COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL VEGETABLES FARMING IN HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2021-09
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present study entitled “Comparative Economics of Production and Marketing of Organic and
Conventional Vegetables Farming in Himachal Pradesh” was carried out in Solan, Shimla and Sirmour districts
of Himachal Pradesh. A total sample of 240 vegetable farmers was taken using multistage simple random
sampling technique which included 120 farmers each under organic and conventional farming system. The
farmers were categorized on the basis of their total land holding as marginal (2 ha). Markets, namely Solan, Delhi, Chandigarh and Dhali were purposively selected to collect the
information related to marketing of organic produce. A sample of 15 local traders/commission agents, 15
wholesalers, 15 retailers, 30 consumers were selected randomly for gathering the data of vegetable marketing
from selected districts. It was found that the total cost of cultivation per hectare among organic vegetables was
Rs. 235761 for tomato, Rs. 204676 for capsicum, Rs. 106667 for pea and Rs. 112803 for bean, respectively.
Whereas, in conventional farming, total cost of cultivation was found Rs. 199799 for tomato, Rs. 169317 for
capsicum, Rs. 98375 for pea and Rs. 102272 for bean, respectively. These results revealed that gross returns
and net returns were more in organic vegetable farming as compared to conventional farming system. It was
also found that human labour was more employed in organic farming as compared to conventional farming
system. The results related to resource use efficiency revealed that elasticity coefficient of human family labour
(0.27), human hired labour (0.02), farmyard manure (0.48), and plant protection (0.24) were statistically
significant and positive in organic tomato crop, whereas, elasticity coefficients of human family labour (0.86),
farmyard manure (0.11), fertilizer (0.13), and plant protection (0.45) were observed to be statistically
significant in case of conventional tomato crop. For organic capsicum, human family labour (0.44), farmyard
manure (0.13) and plant protection (0.52) were significantly affecting the gross returns, whereas, under
conventional capsicum, seed (0.11), farmyard manure (0.18), fertilizer (0.47) and plant protection (0.20) were
observed to be statistically significant and positive. Similarly, under organic pea crop, coefficient of farmyard
manure (0.30), fertilizer (0.52) and plant protection (0.37) were observed to be statistically significant and
positive, whereas, under conventional pea cultivation, human family labour (0.23), seed (0.63), fertilizer (0.31)
and plant protection (0.17) were observed to be statistically significant and positive. For organic bean, elasticity
of human family labour (0.27), seed (0.50) and farmyard manure (0.31) were observed to be statistically
significant and positive, whereas, under conventional bean crop cultivation, human family labour (0.28),
farmyard manure (0.36), fertilizer (0.31) and plant protection (0.41) were observed to be statistically significant
and positive. Four channels were identified in the marketing system of selected organic vegetables in the study
area. Out of those four channels, Channel-C (Producer- Local Trader/Commission agent -Wholesaler-Retailer-
Consumer) was found most preferred channel by the sampled organic vegetable growers since 44.23, 43.21,
42.06 and 40.91 per cent of tomato, capsicum, pea and bean were traded through this channel, respectively. The
second important channel followed by the growers was Channel-B (Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer).
The major constraints experienced by the organic farmers in the study area were small land holding, high
incidence of pest and diseases, lack of minimum support price, lack of market exclusively for organic produce,
less erratic monsoon, fluctuation in temperature and humidity and wild animals menace