VAIDYA, M KZINTOO, AMAN2022-01-072022-01-072021-12https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810180517ABSTRACT The present study entitled “Comparative Economics of Conventional and Natural Vegetable Cultivation in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2020-21. Two-stage random sampling technique was adopted to select the ultimate sample of the farmers practicing natural farming. 60 farmers were selected for the collection of primary data. These farmers have been practicing natural farming since 2018 and the data of conventional farming has also been collected for comparison from same farmers as they were practicing conventional farming before 2018. For the analysis of data the total respondents were divided into three classes according to size of land holdings, viz., marginal (<1 ha), small (1-2 ha) and medium (2-4 ha). Results of the study revealed that sampled households had dominance of nuclear families (73.34%). The average family size was 5.21 persons with literacy rate of 88.68 per cent and 2.67 as literacy index. 60.11 per cent of workforce is engaged in agriculture. Average land holding size was 0.79 hectares, of which 46.84 per cent were under natural farming, 17.72 per cent under conventional farming. Cropping intensity under natural farming was 191.89 per cent and 171.43 per cent in conventional farming system. Tank (77.73 %) was major source of irrigation in the study area. Agriculture and livestock formed 81.65 per cent of income of the farmers. The total cost of cultivation per hectare of pea, cauliflower and tomato under natural farming was Rs.47825.24/ha, Rs. 49837.01/ha and Rs. 62607.62/ha respectively and under conventional farming was Rs. 96861.33/ha, Rs. 100789.81/ha and Rs. 110003.94/ha respectively. The average net returns from cultivation of pea, cauliflower and tomato under natural farming was Rs. 100524.37/ha, Rs. 111305.77/ha and Rs. 96073.63/ha respectively and for conventional farming was Rs. 80886.52/ha, Rs. 81178.18/ha and Rs. 78063.09/ha. The output-input ratio of vegetables grown under natural farming was higher than vegetables grown under conventional farming. The per cent decrease in cost of cultivation of vegetables in natural farming over conventional farming was highest in pea followed by cauliflower and tomato. Relative economic efficiency under natural farming over conventional farming was highest in cauliflower followed by pea and tomato. In natural farming system the sum of elasticity coefficient was found greater than one which indicated increasing returns to scale. Under natural farming factor-price ratio of pea were more than one in variables Ghanjivamrit and seed whereas under cauliflower and tomato factor price-ratio was more than one in variable Ghanjivamrit. The factor-price ratio was more than one in seed under conventional pea, cauliflower and tomato variables were fertilizers and plant protection which showed that the resources were at under-utilization level. The higher wages rate was ranked one followed by shortage of skilled labour, higher cost of fertilizers, high transport charges and non-availability of labour at peak operation time.EnglishThesis