Economics of pesticide use in mango in Konkan region of Maharashtra.
Veerkar P. D., Borkar P. G., Bhosale S. S.
Author Affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, Dr. B. S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Ratnagiri (M.S.), India.
International Journal of Agricultural Sciences 4 : 253-256
Abstract : The present study was conducted to assess the impact of pesticides on productivity and profitability of mango. For this purpose, randomly selected sample of 150 mango growers were selected from Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Konkan region in Maharashtra, India, which includes 25 mango growers not using any pesticide as control unit. The data on production market prices, input utilization were collected which pertains to the mango production season of 2004. Results of the study indicated that on an average, mango growers have 1.20 ha of mango orchard with 108 bearing trees. Productivity, increased from 18.40 qts/ha in no spraying group to 37.80 qts/ha in a group who sprayed their mango orchard three times, thereafter the productivity decreased as the number of sprays increased. Same trend was observed in case of profitability. This whole analysis of productivity and profitability in respect of plant protection measures, indicated that, spraying of mango trees more than three times is not economically beneficial, and may lead to increase in cost without increase in productivity and returns.