Horticulture International Journal Review Article Open Access Factors influencing moringa cultivation in Tamil Nadu – an economic analysis Abstract Volume 2 Issue 5 - 2018 Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) is grown extensively in tropics and subtropics Sekhar C,1 Venkatesan N,2 Vidhyavathi A,1 of India and Africa. It is widely used as vegetable and grown commercially for its 3 edible pods and leaves. On realizing the nutritional importance, Moringa was used in Murugananthi M 1 different forms and hence the cultivation of Moringa is popular in different nations Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India particularly in Tamil Nadu. The Factors influencing Moringa cultivation in Southern 2 Districts of Tamil Nadu was carried out during 2016-17.1 The study revealed that Department of Social Sciences, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India presence of higher returns, sustainable income generation, availability of land and 3Department of Agricultural and Rural Management, Tamil Nadu water resources for cultivation, minimal pest problems, good market demand for value Agricultural University, India added Moringa products in the national and international markets were found to be the principal factors influencing the area under Moringa. In this respect effort has Correspondence: Sekhar C, Department of Agricultural been taken to assess the Resource use efficiency of Moringa Orchards. Resource Use Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Efficiency analysis revealed that four principal variables viz., number of limb cuttings Coimbatore-641003, India, Email [email protected] used for planting, quantity of FYM, quantity of fertilizer applied (kg) and the number of human labour used (man days) per ha per annum were found to influence the yield of Received: July 20, 2018 | Published: September 04, 2018 Moringa and the results indicated that all these four variables significantly contributed towards the yield of Moringa. Besides, the economics of Moringa cultivation also presented and discussed. Keywords: moringa orchards, resource use efficiency, economic appraisal, factors influencing moringa Introduction forestry system and these practices are almost endemic to Western Part of Tamil Nadu. Moringa offered some protection to alley crops from Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) belongs to the family ‘Moringa- drying winds during summer and Moringa provided some additional ceae’ is a fast growing multipurpose medicinal tree extensively grown income. With the migration of people from South to North India, and in tropics and subtropics of India and Africa. It is also widely distri- elsewhere in the world, the demand for Moringa picked up. Keeping buted in Egypt, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, these points in consideration, the present study with the specific Pakistan, Singapore, West Indies, Cuba, Jamaica and Nigeria. In eas- objectives of assessing the factors influencing Moringa cultivation, tern and southern regions of India, Moringa is widely used as vegeta- Resource use efficiency and Economics of Moringa production in the ble and grown commercially for its edible pods and leaves. Moringa Western and Southern districts of Tamil Nadu was carried out. oleifera is an important food commodity which has had enormous attention as the ‘Natural Nutrition of the Tropics’. Almost all the parts Design of the study of this plant: root, bark, gum, leaf, fruit (pods), flowers, seed and seed Among the 31 Districts of Tamil Nadu, only 6 districts had the oil have been used for various ailments in the indigenous medicine notable area under Moringa cultivation. Among the 6 Districts, of South Asia. Its popularity is increasing steadily because of its nu- the traditional Moringa growers were belonged to Tiruppur and tritional, medicinal value and for its sweetness in curry and slurry Thoothukkudi Districts. Whereas, the Annual Moringa is cultivated preparation along with red gram dhal. From that one could understand largely in Theni District of Tamil Nadu. Other districts had very smaller the importance of Moringa.2–4 area under annual Moringa. In these (Tiruppur and Thoothukkudi) two India is the prime producer of Moringa (Drumstick) with an annual districts, area under Moringa is decreasing while other districts could production of 2.20 to 2.40 million tonnes of tender fruits from an area witness a marginal increase in the area under Moringa and hence a of 38,000ha leading to the productivity of around 63 tonnes per ha.5 study has been initiated to assess the reasons for the same. In this Among the different states, Andhra Pradesh leads in both area and respect Tiruppur and Thoothukkudi districts were purposively chosen production (15,665ha) followed by Karnataka (10,280ha) and Tamil in the first stage. The taluk wise total area under Moringa in Tiruppur Nadu (13250ha). In other states, it occupies an area of 4,613ha. Tamil and Thoothukkudi districts are presented in