Economics of Potato Production in Kangra District Of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Potato of Kangra region has a high percentage of dry matter up to 20 per cent which is an important requirement for production of chips. Another advantage that the region enjoys is the time when it harvests its potato. While the crop is harvested in May here, the farmers can supply the produce till July, which is a period when no fresh potato is available in the market. This study reports the economics of potato production based upon the primary survey of 60 growers grouped into small and large based upon the area of cultivation of potato crop from Kangra district during 2014-15. This crop was found to be most capital and labour intensive due to substantial cost incurred on seed, fertilizer and human labour. Out of the total cost of Rs. 135317, the human labour alone accounted for around 35% followed by seed (23%). As such, the output input ratio over all paid out cost was 1:1.39. The analysis showed that there is a lot of scope for increasing the profit from potato crop by rationalizing the use of human labour, manures and fertilizers.