Vol. 11, Special Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
Madhusudan Chaudhary and Dr. Ramachandra

Abstract:
This study in aimed at economic analysis of production and export performance of litchi in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar with specific objectives of determining the production and export trend and estimating the cost of production and farm profitability of litchi in the study area. A total of eight villages in the four sampled block viz., Mushahari, Kanti, Bochaha and Minapur blocks were selected randomly for the study. Altogether 120 litchi grower farmers which were classified in to small, medium, and large farmers, in these 40, 40 and 40 respondents were sampled, respectively. The cost incurred by different farm size groups in various operations of litchi cultivation is analyzed using the primary data. On an average Rs. 56988.80 per hectare were spent on litchi cultivation.The total working capital of small farm size group was highest followed by medium and large group whereas among the different components of cost cultivation Annualized establishment cost accounted for the Overall portion (15.82%) followed by hired human labour (7.92%) and manuring (7.81%).The other major components were Fertilizers (N, P and K), Machinery (Tractor), And through Benefit-cost ratios in litchi cultivation we find that at overall level the benefit costs ratios were 6.50, 4.21 and 4.17 at Cost “A” Cost “B” and Cost “C” respectively. At Cost “A” it was 7.05 for small group followed by 6.39 for large and 6.02 for medium group. The increasing trend was same at Cost “B” and Cost “C”. This shows the litchi cultivation was profitable for the entire group. Due to intense cultivation the benefit cost ratio was highest for small (4.54) group at Cost “C” followed by large (4.01) and medium (3.90). The higher benefit cost ratio of large relative to medium despite similar yield was due to economy of scale and greater bargaining power of large grower.