ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF APPLE CULTIVATION IN KULLU DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2016
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ABSTRACT
The present study entitled “Economics of Apple cultivation in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh” has been carried out in the two purposively selected blocks i.e Banjar and Naggar of Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh by taking representative sample of 70 farmers. Compound growth rates of area, production and productivity of the district and the state has been analyzed and economic worth indicators namely NPW, Annuity, IRR, Payback period and Benefit cost Ratio has been worked out. . The area, production and productivity of apple in Himachal Pradesh increased at a compound rate of 3.27, 3.5 and 0.3 per cent per annum for the last four decades 1973-74 and 2013-14 respectively. Results revealed that nearly 80.09 per cent family members are literates with literacy indices of 2.65 indicating low quality of education. Average size of the holding has been found to be 1.58 out of which about 80 per cent of the area has been found to be under orchard. Among fruit crops apple occupies maximum area i.e 80.05 percent and among all the varieties of apple, Royal Delicious has been found to be dominant variety in the study area. Establishment cost on per farm basis and per hectare basis has been worked out to be Rs 23678 and Rs 261932 respectively for overall farms. Operational and maintenance cost on per farm and per hectare basis has been worked out to be Rs 272124.26 and Rs 292540.64 respectively for overall farms. Total returns (per hectare) have been worked out be Rs 930792.2 in case of overall farms. The payback period has been worked out to be 10 years, NPV as Rs 14,64,996, benefit-cost ratio as 2.59, annuity as Rs 183633.1 and internal rate of return (IRR) as 32 per cent. These measures clearly indicated that apple cultivation in the study is profitable venture.Of the total production on the average farm 99.21 and 97.63 per cent has been found to be marketable and marketed surplus respectively. The produce has been marketed through four channels and maximum i.e about 59 percent has been disposed off through channel B i.e producer – primary wholesaler- secondary wholesaler- retailer- consumer.Comparison between different channels revealed the highest share in consumer rupee in Channel D i.e 73.95 per cent andmarketing efficiency has also been found to be highest in channel D i.e. 2.84 which means smaller the channel more profitable it is. Amongst production related problems irrigation has been found to be the major problem faced by 83 % of the apple growers and amongst marketing related problems lack of good infrastructure has been found to be the major problem faced by 75.71% of the apple growers. Accordingly suggestions have been given to strengthen the irrigation structure and establishment of the cold storage facilities in the study area.
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