Role of vegetable cultivation in doubling farmers’ income in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh
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Date
2021-07-25
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Palampur
Abstract
Vegetables contribute towards the food and nutritional security of the people. Besides their importance in a
balanced human diet, vegetables also occupy a supreme position in farmers’ economy. How the vegetable
cultivation could play a role in doubling farmers’ income, was taken as the objective of the present study, for
which the profitability of different vegetables and their contribution in total household income was examined,
various technological gaps and constraints were identified and the responses of farmers for suitable
interventions to enhance income from vegetable cultivation were recorded. The study was conducted in a major
vegetable growing block Kullu of district Kullu. A sample of 60 farmers was proportionally allocated among the
six randomly selected villages. The average land holding size was about 0.48 ha, of which 66.67 per cent area
was put under cultivation of crops. Tomato accounted for the maximum proportion (18.9 per cent) of the gross
cropped area followed by cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber and garlic. The overall cropping intensity was 193.39
per cent. Gross returns per ha obtained for different vegetables varied from Rs. 5,06,590 to 12,57,554 with the
output-input ratios ranging between 2.25 and 4.62. Vegetables contributed about 47 per cent of the total
household income estimated at Rs. 7,42,598/annum. Among input-use gaps, imbalanced use of fertilizers and
excessive use of pesticides were prominent. Management practices viz., soil treatment, number of irrigations and
intercultural operations were reported with highest technological gaps in all the crops. Major problems faced by
farmers in vegetable cultivation were non-availability of recommended agro-inputs at nearby centres, high cost
of hired machinery, lack of knowledge about pest/weed control, poor irrigation facilities and stray animals.
Problems associated with marketing were identified as shortage of skilled labour for grading and packing,
shortage of packing/binding material, high transportation charges, non-availability of price information in time,
multiplicity of charges and lower prices offered for the produce. Suggested interventions that played and can
play a major role in enhancing/doubling farmers’ income through vegetable cultivation were like ensuring
quality and timely availability of agro-inputs; exhorting judicious use of agro-inputs among farmers; enhancing
labour efficiency through mechanization; improving irrigation availability and efficiency; diversifying and
increasing area under vegetable cultivation and most importantly putting in place an efficient marketing system
ensuring remunerative prices to the producers.