Impact of Production Factors on Incomes of Arecanut Farmers in Karnataka-An Economic Study

Arecanut is one of the most important commercial crops in South-east Asia in general and India in particular. The arecanut is majorly cultivated insouth western and north eastern regions of India such as Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, Maharashtra, Goa, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Though the production of arecanut is concentrated in a few states its consumption is widely distributed across the country as well as globally and consumed by all classes of people across the religions. Keeping these in background the study was taken in selected taluks Viz., Thirthahalli, Kadur, Puttur, Vittla, Tumkur and Hollakere of major arecanut growing regions of Karnataka to study the impact of the factors of production on cost of cultivation and returns from the arecanut cultivation. The results of regression analysis found that all the factors included in the model were influencing significantly to the gross returns.