Economics of Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) under natural and conventional cultivation in District Bilaspur (H.P.)
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Date
2021-12-09
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Palampur
Abstract
The study is based on primary data obtained using a two-stage random sampling
technique from 61farmers, practicing Conventional Farming (CF) and Subhash Palekar
Natural Farming (SPNF), in 8 villages of Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. About
one tenth of the total cropped area was under elephant foot yam crop in conventional and
SPNF farms. The productivity of elephant foot yam was 307.73 q/ha and 305.28 q/ha in
CF and SPNF, respectively. The total cost of cultivation of elephant foot yam was ₹ 3,
11,585 per ha in CF against ₹ 3, 17,384 in SPNF. In elephant foot yam cultivation,
weeding was the major labour intensive operation accounting for 61.68 per cent in CF
and 49.76 per cent in SPNF of total labour. In CF, The gross return of ₹ 9, 23,177 per ha
and ₹ 9, 15,853 per ha were realized from CF and SPNF, respectively. Output input ratio
was worked out to be 2.96 and 2.89 in CF and SPNF, respectively. In CF, the marketed
surplus was found to be 54.05 quintals, whereas in SPNF, it was 45.16 quintals. In
elephant foot yam marketing, the Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer channel
(Channel-IV) emerged as the most crucial channel, followed by the Producer-TraderConsumer channel (Channel-III) for disposal of both CF and SPNF produce in the study
area. It was found that producer share in the channel-IV and channel-III was 74.32 per
87.13 per cent, respectively. The problem regarding absence of the package of practices
of elephant foot yam crop, attack by animals, no premium rate for SPNF produce and
distantly located markets were found to be major production and marketing constraints
confronted by farmers in the study area. Introduction of improved varieties, certification
and processing of SPNF produce can lead to popularization of natural farming of
elephant foot yam cultivation in the state.