Cut Flower Production: a Source of Incremental Income for the Marginal Farmers of the State of West Bengal in India
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World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering Vol:7, No:6, 2013 Cut Flower Production: A Source of Incremental Income for the Marginal Farmers of the State of West Bengal in India Ruma Bhattacharyya state, growing loose flowers mostly for worshipping, garland- Abstract—The basic objective of this paper is to measure and making and decoration form the backbone of the Indian compare the profitability of investments made by the small and floriculture, which is mostly in the hands of small and marginal farmers of the state of West Bengal in floriculture shifting marginal farmers. Twenty years ago, the growth was mainly from the traditional cultivation of paddy. A comparison of IRR is focused on foliage plants for household purposes. The made to establish the fact that cultivation of flowers yield higher returns farmers whose land size is so small that viability of paddy impetuses in cut flowers like rose, gladiolus, tuberose, cultivation is raising a question mark. A detailed study of the price chrysanthemum, carnation, gerbera, anthurium, orchids and behavior of the flower crop has been carried out in which the factors lily has acquired momentum in the recent years. Enormous leading to the volatility of the price and the dispersion of the range genetic diversity, varied agro climatic conditions and versatile have also been discussed. Finally the incremental incomes of the human resources offer the state a unique scope for farmers have been calculated with the help of imputed income from diversification into new avenues which have not been paddy cultivation and the reported income from the selected flowers. The study shows that the farmers stand gainers if they opt for flower explored to a greater extent till now. If exploited in a proper cultivation. manner this might help in augmenting the revenue of the impoverished farmers of the state. Keywords—Bazar Samity, Floriculture, Marginal Farmers. II. SOURCE OF DATA I. INTRODUCTION A. Primary Data N the recent years in the rice producing belt of Asia crop The study is based on a primary data survey carried out in Idiversification has become a popular strategy to maximize collaboration with National Bank for Agricultural & Rural the use of land, water and other resources. If carried out Development, (NABARD) [6], India, in the major flower appropriately, diversification can be used as a tool to augment producing districts of West Bengal which are Nadia, North 24 farm income, generate employment, alleviate poverty and Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, PurbaMedinipur, conserve precious soil and water resources. In the state of Hooghly, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. The flower producing West Bengal in India, diversification in cropping pattern is a areas were purposefully selected in consultation with the very recent phenomenon other than the case of plantation crop District Horticulture Mission Office. Some members of the from the pre-independence period. It is basically a rice local Flower Producers’ Association and members of Gram producing state which has achieved a very high level of Panchayats were instrumental for selection of the blocks and productivity in paddy cultivation during the second phase of villages. The study was conducted in the state during January Green Revolution and is now the largest producer of rice in the 2010 and June 2010. A two stage sampling technique was country. However diversification towards high value crops is used to select the producers. A survey was also conducted in being considered as a way to increase the contribution of non- the four major market sites, namely Jagannath Ghat, rice crops to output ratio to attain higher agricultural growth Thakurnagar Bazar, Nokari Bazar and Dhantala Bazar to rates in the future. Moreover in a state where the collect primary information on marketing and price trend of fragmentation of land size has taken place to such extreme that different variety of flower products. the size of land holding of more than eighty percent of the B. Target Population International Science Index, Economics and Management Engineering Vol:7, No:6, 2013 waset.org/Publication/15121 farmers is less than 0.5 acres diversification in agriculture is now becoming almost a necessary feature for the small and Small and marginal farmers account for about three-fourth marginal farmers as the traditional cultivation of paddy is of the total operational holdings in the state of West Bengal. becoming non-viable. While high value crops have been They operate over one-fourth of the total area cultivated and gaining in land area floriculture, also is increasingly being their average land holding varies between 0.5 ha to 1.2 ha. regarded as a lucrative opportunity to increase per unit return. Majority of these small