Diversification in Vegetable and Strawberry production

DARE1819-14-10

Shri Ashutosh Pandey has grown different vegetables in such a way as to ensure their year round production. He produced potato, beans, capsicum, cowpea and coriander with an aim to catch up with the off-season markets. Shri Ashutosh started the cultivation of strawberry in 0.25 ha area and is able to receive good market price and more profitable than the previous crop cultivation. In the Year - 2017, he had grown strawberry in 0.4 area in his own land. Following his path, some neighboring farmers have also started the strawberry cultivation.

Shri Ashutosh harvested 5 tonnes/acres strawberry fruits and sold them at a price of Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 per kg on the basis of market and demand. He cultivated potato and beans in broad bed and in each bed, two rows of potato and beans seeds were planted. He obtained the potato yield of 140 q/acre and green beans yield 50-55 q/acre. He also produced coriander.

The main intervention of Buxar Krishi Vigyan Kendra was providing of good quality planting materials of strawberry and their storage and marketing. The high value crops, viz., potato, beans and vegetable cowpea production gave higher returns due to more demand for hotels and local markets. The strawberry cultivation is more profitable and gives opportunities of providing employment generation and attraction of rural youths in the smart farming.

S. NO.	CROPS	COST OF CULTIVATION (RS./HA)	GROSS RETURN (RS./HA)	NET RETURN (RS./HA)	BENEFIT: COST RATIO
1.	STRAWBERRY	4,50,000	12,50,000	8,00,000	1.78
2.	POTATO	86,500	2,10,000	1,23,500	1.42
3.	BEANS	90,000	2,46,600	1,56,600	1.74
4.	VEGETABLE COWPEA	56,000	1,50,000	94,000	1.67

(Source: ICAR-DARE Annual Report - 2018-19)