Impact of on Plastic Mulching Technology on Production Economics of Off-Season Vegetables in Uttarakhand Hills

The climatic conditions of Uttarakhand hills offer bright potential for off-season vegetables cultivation under different altitudic zones i.e. summer and rainy season. However, various biotic and abiotic factors are the major hurdle in achieving the desired yield potential. Use of mulches in vegetable production offers a cheap and practical solution to combat these problems under the existing climatic condition. Keeping the above facts, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Gwaldam (Chamoli) conducted large scale demonstrations at farmers’ field on off season vegetable cultivation using black plastic mulching technology in five adopted villages during 2008–2010 (three years) in order to extend the technology to vegetable growers and to assess its economicfeasibility underhillyterraced land. The data revealed that the black plastic mulching advanced the harvesting of summer squash by 10 days, while in tomato and capsicum the advancement was of two weeks. The intervention increased the yield by 31.60 per cent in tomato also 46.69 per cent in summer squash. The maximum cultivation cost was observed in summer squash, while tomato cultivation under black plastic mulch was found to be the best with respect to net return and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). The maximum gain indicated in terms of IBCR values was maximum with summer squash (4.26), followed by tomato and capsicum. As a whole, the plastic mulching increases the production and productivity off season vegetable and help the vegetable growers in achieving the self sufficiency besides reducing the work load of women.