ECONOMICS OF RAINFED SERICULTURE-A STUDY IN THE
DISTRICT OF UDAIPUR IN RAJASTHAN, INDIA


Sericulture is a labour intensive agro-based rural industry, which provides
periodical income throughout the year. In view of this, it is very much
imperative to know the sericulture economics in order to motivate new farmers
to take up sericulture and increase their income. Therefore, a study was
conducted with the help of personal interview of 70 rainfed sericulture farmers
in Udaipur district of Rajasthan, India. The study concluded that in garden
establishment, highest share of cost was associated with human labour (INR
14,400.00) followed by that for FYM (INR 2418.75). Similarly human labour
(51.93%) accounted for highest element of cost in leaf production activities too
owing to high labour wages and shortage of manpower. Labour (25.33%) was
second major cost component next to mulberry leaf (38.64%) in silk cocoon
production. The average yield of silk cocoon obtained was 1289.04 kg/ha per
year. The net return obtained was INR 52039.32 and benefit cost ratio was 1.49.
Keywords: Sericulture, economics, mulberry, cocoon.
Introduction
Sericulture plays a vital role in rural development, as it integrates well with the
farming systems and has the potential to generate attractive income throughout
the year. It needs low capital and provides year round employment (Hanumappa
and Erappa, 1985). India stands second in raw silk production after China.
Mulberry sericulture is practiced in India in 1, 91,893 ha with annual production
of 16525 MT. India exported silk goods worth Mn. US$ 737.76 in year 2006-07
(Anonymous, 2007). With the advent of new bivoltine sericulture technologies,
the sericulture productivity is changing fast with an upward trend. At the same
time, there is change in nature, quantity and cost of input required. In view of
this, it is very much imperative to know the sericulture economics and it is highly
essential to motivate the new farmers to take up sericulture and increase their
income. Some studies were earlier attempted to find out the economic prospects
of sericulture at the farmer's level in various parts of India (Anonymous, 1989,
Ravindran et al., 1993, Lakshmanan et al., 1996). Therefore, the present study
was aimed at following objectives:
i) to find out the cost of establishment of mulberry garden in Udaipur
district.
1Associate Professor, Institute of Agribusiness Management, Navsari Agricultural
University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat, India.
50 SHUKLA
ii) to find out the cost associated with mulberry leaf production in Udaipur
district;
iii) to work out cost and returns from a unit area under mulberry cultivation
and silkworm rearing.
Research Methodology
The present research study has been conducted in Udaipur district of Rajasthan
during 2007-08. Two tehsils, namely Mavli and Jhadol of Udaipur district were
selected purposively because of having maximum number of sericulture adopters
in the district. The list of villages along with the name of adopters including year
of adoption of sericulture of selected tehsils was obtained from the voluntary
institute Rajasthan Vidyapeeth working especially on sericulture in these two
tehsils. From the list of sericulture adopters of the selected village, 70 adopters
(35 from each tehsil) who were engaged in sericulture since last 2-3 years, were
selected randomly for the purpose of personal interview. A pre-tested schedule
was administered to collect information on cost incurred for different inputs and
return including value of by-products. Simple cost accounting method was
employed to work out cost and return profile of mulberry leaf production and
silkworm rearing per hectare per year. The total cost consists of fixed and
variable cost components. The total cost of garden establishment was divided and
accounted for 15 years to arrive at the share of fixed costs per annum using net
present value method while calculating cost of mulberry leaf production. Gross
returns were calculated using returns from cocoons and byproducts.
Results and Discussion
The cost of establishment of mulberry garden in Udaipur district is presented in
Table 1. The cost items considered for garden establishment were human labour,
animal power, machine power, farm yard manure (FYM), planting material,
irrigation, and interest on total investment. The highest share of the cost
associated with garden establishment was incurred for human labour (INR
14,400.00) followed by that for FYM (INR 2418.75).
The data presented in Table 2 revealed that cost matrix on production of
mulberry leaf (per ha/year). The total cost consists of fixed and variable cost
components. The total cost of garden establishment was divided and accounted
for 15 years to arrive at the share of fixed cost per annum. The total variable cost
is of different inputs applied viz., human labour, animal labour, FYM, chemical
fertilizers, irrigation, and interest on working capital. It is interesting to record
that about 66.97 percent (INR 30600.00) of total cost was incurred for human
labour in leaf production activities. The higher labour cost incurred was due to
higher wages of labour and shortage of manpower. The cost incurred in chemical
fertilizers was 7.72 percent (INR 3758.06) of total cost, whereas in FYM, it was
ECONOMICS OF RAINFED SERICULTURE 51
6.65 percent (INR 3240.00) of the total cost. The cost of labour, chemical
fertilizers, and FYM put together accounted for about 81.34 percent of the total
production cost. Jayram et al. (1996) pointed out that the high cost on inputs is
due to lack of awareness about inputs and reluctance of farmers in accepting the
improved practices generated by the research institutes.
Table 1. Cost (INR per ha) of establishment of mulberry garden in Udaipur
district (N=70).
S1.
