Economic efficiency of sunflower seed production

Seed material is the basic and vital input in agriculture production programme and quality of seed is the major determinant of output growth, given other complementary inputs. The present study was based on primary data collected from 30 each of sunflower seed producing farmers of KBSH-44 and KBSH-53 varieties taken up by KSSC, in Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka, during the agricultural year 2016-2017.The per hectare cost of cultivation (Rs. 1,03,329), gross return (Rs. 1,78,460), and net return (Rs. 75,131) with yield of 12.4 quintals in KBSH-53 variety seed production was inefficient than KBSH-44 variety in which the cost of cultivation, gross returns and net returns were Rs. 1,02,949, Rs. 1,90,890 and Rs. 87,941, respectively, with a yield of 13.2 quintals . Hence, production of KBSH-44 variety certified seed has resulted in a win-win situation for the farmers with higher yield and increased returns. The decision of the farmer on adoption of seed production technology was positively influenced by factors like assured market, seed subsidy, and technical guidance as measured by garrett ranking. The constraints faced by farmers in seed production were non-availability of labor, lack of pure and quality seeds.