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CHAPTER-IV Production Co^t - Analysis and Problems i In the cultivation of arecanutj South Canara district in Karnataka state enjoys a dominant position. The quality of arecanut grown in five taluks is “Chali type” which is considered to be the best and commands an ample activity in the market. Since arecanut is a perennial crop with about 40 y ears of economic life period which involves huge investment both in terms of es ablishment and maintenance expenditure. The development programme for arecanu includes better seedings, manuring, fertilismg and irrigating the gardens, plant protection and suitable mariceting of the produce. Therefore, it is quite significant to have knowledge of the varied cost incurred to bring an area of arecanut under cultivation over th(! bearing maturity stage and its relation to the production. Such a study of the various components of cost of cultivation of this crop is more significant in planning its function at development also. In view of all these considen.tions and inconsistence with the objectives of the study, three taluks of South Canara were selected for the field survey. The survey on the cost of cultlivation of arecanut is generally made and based on the sampling design plan. It describe the schedules, method of analysis and discussion. The sampling design of a study is a niulti-stage stratified purposive. Sampling with taluks is the first stage of sampling imit. Tlie village as a second stage unit and the farmers as the third and ultimate samplmg unit of all the major growing district of arecanut. South Canara district stands first accounting for about 28% of the total area in the state. There are 5 taluks, which comes under the South Canara district. Abundant vegetation, extensive forests, coconut palms in thie coastal line and rice field in every valley provides a refi-eshing greenness to the prospect. Among the 5 taluks of the district, the total area under cultivation of arecanut in three taluks, Puttur, Sullia and Bantwal comes to about 70%. The survey was conducted in ihese three taluks of South Canara district. In each taluk, based on the area under arecanut six villages were selected at random and a total of 18 villages were considered for thq study. The lists of villages of the taluks are as follows. 120 S.No Taluks Name of the yillages selected for the study purpose 1 Puttur Arayapu, Pan^je, Padnoor, Kavu, Savanoor, Alankar. 2 Bantwal Karopady, Puiiacha, Manchi, Mudipu, Peme, Idkidu. 3 Sullia Bellare, Kalmmadkka, Chokkadi, Guthigaru, Sampaje, Aletty. From the selected villages, list of all the farmers was prepared (villagewise). the purpose of farming the size group of fanners, the farmers from each of the selected villages (taluks) were arranged in the ascending order on the basis of the size of their holdings. The size of the operational holding is important factor influencing the farmer’s behaviour towards the agricultural practices. Further, in order to imbibe crystal clean information, the technique of stratification is employed by making three categories among the farmers and arranged in three layers. Size of class Having an area under arecanut 1) Small scale farmers 0.8 hactares 2) Middle scale farmers 0.8 to 1.6 hactares 3) Large scale farmers 1.6 and above hactares A stratified random sample of farmers were identified and investigated over the three taluks. Two hundred and twenty five farmers were properly selected for the enquiry from each of three types of three taluks. Among the 225 of 5 each in small, middle and large farmers. The fieldwork and primary daia covers two completed years of agriculture during 1998-99 and 1999-2000. Since, the cultivation of arecanut is long-term process. The study of two years undertaken deliberately to identify the varied cost on crop, performance in output and the results obtained during the first year could be verified with the second year. A care was taken to ensure that the sample selected adequately represents each i size group of farm holding in the village. The primary datas were gathered from the growers by survey method. For this purpose, a schedule was structured, questionnaires were prepared and ultimately pre-tested before starting the field work. The household schedule was constructed on the basis of informal discussions with the progressive 121 growers and priori expectations of the behaviour. To do the analysis more effective, the schedule was divided into the following sections. 1) Identification of recognised of the sample growers - It includes family background and their socio-economic status. 2) The structure of the farms - Ijt includes the fragment wise of the farm holdings. 