Economic Analysis of Mango Orchard Based Intercropping in Meerut District of Western Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

The present study was conducted in the year 2020-21 on “ ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MANGO ORCHARD BASED INTERCROPPING IN MEERUT DISTRICT OF WESTERN UTTAR PRADESH” with the following objectives i).To study the performance and profitability of different mango orchard based intercropping system ii) To study cost and returns of Mango orchard under study area. iii) To study economic feasibility of Mango orchard. iv)To study the constraints related to production and marketing of mango and suggest suitable measures. From the purposively selected district, two blocks were selected purposively on the basis of highest area under the Mango orchard. A total four villages were selected from each block on the basis of orchard with intercrops, total 40 Mango orchardist, 20 marginal, 12 small, 5 medium and 3 large. To meet the objectives suitable statistical tools were employed. The present study indicated, That majority of the farmers (>90%) belongs to the age group more than 30 years and only 7.5% of farmers belonged to age group less than 30 years. The average size of the family in study area was found to be 6.03. The main occupation of the respondents in the study area was agriculture (52.5%) and lowest percentage (10%) of the respondents was found to be having day labour as their occupation. Results revealed that total cost of establishment per hectare was found to be Rs. 82,625. Highest net income came in mango orchard of age category 11-15 years, which is Rs. 304580. The net income has been found lowest in 5-10 years age category, which is Rs 258300. Eight different intercropping systems were found in the study area among which mango + turmeric was more prominently followed by the respondents, whereas mango + pea was less followed. Highest net profit (Rs. 335297) was observed in Mango + Ginger intercropping system and the lowest net profit (Rs. 295375) was found in Mango + Chilli. The result showed that Mango + Ginger intercropping system has the best performance in terms of net profit. NPV @ 9.5% discount rate and @12 % was found to be Rs. 14486.394 and Rs. 7817.667 which was positive during the lifespan of mango orchard whereas IRR was 18 %. It was found that (87.5%) repondents had a problem with shattering of flowers and premature drop of fruits as a major problem of production. While (80 %) of the respondents faced high cost of transportation as a major problem of marketing of Mangoes.