Economic Affairs, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 697-704, December 2017 DOI: 10.5958/0976-4666.2017.00085.7 ©2017 New Delhi Publishers. All rights reserved Production Economics of Strawberry in Haryana, India Shiv Prakash* and Debashis Sarkar Department of Agricultural Economics & Agricultural Statistics, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniktan, West Bengal, India *Corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT The present study was conducted in Hisar and Bhiwani districts of Haryana which was selected purposively on the basis of highest area and production of Strawberry cultivation in the state. One block from each district and two villages from each block were selected. Saharwa and Satrod (Hisar-1) and Chanana and Siwani (Siwani) were selected purposively since they have the highest number of strawberry growers in the district. 120 growers were selected from which 43, 30, 30, and 17 farmers were from Satrod, Saharwa, Chanana and Siwani, respectively depending upon the availability of strawberry growers in the region. On the basis of the nature of the data, simple tabular analysis was carried out. The cost concept namely cost A, cost B and cost C and various economic tools were used for the estimation of per ha cost of strawberry cultivation. The overall average cost of strawberry production in both districts of Haryana was found to be ` 937.18 thousand per hectare. The total cost of cultivation was highest in case of large category growers followed by medium and small category. The overall net return earned by strawberry growers was ` 1174.80 thousand per hectare. Cost of production of per kg of Strawberry was highest in large ` 78.57per kg, followed by medium ` 74.33 per kg. and small ` 71.34 per kg. Benefit-Cost ratio of Strawberry cultivation calculated under cost A was 2.79, Cost B was 2.56 and Cost C was 2.25. Keywords: Production, cost, strawberry, Haryana Strawberry is known to be originated from France increasingly popular in west and north India, and belongs to Rosacea, Rose family (Fragaria X especially in Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, ananassa). The major known cultivar of strawberry Haryana and Punjab due to its good returns from are ofra, camarosa, chandler, sweet charlie, fair fox, cultivation as well as the availability of markets black more, elista and seascape. It is a fair source of to sell the produce. It is suitable for semiarid and vitamin C, 100 gm edible portion of strawberry subtropical zone, ideal fruit crop for Maharashtra, contains 89 gm water, 0.07 gm protein, 0.5 gm fats, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. India is the 8.4 gm carbohydrates and 59 mg ascorbic acid and second largest producer of fruit in the world after is commercially consumed as fresh fruits, processed China. Its share in the world’s output of fruits is products like ice cream, soft drink, confectionary 11% because of its varied agro-climatic conditions. and chewing gum and preserved like jam, jellies, Recently, strawberry is successfully being cultivated and squashes which can be used in off-season in the plain area of Maharashtra, around Pune, (Galletta and Bringhurst, 1995). It is one among Nashik, Sangali towns and Hisar and Bhiwani the fruits having an immense potential and high districts of Haryana state. economic value. Its cultivation is widely practiced Haryana, one of the 29 states of the country has around the world, at present the world’s leading an immense scope for strawberry production as producers of strawberry are USA (30.4%) followed its climatic condition is highly favourable for the by Turkey (7.0%), Spain (6.0%), Egypt (5.5%) crop. The growers also can receive comparatively and Mexico (5.3%) (FAOSTAT, 2015). Strawberry higher profit on selling the fruit due to its high cultivation is confined to the hilly region of the value in nature. Hence, producing strawberry is country in India. Strawberry cultivation is becoming becoming an alternative source of income for the Prakash and Sarkar farmers. Unfortunately, despite of strawberry being the highest area and production of strawberry. A profitable, it could not be extended may be due to list of strawberry growers of the selected villages unavailability of information about the profitability was prepared based on the area under strawberry. of the crop. There are also dearth of knowledge Finally, two villages namely Sahadawa, Satrod about the appropriate marketing channel and Khurd from Hisar-1 block of Hisar district and marketing strategies to be followed for getting the Chanana and Siwani villages from Siwani block of remunerative shares of the producers in consumer’s Bhiwani district were selected for the study. rupee. Shortage of runners (seedlings) which are not readily available in their farm has become a Table 2: Classification of strawberry grower matter of concern in the recent past. On the