Economic Analysis of Seed Spice Cultivation in Gujarat, India

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to study the cost of cultivation and returns per hectare of major seed spices in Gujarat. The study was conducted at Banaskantha district for cumin and fennel as per the second highest triennium average area of cumin and fennel and at Junagadh district for coriander as it shows the highest triennium average area of coriander respectively during the year of 2023-24. In Gujarat for 2023-24, cumin cultivation incurred significant costs with hired labour as the largest component at 15.80 per cent, followed closely by family labour (15.65%) and rental value of owned land (13.44%). Fennel farms saw average costs of ₹70468.90 per hectare, peaking at ₹71356.01 on large farms and lowest at ₹67208.33 on small farms, with family labour (17.25%), irrigation (16.04%) and land rental (15.64%) as major expenses. Similarly, coriander farms had an average cost of ₹75939.26 per hectare, highest on large farms at ₹76551.63 and lowest on small farms at ₹74160.06, with rental value on owned land (18.95%), hired labour (16.35%), and family labour (11.74%) being significant costs. Costs increased with farm size across all crops. Cumin proved most profitable with an input-output ratio of 1:3.08, compared to fennel (1:1.48) and coriander (1:1.76) in the same period.