Economics of Potato Production in Northern Hills of Chhattisgarh

Potato plays a very significant role in the agriculture economy. It is most important tuber crop in Chhattisgarh. The present study was conducted in Northern hills zone of Chhattisgarh. Two districts were selected and one block from each selected districts was selected. Further, clusters of villages from each selected block were selected and finally, a sample of 100 potato growers comprising 40 marginal, 32 small, 17 medium and 11 large farmers were selected with the help of probability proportion criteria from selected villages. Tabular analysis was used to achieve the objectives. The study revealed that the overall cost of potato cultivation was 47408.91/ha. The major cost component was labour cost. The cost of producing one quintal of potato was 625.56. It was also observed that cost of cultivation, cost of production, gross returns, net returns, yield and marketed surplus of potato was increasing with the increases in the size of holdings land. The gross returns and net returns from potato cultivation were found to be 92766.74 and 45357.83, respectively. The overall input-output ratio was 1: 1.96. The overall yield of potato was 75.71 qtl./hectare. Out of this, 97.37 per cent was marketed surplus. Majority of potato was marketed through wholesaler followed by retailer, village trader and only about one per cent was marketed through consumer directly.