Abstract:
The study was conducted to delineate the socio-economic characteristics of tomato
producers in the study area; to estimate the costs and returns of tomato production in
the study area, to find out the factors that affect profitability of tomato cultivation, and
to assess the resource use efficiency of tomato cultivation. Cumilla district was
selected purposively for the study on the basis of extensive tomato production. A total
of 80 tomato cultivators were randomly selected to conducting farm level survey with
pre-tested questionnaire. Data were collected during 1
i
st
January, 2019 to 31
March,
2019. Per acre cost of tomato production was Tk. 26033 for all farm categories in the
study area. Total cost was highest for small farm (Tk. 30903) followed by large farm
(Tk. 29602) and medium farm (Tk. 28945). Per acre gross return of tomato cultivation
under small, medium and large farms were Tk. 56208, Tk. 54912 and Tk. 52864
respectively which indicates that per acre gross return of small farms were higher than
large and medium farms. Per acre gross margin of tomato cultivation under small,
medium and large farms were Tk. 38704, Tk. 38551 and Tk. 36126 respectively. Per
acre net return of tomato cultivation under small, medium and large farms were Tk.
25305, Tk. 25967 and Tk. 23262 respectively, which indicates that net return was
highest in small farms than large and medium farms. Per acre benefit cost ratio (BCR)
of tomato cultivation under small, medium and large farm were 1.82, 1.90 and 1.78
respectively. Cobb-Douglas production function model was used to determine the
effects of key variable inputs. The most important nine explanatory variables were
included in the model to explain the gross income or return of tomato cultivation.
Most of the variables in the production function were significant in explaining the
gross return except the positive and insignificant effect of human labour cost, urea,
MP, irrigation and pesticides. Resource use efficiency indicated that all of the
resources were under used for tomato cultivation except overutilization of human
labor, TSP and Mop. In the study area, unavailability of good quality seed was the
most severe problem among the farmers and lack of irrigation facility was the last
problems of the farmers.
Description:
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Agribusiness Management,
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka,
in Partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS)
IN
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
