Economics of off-season vegetables

With the changing food habits, the importance of vegetables in the human diet is increasingly realized. It has places vegetable farming in advantageous position. The agro-climatic conditions of hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh, India are such that they offer a unique opportunity for growing off-season vegetables. The present work has investigated into the various costs involved in the production and marketing of these vegetables, marketing channels, margins, price spread and the constraints faced by the producers. The costs of production varied from Rs. 28,633 to Rs. 54,775 per hectare for selected vegetables. The gross returns were highest for tomato. Three marketing channels were prevalent. Malpractices in the market place and lack of farmers' organizations were the major circumscribing factors. The present investigation will help the policy makers, extension workers and research scientists to focus their efforts to minimize the constraints and problems of off-season vegetable producers particular and farming community in general. This will encourage the farmers to take up this venture with more enthusiasm thus uplifting the the socio-economic level of our ultimate target group.