contrary, Categories Area under orchard (Ha.) Number of organised market for strawberry made the traders/ Growers middlemen the major players in the marketing of Small ≤0.60 63 strawberry. Taking all these into consideration, an Medium More than 0.60 to 0.80 33 effort has been made to study the economics of the Large ≥0.80 24 production of strawberry in Haryana. Total 120 Database and Methodology The list of strawberry grower has been prepared The study has been conducted based on both along with the area of individual farmers and the primary and secondary data. Primary data was complete list was categorised into three categories collected from the sample farmers through personal viz., small (up to 0.60 ha), medium (More than 0.60 interview with the help of pre-tested and well to 0.80) and large (>0.80 ha) (Table 1). Hence, Out structured survey schedule. The primary data of 157 growers, a sample of 120 strawberry growers pertains to the general information, assets, cropping was drawn randomly proportionate to the size of pattern, details on various inputs used in strawberry population in the respective category. Out of 120 cultivation viz. runner (seedling), fertilizers, manure, growers 63, 33, 24 farmers from small, medium and plant protection, labour and cultivation practices large category of strawberry grower were selected such as land preparation, source of irrigation, drip respectively (Table 2). irrigation, inter cultural and harvesting and labour To work out the economics of production, used in strawberry cultivation and problems faced different cost estimates viz., establishment cost by the producer during the crop year of 2015-16. and maintenance cost which includes cost A, cost B, and cost Chas been worked out. Construction Table 1: Category wise Strawberry growers of plan in any business activity entails some initial Categories Area under orchard Number of cost. Such initial costs are called establishment (Ha.) Growers cost in the business analysis. The establishment Small ≤0.60 83 cost per hectare of strawberry cultivation has been Medium More than 0.60 to 0.80 43 estimated considering the quantity of inputs and Large ≥0.80 31 labour used and their respective market price and Total 157 wages that prevailed in the study area. It includes the cost on pump set, drip irrigation, investment Hisar and Bhiwani districts of Haryana were for on fencing etc. purposively selected because recently, strawberry is being successfully cultivated in the plain area of RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Hisar and Bhiwani districts of Haryana state. Hisar Fruit crops being perishable in nature, the district comprises of nine blocks. Out of the nine strawberry orchard should preferably be located blocks, Hisar-1 block was selected purposively for at a place where transportation to the market is the study based on the highest area and production easy and economical. Further, the cultivation of of strawberry. Bhiwani district comprises of twelve strawberry needs a fertile soil and it necessitates blocks. Out of the twelve blocks, Siwani block proper selection of site. The rental value of land was selected purposively for the study based on in Hisar and Bhiwani district, on an average has Print ISSN : 0424-2513 698 Online ISSN : 0976-4666 Production Economics of Strawberry in Haryana, India been observed as ` 57020 per hectare per annum. condition leads to serious damage to the crop, The establishment cost of strawberry cultivation is therefore, farmers’ use plastic sheets as low tunnel to presented in Table 3. protect their crop from abrupt weather conditions. However, the costs incurred for low tunnel for Table 3: Establishment cost of strawberry growers’ various categories have contributed 34.44 per cent under different categories on large farms, followed by medium (31.84%) (` in thousand/ha) and small (29.27%) category of farms. Similarly, per hectare overall establishment cost across the Particulars Small Medium Large Overall different farm categories was estimated as 43.99 Drip 72.08 61.40 55.33 65.79 per cent on drip irrigation, 30.95 per cent on low irrigation (46.82) (42.29) (38.40) (43.99) tunnel and 25.06 per cent contributed as cost of Permanent 36.80 37.55 39.13 37.47 permanent fencing. fencing (23.91) (25.87) (27.16) (25.06) From the discussion it may be concluded that the Low 45.05 46.23 49.63 46.29 category wise establishment cost was found to be tunnel (29.27) (31.84) (34.44) (30.95) the highest on small category farms followed by Total cost 153.93 145.18 144.08 149.55 medium and large category of farms. Hence, large (100) (100) (100) (100) share of investment was observed on drip irrigation Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage to the total across the various categories of farms. The drip irrigation is a pivot component of establishment The initial cost (establishment cost) of cultivation cost to start the strawberry cultivation.