No. Variables Unit Physical
quantity Cost % Share
1. Human labour Man days 180 14400.00 53.64
2. Animal power Animal days 4.27 1115.75 4.15
3. Machine power Hours 6.75 1738.12 6.47
4. Farm yard manure Tons 18.0 2418.75 9.01
5. Chemical fertilizers kg 227.7 1650.82 6.14
6. Irrigation INR -- 2418.75 9.01
7. Cuttings and saplings INR -- 877.5 3.26
8. Land tax INR -- 236.25 0.88
9. Interest on working
capital (@ 8% p.a.
INR -- 1988.47 7.40
Total -- -- 26844.41 100.00
Table 2. Cost (INR per ha) of mulberry leaf production in Udaipur district (N=70).
S1.
No. Variables Physical
quantity Cost % Share in
total cost
1. Operational cost
1.1 Human labour (Man days) 382.5 30600.00 66.97
1.2 Animal labour (animal days) 4.52 1174.5 2.41
1.3 Farm yard manure (tons) 18.00 3240.00 6.65
1.4 Chemical fertilizers (kg) 518.35 3758.06 7.72
1.5 Irrigation (INR) -- 3292.94 6.76
1.6 Land tax (INR) -- 236.25 0.48
1.7 Interest on working capital @
8% p.a.
-- 3384.14 6.95
Operational cost -- 45685.89 93.89
2. Fixed cost (share of establishment of
mulberry garden per ha)
-- 2969.57 6.10
3. Total (1+ 2) -- 48655.46 100.00
52 SHUKLA
The cost of silk cocoon production per ha/year in Udaipur district is shown
in Table 3. Labour was the major cost component next to mulberry leaf
production, which amounts to INR 26,835.34. The cost of silkworm seed was
INR 7,023.46. Depreciation cost on rearing house and rearing equipment,
which was accounted as fixed cost in silkworm rearing was INR 16,030.26. The
total cost of cocoon production per ha/year worked out to INR 1,05,920.64.
Neelakantsastry (1982), Marihonnaiah (1986) and Kulkarni (1993), identified
that human labour and dfls had positive and significant association with cocoon
production.
Table 3. Cost and return (INR/ha/year) structure from cocoon production (N=70).
S1. No. Variables Cost
Share of total
cost (%)
I Fixed cost
1. Depreciation on rearing house and 16030.26 15.13
equipment 1.31
2. Interest on fixed capital @ 8 p.a. 1388.97
Total fixed cost (I) 17419.23 16.44
II Operational cost
1. Human labour 26835.34 25.33
2. Disease free larvae including chawkie
change
7023.46 6.63
3. Materials 8607.46 8.12
4. Marketing 1575.33 1.49
5. Interest on working capital @ 8% p.a. 3523.32 3.32
6. Mulberry leaf 40936.5 38.64
Total Operational Cost (II) 88501.41 83.55
III Return
1. Gross return 157959.96 --
2. Total cost (1+11) 105920.64 --
3. Net return 52039.32 --
Table 4 presents the details of earning of the sample farmers of two tehsils of
Udaipur district from cocoon production. The respondents brushed silkworm
seed (2475 dfls/ha/year). The production was lower due to the drought prevailing
from 2002 onwards, water source, such as open well and tube wells are becoming
dry and hence the brushing capacity has fall down. Due to that the farmers are
either forced to cut short the brushing quantity or to stop rearing during summer
months. The average yield obtained by farmers was 1289.04 kg/ha/year. The
ECONOMICS OF RAINFED SERICULTURE 53
returns from sale of cocoon were INR 142117.47. The income generated from
by-products was INR 15842.49. The net return per ha/year was INR 52039.32.
The benefit cost ratio was worked out to be l.49. Table 4 summarizes the major
economic events.
Table 4. Summary of major economic events (N=70).
S1.
No.
Particulars Units Value
1. Average area under mulberry Hectare 0.57
2. Leaf yield (ha/year) kg 34047.45
3. Cost of leaf (ha/year) INR 48655.46
4. Cost of leaf/kg INR 1.11
5. Average number of dfls brushed (peryear) No. 2475
6. Cocoon yield (ha/year) kg 1289.04
7. Average no. of crop (/year) No. 4
8. Cocoon cost (ha/year) INR 105920.64
9. Gross income (ha/year) -- --
--From cocoon (A) INR 142117.47
--From the by-products INR 15842.49
Total (A+B) INR 157959.96
10. Average cocoon price (Rate/kg) INR 110.25
11. Benefit Cost ratio -- 1.49
Conclusion
The present study draws the following implications for the perspective
development of sericulture in long run in the study regions. The study indicates
that sericulture has a good potential to generate attractive income for the farmers.
It is more labour intensive and has low capital requirement and serve a good
option for small farmers to gain meaningful employment and income throughout
the year. In order to reduce the cost of production, the farmers should be
motivated and demonstrated with the adoption of new bivoltine sericulture
techniques. The sericulturists should be educated about the optimum use of
inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and motivated to use INM/IPM/IDM
approaches besides water conservation techniques. To encourage bivoltine
sericulture, scope for minimum support price (MSP) for commercial bivoltine
cocoon should be looked into.
54 SHUKLA
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