3) Cropping pattern - This section emphasis the nature of the difficulty faced by the growers in adoption of each group with reference to - a) Extent and level of inputs, b) Cultivating operations, c) Crop expenditure and output, d) Marketing cost and price. During the survey in the selected villages, on the basis of spot observations, supplemented by enquiring to the possible extent, mformation regarding the qualities of labour and materials used in the varidus operations in various gardens imder survey were recorded. The remaining information blating to the wages of hired labour, material were estimated, the production forecasting, prevailing prices and other money equivalents were also computed. Since arecanut is grown along with other crops like coconut, Jack fruit, banana, betel leaves, pepper etc. The enquiry was made not only pre-dominantly growing arecanut farms but also other farmipg areas. In the selected gardens, the number of stabilized bearing arecanut palms is significantly higher than that of the non-bearing and initial bearing palms. There are three phases of arecanut cuhivation noticed namely- Planting areca seeding and their prospective period up to 4 years is called non­ bearing stage. Plants start bearing fruits up to 7 year is considered as - initial bearing stage. Growth of seeds to maturity from 7 to 18 years is called the bearing stage. However, since the objective of the study is to perform the economic analysis of the farming sector, the expenditure on both bearing and non-bearing arecanut pahns was considered. A detailed survey of cultivating practices of arecanut over a period of ten years were only estimated and recorded through experience and views of the growers various levels. 122 Detailed household wise of land holding records being non-existent, the whole data from the case study is not accui^ate. The purpose of case study method is mainly to analyse the financial structure and the working of the diaries in more details of the arecanut growers. Infact the data froib the case study as well as from the sample survey were hand tabulated. The work regarding the case studies, however, occupied a good deal of over time because the account bo(^ks kept were not systematic, and were often in the form of personal diaries. The infprmation from these diaries were taken down, reclassified and then tabulated. For example, the data on feed required and its cost had to be taken down from the cash memos themselves. Cost Concepts; Arecanut is a crop of perennial and cost oriented farming, the growers are forced to invest varied expenses on the sector. To estimate the cost of production of arecanut m the study are, the annual cost of cultivation over a period of 10 years has been worked out according to cultivating nature, life period and other cost concepts prescribed in the different aspects. The cost concepts were followed according to the norms suggested by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) under cost of cultivation of Principal Crops in India. ‘ The items pf cost of cultivation cover both the paid out costs (out of packet expenses and the imputed costs. These cost concepts included under each concept are: ! A. Establishment Cost; i This refers to the pre-bearmg cost incurred for the establishment of garden up to i optimum bearing stage. The investment made in the first seven years that is till the crop comes for economic bearing was considered as establishment cost. This includes rental value of land, imputed value of family labour incurred in establishment of cost such as cost of digging pits, line-marking, cost of planting material, planting, fertilizers, manure, plant protection, chemicals, cost of irrigation, cowshed, fodder, labour service and land revenue. 123 B. Maintenance Cost; I The costs incurred from 8th year to 10th years were considered as operating or maintenance cost. This includes cok on labour service, manure, fertilizer, spraying, harvesting irrigation, plant protection land revenue, rental value of land etc. For estimating the detailed cdst structure and items included under each of the concepts were as follows - Cost A lt It includes the items such as value of human labour, manuring, fertilizer, soiling, trenching, spraying, harvesting, De-husking, Hay (fodder), depreciation of implements, farm house, land revenue, miscellaneous and interest on variable capital at 10% / annum. Cost A2;- I It includes Cost A1 plus rent paid for leased land. Since in growing arecanut there is no practice of leasing of land. The Cost A1 itself is treated as Cost A2. Cost B l^ It includes preparation of sdil, fencing, plant instruments, pitting, seedings, irrigation, cowshed and interest on fiked capital at 5% / armum. It consist of two items namely Cost BIA : Cost A1 + Interest of fixed capital. Cost B 1 ; Cost B 1A + fixed capital. Cost B2; i It includes Cost B1 + rental value of land and rent paid by leased land. Cost C l; Cost B1 + imputed value of family labour. Cost C2; Cost B2 + imputed value of family labour. This is also considered as gross cost. Rental Value; The rental value of land is estimated on the basis of required natural and man- made facilities at the farming levels.

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