Economic Analysis of Open Field Capsicum Cultivation- Findings from Solan District of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

"The present study attempted to analyze the cost and returns of open field capsicum cultivation in the Solan District of Himachal Pradesh. A total of 80 farmers were selected randomly from two developmental blocks, namely Solan and Kandaghat. Findings revealed that the overall cost of capsicum cultivation was ` 134896.38 per hectare, which was ` 137509.09, 132978.89, 130986.75, and 136858.50 in the marginal, small, semi-medium, and medium farm categories. The return analysis revealed that among all the four categories, the highest per hectare-average returns were observed in the marginal farm category, i.e., ` 216609.74 and the lowest average returns were recorded in the medium farm category, i.e., ` 152319.63. The cost of production varied between ` 718.38 per quintal in the marginal farm category to ` 875.54 per quintal in medium farm category. The input-output ratio on an overall level concluded that at an investment of ` 1 on capsicum cultivation, the farmers in the study area were getting ` 2.39 as returns."