Economic Scrutiny of bio-pesticide use in potato cultivation in Meghalaya

Abstract

In the sustainable intensification of crop production through green economy, the bio-pesticides are playing an immense role. Meghalaya being an organic state by default, farmers are adamant to non-use chemicals in the agricultural production. Therefore, the current study was conducted among the potato growers of East Khasi Hills district to identify the economic sustainability of using organic inputs such as bio-pesticides with a respondent size 100 which included equal number of both adopters and non-adopters, selected from two villages of Mawkynrew and Mawrynkneng blocks using random sampling with proportionate allocation method. Cost estimation showed that the expenditure of adopters was less than non-adopters and the cost of potato production for adopters were found to be 10.77 % less than non-adopters. On contrary gross returns marked to be high for adopters by 18.96 % which accounted for the 33.34 % increase in the benefit-cost ratio. Economic viability of organic farming practices in potato cultivation was underlined by the increased B-C ratio and higher net farm income of adopters by using bio-pesticide which is eco-friendly and sustainable.