Table 1 and Figure 1. Nadu is the pioneering state as it has varied genotypes from diversified Among the two taluks in Thoothukkudi District, Sathankulam found geographical areas. In Tamil Nadu, Moringa was cultivated as sole to have 73 per cent of the total area under Moringa. In respect of crop in homesteads, around cattle sheds, on farm boundaries, and as Tiruppur District, around 80 per cent of the total area under Moringa isolated plants in fences and as groups of trees on village waste lands. is vested with Dharapuram Taluk and hence the Sathankulam Taluk In the early 1990s, in southern Tamil Nadu, people started growing of Thoothukkudi District and Dharapuram Taluk of Tiruppur District perennial Moringa types. In Moolanur block, Moringa is established were chosen purposely in the Second Stage. as an intercrop on field boundaries and their allies were cropped with In the Third Stage, the villages where the highest area under Moringa vegetables and Sorghum. This system evolved as Moringa based agro Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Horticult Int J. 2018;2(5):223‒230. 223 © 2018 Sekhari et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Copyright: Factors influencing moringa cultivation in Tamil Nadu – an economic analysis ©2018 Sekhar et al. 224 available were enlisted after getting the list of farmers from the Department Name of of Horticulture and Plantation Crops of Government of Tamil Nadu and the Villages Name of Villages No. of No. of in each village 10 sample farmers were randomly selected following a selected in selected in Samples Samples random sampling technique for the study. The samples selected in Sathankulam Dharapuram Taluk respect of Moringa are accounted for 50 samples from Thoothukkudi Taluk District and another 50 samples were drawn from Tiruppur District Mudhalur 10 Mulayampoondi 10 (Table 2). Put together, One hundred samples were selected for the Arasoor 10 Mulanur 10 study from the above two districts following a Three Stage Random Sampling Technique. From the sample farmers, the details of land Thatchamozhi 10 Puduppai 10 use, crop management for its production and productivity, factors Total Samples in Total Samples in influencing Moringa cultivation, the resource use efficiency, cost of Thoothukkudi 50 50 Tiruppur District production of Moringa and the constraints involved are assessed using District the structured and pretested questionnaire exclusively designed for Under the head of tools of analysis, resource use efficiency analysis the purpose and the same were analysed and documented in this study was analysed using a Cobb-Douglas Production Function and the by adopting a descriptive statistics like mean and percentage analysis. author has identified the most influencing variables on getting the Yield of Moringa Pods. Thilagavathi et al.,6 has also used linear production function to determine the resource use efficiency in Chillies. Hence it is appropriate to make use of the Cobb-Douglas production function in respect of Moringa. The Cobb-Douglas production function was fitted for finding the resource use efficiency at farm level for the two districts. Among the two districts, the Tiruppur District found to have cost efficient and output maximization based on the data. To reflect the same, area dummy has been given to capture the effect of area and other input use efficiency. The production function of the following form is used in this research paper. b1 b2 b3 b4 Y=a XXXXD ------------- 1 1234 t Figure 1 Area under moringa in Thoothukkudi and Tiruppur Districts The Cobb-Douglas production function specified in the equation (2015-16). 1 is transformed into an estimable form of production function and presented the same in the equation – 2. Table 1 Area under moringa in Thoothukkudi and Tiruppur Districts (2015- ln y = ln a + b ln X + b ln X + b ln X + b ln X + b ln X ----- 2 16) 112 23 34 45 5 In order to get the 1, 0 after transformation of 2.71828 and 1 has Place Area (ha) (%) to Total cropping area been used in analysis of original data. Thoothukkudi District Where, Sathankulam 1062.86 72.55 Y = Yield of Moringa in Tonnes per ha Tiruchendur 367.81 25.11 a = Constant Others 34.33 2.34 X1 = Number of Limb Cuttings of Moringa used per ha Total Area under X2= Quantity of Farm Yard Manure applied in Tonnes per ha per Moringa in Thoothukkudi 1465 100 annum District X3 = Quantity of Fertilizer applied in Kg per ha per annum Tiruppur District X4 = Number of Human Labour used in Man Days per ha per Dharapuram 956.25 80.24 annum Kangeyam 182.61 15.32 X5 = Score 1; if Moringa Cultivated in Thoothukkudi District and Others 52.88 4.44 Score 0; if Moringa was Cultivated in Tiruppur District. Total Area under b1, b2, b3, b4, b5 are the regression coefficients to be estimated Moringa in Tiruppur 1191.74 95.56 District To assess the economic incentives associated with Moringa Cultivation, the Benefit Cost Ratio, Net Present Value formulae were Table 2 Details of samples selected for the study used.