Economic Scrutiny of bio-pesticide use in potato cultivation in Meghalaya

Harigovind P; Ram Singh; Pranab Dutta; Rahul Choudhary

Harigovind P Research Scholar, (Agricultural Economics), College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Umiam, Meghalaya, Central Agricultural University-Imphal, India,
Ram Singh Professor (Agricultural Economics), College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Umiam, Meghalaya, Central Agricultural University-Imphal, India,
Pranab Dutta Associate Professor (Plant Pathology), College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Umiam, Meghalaya, Central Agricultural University-Imphal, India,
Rahul Choudhary Ph D Scholar (Microbiology), CoBScH, CCS HAU, Hisar-Haryana

Keywords: Bio-pesticides, Cost concepts, Organic farming and Farm income

Abstract

In the sustainable intensification of crop production through green economy, the
bio-pesticides are playing an immense role. Meghalaya being an organic state by default,
farmers are adamant to non-use chemicals in the agricultural production. Therefore, the
current study was conducted among the potato growers of East Khasi Hills district to identify
the economic sustainability of using organic inputs such as bio-pesticides with a respondent
size 100 which included equal number of both adopters and non-adopters, selected from two
villages of Mawkynrew and Mawrynkneng blocks using random sampling with proportionate
allocation method. Cost estimation showed that the expenditure of adopters was less than
non-adopters and the cost of potato production for adopters were found to be 10.77 % less
than non-adopters. On contrary gross returns marked to be high for adopters by 18.96 %
which accounted for the 33.34 % increase in the benefit-cost ratio. Economic viability of
organic farming practices in potato cultivation was underlined by the increased B-C ratio and
higher net farm income of adopters by using bio-pesticide which is eco-friendly and
sustainable.