Economic analysis of fennel cultivation in Nagaur district of Rajasthan Choudhary Praveen, Kharkwal Sheela* Department of Agricultural Economics, Sri Karan Narendra College of Agriculture, Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University, Jobner, Rajasthan, India *Corresponding author: sheela.kharkwal91@gmail.com
Online Published on 18 October, 2023. Abstract More than 60 per cent area of Rajasthan falls under arid zone, where soil is light textured, have poor fertility and low water holding capacity. Since, reducing cost of cultivation itself is a big challenge due to varied economic reasons, promoting diversification towards high value crops like fennel can be a plausible solution to the low farm income problem in the arid regions. Therefore, a sample of 80 fennel growers were investigated in Nagaur district of Rajasthan to understand the cost and returns structure; and thus, profitability associated with fennel cultivation. The data were collected in the agricultural year 2020-21 and analyzed through CACP cost concepts for detailed study. The results showed that the per hectare total cost of cultivation of fennel was  49027.46. Out of which, operational cost accounted for 69.64 per cent and fixed cost was 30.36 per cent of total costs. Cost of production was highest ( 3315.55 per quintal) for small farmers and lowest ( 3210.15 per quintal) for large farmers with an overall average of 3256.65 per quintal. Overall gross returns, net returns, farm business income and family labour income were 115920, 61989.79, 83971.00 and 71733.53 per hectare, respectively. The average returns per rupee were 2.14, which shows that production of fennel is highly profitable. Since fennel seemed to fetch good prices, the farmers can be sensitized about its export trading prospects along with the option of contract farming and future trading of fennel. Grading and standardization facilities should also be ensured so that farmers can realize the maximum profits through quality fennel produced. Top Keywords Fennel, CACP, Returns per rupee, Cost of cultivation, Rajasthan. Top |