The profitability of the selected cut flowers, viz. roses, carnation and gerbera and vegetable, capsicum has been studied based on the data pertaining to the year 2004–05. A sample of 15 growers for each of the selected hi-tech produce was drawn through systematic random sampling to make a final sample of 60 polyhouse owners.
The average costs of construction of polyhouses for all high-tech produce have been found more than Rs 4 lakh and Rs 7 lakh, respectively for 0.05 ha and 0.10 ha sizes. The cost of cultivation of selected cut flowers has been worked to be more than Rs 2 lakh for 0.05 ha size and Rs 3.50 lakh for 0.10 ha size, while that for capsicum the corresponding figures are Rs 1.43 lakh and Rs 2.51 lakh. The marketing cost for cut flowers in the 0.05 ha size class polyhouse ranged between Rs 60,000 and Rs 66,000, whereas, it was Rs 44250 for capsicum. On the contrary, it centred around Rs 1 lakh for all the cut flowers and Rs 77,235 for capsicum in the size of 0.10 ha. The per unit price realized for all the cut flowers and capsicum in both sizes of polyhouses has been found to be more than the respective per unit cost of production. The B:C ratio has been worked out to be more than unity for all the produce; it could be inferred that there is economy of scale in cost of production. The higher cost of planting material and its timely unavailability and low price paid by the commission agents than the actual market price have been identified as the serious constraints.
