FINANCIAL PROFITABILITY AND RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCY OF TOMATO CULTIVATION IN SOME SELECTED AREAS OF MYMENSINGH DISTRICT IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The study was focused on the profitability of production, the contribution of factors in yield and the socio-economic status of the tomato growers at Mymensingh Sadar and Gauripur Upazilla under the Mymensingh district. Using a simple random sampling technique, 90 tomato cultivators were selected to conduct farm-level surveys with the pre-tested questionnaires. The per acre cost of tomato production was Tk.33751 for all farm categories in the study area. Total cost was highest for the small farms (Tk.35313) followed by the large farm (Tk.33083) and medium farms (Tk.32857). Per acre gross return of tomato cultivation under small, medium and large farms were Tk.61920, Tk.59520 and Tk.59040 respectively, indicating that the per acre gross return of small farms was higher than large and medium farms. Per acre benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of tomato cultivation under small, medium and large farms were 1.75, 1.81 and 1.78 respectively where medium farms gave the best performance. Resource use efficiency indicated that all of the resources were underused except overutilization of human labor, TSP and MoP. In the study area. High wages of labor and insect and disease attacks were significant issues for tomato cultivation.