Evaluation of energy economics in cherry production process in Kashmir region

Energy is one of the most valuable inputs in agricultural production. It is invested in forms such as mechanical (farm machines, human labour, and animal draught), chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides etc. The amount of energy used in agricultural production process and distribution should be significantly high in order to feed the expending population and to meet other social and economic goals. It was realized that crop yields and food supplies are directly linked to energy. The primary data were collected from 100 cherry producers, 23 wholesalers and 37 retailers. Majority of cherry growers were marginal farmers growing more than 3–4 varieties of cherry in their orchards with Double variety as most common. The study was undertaken to analyze the energy economics of cherry production system. The energy use efficiency of cherry production in the study area, as indicated by an energy output-input ratio was 0.74 and the specific energy of cherry production was 7195.92 MJ tonne⁻¹. The energy productivity of cherry production in Kashmir valley (reciprocal of the specific energy) was 0.14. The results showed that most of energy was consumed in the form of non-renewable energy, constituting 79.48% of total energy input whereas only 17.40% of total energy inputs were utilized in the form of renewable energy in the surveyed farm which need to be shifted to renewable energy sources through better input use and management practices. Fertilizers, FYM and education had a positive and significant impact on yield as shown by regression results.