Swati Sharma
Researcher, Agribusiness Management · ASPEE Agribusiness Management Institute, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat
Farm EconomicsIndiaOnionCost of Cultivation
Economics of Onion Production in Jaipur District of Rajasthan
A cost-of-cultivation survey of 75 onion growers in Jaipur found the pattern running the wrong way for smallholders: the smallest farms spent the most per hectare (Rs 57,437 against Rs 50,466 on large farms), harvested the least, and produced a quintal of onion for Rs 187.5 where large farms managed Rs 142.1.
- ▸Total cost of cultivation (cost C2) ran inversely to farm size: Rs 57,437.3/ha on small farms, Rs 52,809.0 on semi-medium, Rs 50,466.4 on large and least of all Rs 49,223.1 on medium farms, against an overall average of Rs 52,513.1/ha across the 75 sampled growers.
- ▸Because small farms also recorded the lowest bulb yield (306.4 q/ha against 355.2 q/ha on large farms), the cost of producing one quintal of onion was Rs 187.5 on small farms and only Rs 142.1 on large — a 32 per cent penalty — and the return per rupee of expenditure rose monotonically with size: 2.37, 2.63, 2.98 and 3.13.
- ▸Operational cost accounted for 74.3 per cent of total cost overall, and human labour alone for 36.0 per cent (Rs 18,922.7/ha) — the single largest item in onion cultivation. Small farms spent Rs 21,270.4/ha on human labour and Rs 8,097.7/ha on seed and nursery raising, against Rs 17,427.6 and Rs 5,537.3 respectively on large farms. Rental value of owned land was the dominant overhead item at 23.8 per cent of total cost.
- ▸Over the full 1981-2010 series, area, production and productivity of onion in Jaipur grew at 2.99, 4.14 and 1.11 per cent per annum, with area contributing more than productivity. That growth was not continuous: the final decade (2000-01 to 2009-10) recorded negative compound growth on all three counts (-7.94, -12.43 and -4.88 per cent per annum), which the author attributes to acute groundwater shortage for irrigation under erratic rainfall.