2024, Vol. 9, Special Issue 5
Economic analysis of production of dragon fruit in Solapur district of Maharashtra
Author(s): Snehal Sathe, MS Jadhav, BJ Deshmukh, Aniruddha Barve, PN Ayare and Manik Lajurkar
Abstract: Maharashtra leads in dragon fruit cultivation in India, thanks to its varied climate that spans coastal areas to hilly regions, creating an ideal environment for the fruit. Key cultivation areas include Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nashik, and Satara. The state government supports dragon fruit farming through subsidies and various assistance programs, making it an attractive option for farmers. In particular, Solapur district has emerged as a significant hub for dragon fruit farming. The district's farmers have embraced this crop due to its high profitability and suitability to the local climate. The region has seen a rise in the adoption of advanced farming techniques and drip irrigation, further enhancing productivity and quality. In this view this study provides a detailed economic analysis of the costs and returns of dragon fruit cultivation in the Solapur district of Maharashtra. Solapur district was purposively selected for study because of highest area under dragon fruit. Multistage simple random sampling was adopted, to arrive at 90 farmers which were further distributed equally into three categories based on growing area. For this study, primary data was gathered during the year 2022-23.
Input costs across different farm sizes revealed that cement poles and plates constitute the largest expenditure, accounting for about (49%) of total costs across all farm sizes. Seedlings also form a considerable portion of the budget, contributing roughly (17.88%). The total working capital constitutes approximately (74.36%) of the total costs, with little variation across farm sizes. Family labour, both male and female, contributes modestly, with male labour accounting for about (1.32%) and female labour for (0.47%). Overall, the cost structure is consistent across small, medium, and large farms, with only minor variations in the percentage allocation to different inputs. The overall cost (Cost C) across all farm sizes is highest on large farms, ₹1086300.25, with medium farms at ₹1081931.94, and small farms at ₹927125.14. Large farms have the highest output (298.65 quintals), followed by medium (253.69 quintals) and small farms (223.2 quintals). This indicates that while large farms incur higher costs, they also achieve greater output, with significant investments in machine power, manure, and irrigation, alongside higher amortization costs. Large farms have the highest gross returns ₹2986500, followed by medium farms ₹2536900 and small farms ₹2236000. The overall average gross return is ₹2586400. Large farms have the highest returns per rupee of investment (3.54), followed by medium farms (3.37) and small farms (3.32). The overall average return per rupee of investment is 3.42. The R² value of 0.70 indicates that 70 percent of the variation in dragon fruit production can be explained by the included variables, suggesting a fairly strong fit for the model. Manure and potassium have a significant positive impact on dragon fruit production.
DOI: 10.22271/maths.2024.v9.i5Sd.1842Pages: 231-235 | Views: 152 | Downloads: 6Download Full Article: Click HereHow to cite this article:
Snehal Sathe, MS Jadhav, BJ Deshmukh, Aniruddha Barve, PN Ayare, Manik Lajurkar.
Economic analysis of production of dragon fruit in Solapur district of Maharashtra. Int J Stat Appl Math 2024;9(5S):231-235. DOI:
10.22271/maths.2024.v9.i5Sd.1842