Economic Analysis of Custard Apple (Annona squmosa L.) Production in Western Maharashtra

Custard apple is important staple fruit crop in India. It is cultivated in rainfed as well as irrigated condition. The present study was conducted to estimate the cost of cultivation of custard apple. The sampling technique consists of three stage-stratified random sampling with tehsil as a primary unit, a cluster of three villages as the secondary unit and operational holdings within the cluster as the ultimate unit of sampling. In the present study, 3 villages from 3 tehsils of Pune district were selected randomly from Maharashtra state for the year 2013–2014. The results revealed that, per hectare cost of cultivation of custard apple was Rs. 98054.97 The share of major items of cost of cultivation were rental value of land (21.59 per cent) followed by hired human labour (16.59%), family human labour (8.72%), manure (7.99%), amortization cost (6.6%), irrigation (5.8%) and fertilizers (3.56%), respectively. Per hectare gross return and net profit was Rs. 127840.25 and Rs. 29785.28 respectively. The benefit cost ratio was 1.30 and per quintal cost of cultivation was found to be Rs. 1532.87. From the above results, it is concluded that custard apple is most profitable crop in Western Maharashtra and there is great scope to increase the area under the crop particularly in rainfed area.