Published Paper Details:

An attempt has been made to examine the economic efficiency, cost and return analysis of major off-season vegetables in Himachal Pradesh. In the present study, major vegetables, namely pea, tomato, capsicum, cauliflower, French bean and cabbage was considered. The results revealed that the estimated per hectare cost of cultivation was highest in French bean/ green bean than that of other vegetable cultivation. Net returns per hectare in tomato cultivation was higher than that of other vegetables cultivation. The output-input ratio was found highest in case of tomato cultivation. In case of economic efficiency, study concluded that farmers were working in the first irrational zone of production function in case of pea, tomato, capsicum and cabbage i.e. increasing returns to scale. In case of cauliflower and French bean farmers were working in the third zone (irrational) of production function i.e. decreasing returns to scale. It indicates that vegetable growers do not make efficient use of their resources. The study also recommends optimum use of resources to achieve desire growth in vegetable cultivation. The vegetables cultivation has been influenced by number of factors like assess of irrigation facility, family labour, non-farm income of family and education level of cultivators was the main riving force for shifting towards vegetables cultivation.