Sethi, BinodiniWangnow, Nowang2023-11-152023-11-152019-03https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810201182Arunachal Pradesh is the leading non-traditional tea growing state of the north eastern region. At present, there are 62 registered big tea gardens (above 10.12 ha), 50 registered small tea growers and around 4,500 unregistered small tea growers in the state. The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has been encouraging tea cultivation among the farmers under the Chief Minister's Mission Mode Project (MMP) and tea industry in the state is ready for a revolution with more farmers taking up tea cultivation. Therefore, the present research was required to study the trend of tea production, to work out the cost and returns, and to identify the constraints faced by farmers in the cultivation of tea. To achieve the objectives of the study, both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were obtained from sample households through personal interview with the help of pre-tested structured schedule. Secondary data were collected from various publications and journals. Multistage random sampling technique was applied for the present study. Arunachal Pradesh was selected purposively for the study. Tirap district was selected purposively. Deomali and Khonsa block were selected purposively on the basis of having the highest area under tea in the district. Two villages from each block were selected randomly, viz., Borduria, Kaimai, Namsang and Doidam. Thus, a total of 80 respondents were selected from these villages adopting simple random sampling without replacement method. To study the trend of tea production, Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) was computed; for economics of production, Cost concepts, Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Pay Back Period (PBP) were used and for identifying the constraints in tea cultivation, Garrett’s ranking technique was used. The Compound growth rate computed reveals that the area, production and productivity of tea in Arunachal Pradesh have increased by 9.61 per cent, 21.20 per cent and 10.56 per cent respectively; during the period 2000-01 to 2014-15.The establishment cost of tea garden was calculated to be `35980 per ha and the highest cost incurred was on planting materials (35.83%). The operational costs consist of intercultural operation, weeding, pruning, drain management, fence maintenance, tipping, plucking etc., and was observed to be increasing from the first year up to the peak harvesting years. Economic analysis of data shows that the total variable cost was higher than the total fixed cost and per hectare cost of cultivation of tea was costlier in the first year as compared to the later years. This was due to adding-up of the establishment cost. The tea garden started giving returns from the third year onwards and the returns per hectare increased as the tea plants matured. The Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Pay Back Period (PBP) were found to be `82768, 1.52 and 6.2 respectively. Problems of diseases and pest attacks were rated as the major constraint by the farmers, followed by non-availability of finance and lack of proper marketing. Tea plantation as an enterprise is a source of income and employment for the population in the study area and the government must encourage people to take up the activity on a large scale for commercial purpose.EnglishThesis