and marginal farmers cultivate mainly The art of growing flowers is not new to India as well as in the low value, subsistence crops of paddy. In the absence of adequate farm and non-farm employment opportunities, they Ruma Bhattacharyya is associate professor at the Department of are also forced to live below poverty line. Hence arisen the Economics, Calcutta Girls’ College, Kolkata, India (e-mail: need for commercialization and diversification and a proper [email protected]). International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 7(6) 2013 1398 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/15121 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering Vol:7, No:6, 2013 integration of the farms with local and global markets with a whereas the average cost is almost similar in the districts of view to increase income in this sector. Nadia and South 24 Parganas. The most important factor in terms of cost in all the three districts are family labour and C. Secondary Data hired labour. The next important factor in case of flower Additional data were also collected from secondary sources cultivation as in case of any other crop is the rent on land. different offices such as the Agriculture and Rural Most of the farmers are either marginal farmers whose average Development offices of the zones and districts. Time series land area is less than 0.3 acres or have taken land in lease bid price information was also collected from Agricultural against rent. The value of rent is the highest in South 24 Directorate of West Bengal, Department of Food Processing Parganas followed by Howrah and Nadia. The use of Industries [1], CMIE reports [3], and Horticulture and West machineries like tractors in the case of cultivation of rose is Bengal State Horticulture Development Society [8], and only at the time of land preparation. The study result shows APEDA [2], to understand the trends in area, productivity and that 80% of the producers have less than 0.3 acre of irrigable prices of flowers produced in the state. Data on paddy land. It is also to be noted that the expenditure on manure is cultivation was obtained from Farm Size Management and comparatively more than the chemical fertilizer as there is Cost of Cultivation [7], of the state of West Bengal. extensive use of cow dung and oil cakes during land preparation. Flowers are picked in the evening when the buds III. COST OF PRODUCTION just begin blooming. Around 2% wastage occurs at this level In this section the tables represent the average cost of as flowers with more than two bloomed petals are not cultivating flowers per acre in the different districts under marketed. However the farmers refused to consider this as a consideration. The exercise has been undertaken for the major loss. According to them since these flowers are not plucked cut-flowers of the state where consistent and sufficient data therefore they are not a part of the output. was available. Since the time between planting and harvesting is usually three to four months in case of these flowers, TABLE I AVERAGE COST OF CULTIVATION OF ROSE PER ACRE (RS) therefore average cost has been calculated with three months Districts Howrah Nadia South 24 Parganas time period. Any cost borne by the farmer after these initial Rent on Land 2909 2801 3138 three months is minimal and are therefore ignored. The Seed/Sapling 1419 1666 1686 Cow dung 300 1256 234 following tables analyze the variable cost of producing cut Manure Oil cake 192 845 100 flowers Rose, Gladiolus and Tuberose by the selected farmers. Fertilizer 511 1406 404 The price of the factors are recorded as reported by the Pesticides 276 189 323 farmers and are measure of actual cost incurred by them.. This Irrigation 561 794 627 Family Labour 5703 4625 5857 Labour calculation, however, does not account for overhead costs, Hired Labour 8166 4881 6561 though the opportunity costs of the fixed asset are small. In Machineries 2175 1405 880 case of flower cultivation the initial cost at the time of Total 22212 19868 19810 plantation is the highest and later on the costs become B. Share of Input Component Cost- Tuberose minimal. While the basic factors of production remains the Tuberose occupies a very special position among the same the pattern of utilization differs in case of each flower. ornamental bulbous plants because of its elegance and The factor inputs are common to all the varieties. Also during fragrance. The major concentration of Tuberose cultivation is survey it was discovered that as the land size differed widely in the districts of south Bengal. Farmers of Gaighata and the requirement of input quantities varied and so did the rates Rajarhat I blocks of North 24 Parganas, Krishnanagar I and of some factor inputs. Unlike any other crops, cost of flower Ranaghat I blocks in Nadia and Panskura I and Panskura II of production therefore presents a tremendous challenge in terms Purba Medinipur are growing tuberose on a commercial basis.