Author(s):

Thanki PM, Deepa Hiremath, Alok Shrivastava and Shreeshail Rudrapur

Abstract: Papayas are one of the healthiest, most delicious fruits of all times. It is reputably called the "Fruit of the Angels". It is also sometimes referred to the "melon of health" as it is widely used as a folkloric herbal medicine. Almost all of its plant parts including fruit, root, bark, peel, seeds and pulp are also known to have medicinal properties. It is a quick earning and employment generating crop. Considering the economic and medicinal importance of this crop as well as the dearth of information on the cost of cultivation as well as the efficiency of resources in context of papaya especially with reference to Bharuch district, the present investigation was undertaken. From the study, the total cost of cultivation of papaya crop (Cost C2) per hectare was worked out to be Rs 242124. The major items of cost of cultivation were human labour (17.69%), followed by chemical fertilizers (9.15%), seedlings (8.04%), bullock labour and tractor charges (6.14%), manures (3.93%), irrigation (2.46%), insecticides/pesticides (1.80%) and miscellaneous costs (0.42%). The net return per hectare was found to be positive in papaya crop. The input-output ratio over cost C2 was 1: 2.28 which implies that on investment of one rupee, farmers gave Rs. 2.28 during the period of study. Moreover, the high cost of inputs and planting material, non-availability of labour in time, absence of regulated markets, low and fluctuating market prices as well as high transportation costs were the major constraints faced by the papaya growers.

Pages: 490-494  |  2205 Views  1154 Downloads

Download (615KB)