatable taste and rich supply of minerals (potassium, sodium, phosphorus, iorn, calcium and manganesium), vitamin B and C, protein, carbohydrates and dietary fibre. With this view a study was conducted in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh on economic analysis of cauliflower production to know the cost of cultivation, profitability of the crop, marketing costs, marketing margins and problems faced by the producers in the selected area. The study revealed that average cost of cultivation of cauliflower per hectare was incurred Rs. 71311.02 which was found to be Rs. 66803.44 and Rs. 75818.6 per hectare on small and medium farms respectively. The paper analyzed that an average cauliflower cultivating in the area spent of total cost 23.34 percent on manures and fertilizers, 11.23 percent on hired human labour and 10.10 percent on farm machineries realized net returns of Rs.73888.98 per hectare. This marginal may be due to the fact that the value of BCR has reached at maximum (2.08) only at the medium sized farm categories. On an average cauliflower production was found to be 181.5 qt/ha. Gross income from the cauliflower production of the selected farmers was observed to be Rs. 132000 in small size farmers Rs. 158400 in medium size farmers. Benefit cost ratio was observed to be 1:2.03. Three channels were observed in marketing of cauliflower in the study area. It was observed that Producer's share in consumer's rupee was 94.11% in channel -I (Producer – Consumer), 80.00% in channel-II (Producer-Retailer-Consumer), 66.66% in channel-III (Producer – Wholesaler – Retailer – Consumer). The study also revealed that storage facilities and malpractices, low price at peak period, lack of market information communication problem etc., were the major constraints in production and marketing of cauliflower faced by the respondents in the study area.