An Economic Analysis on Production of Hill Banana in Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

This study was primarily concentrated on hill banana cultivation. The purpose of this study is to find the economics of hill banana cultivation and the problems faced by the hill banana farmers during the production of hill bananas in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu. Economics of the hill banana cultivation was done by finding the cost and returns associated with the hill banana cultivation and constraints faced by the hill banana farmers with Garrett's ranking technique. Many previous research on the production of various agricultural commodities was focused on a specific area and/or a specific commodity. There was a little study on banana production and limitations in some regions in Tamil Nadu. As a result, the focus of this research will be on hill banana production in the Dindigul district. Purposive and convenience sampling technique was used in this study. Primary data were collected by the personal interview with a well-structured interview schedule. The cost and returns of hill bananas were calculated per hectare. The average cost of production of hill bananas was estimated to be ₹2.04 lakh/ha. The average gross return was ₹5.04 lakh/ha and the average net return was estimated to be ₹2.99 lakh/ha. The result of the study shows that hill banana cultivation was highly profitable and the benefit-cost ratio (BC Ratio) was more than unity (2.46). The major constraints faced by hill banana farmers in the cultivation of hill bananas were pest attack (insects) followed by disease attack, lack of labor availability, animal attack, and drought. The findings will assist policymakers in developing appropriate programs and adjusting strategies for improving hill banana production in Tamil Nadu.