FINANCIAL PROFITABILITY AND RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY OF ONION CULTIVATION IN SOME SELECTED AREAS OF FARIDPUR DISTRICT IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The present study was designed to measure resource use efficiency of onion farmers and to estimate the profitability of onion production in selected areas of three upazila Sadarpur, Charvadrashan and Saltha in Faridpur district. Primary data were collected from 120 farmers which constituted 40 farmers from each upazila respectively. A random sampling was followed. Both tabular and statistical analyses were applied in this study. The major findings of the study reveal that onion production is profitable. Total cost of production was Tk. 258581.00 per hectare. Gross returns were Tk. 512160.00 and net returns was Tk. 253579.00. Per hectare yields of onion bulb was found 12804.00 kg. Per hectare human labor was used 150 man-days. Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) was found to be 1.98. Production function analysis suggested that, among the variables included in the model, cost of bulb, total labor cos, and irrigation cost had a positive and significant effect but land preparation cost had positive but insignificant on the gross return of onion production, except for cost of pesticide & cost of fertilizer had a negative and insignificant effect on the gross return of onion cultivation. This study also identified some of the problems and constraints associated with onion cultivation. The problems and constraints, of course, are interrelated with one another and hence, need to be removed comprehensively through an integrated programme for the overall development of onion cultivation.