Farming of Cucumber in Doon Valley of Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Cucumber is one of the important vegetables, which contains high contents of vitamins, dietary fibers, and also the medicinal properties. The demand of cucumber remains in the society, especially the one which is raised organically. The present study, therefore, aims to find out farming practices of cucumber and also the economic benefits as gained by its growers in Doon Valley of Uttarakhand state in India. Semi-structured questionnaire surveys and face-to-face interviews were conducted among the cucumber growers in the study area, apart from visiting their farmlands for gathering firsthand information on various farming practices and subsequent economic returns. The economic returns seemed to be not very encouraging when the cost of self manpower was taken into account for raising cucumber. The farmers did not count the cost of their self labour for growing cucumber hence they perceived the profit margin beneficial.