ECONOMICS AND RATE OF ADOPTION OF PRECISION FARMING IN BANANA IN THENI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

G. BALAGANESH¹, YASH GAUTAM², M. ANOOP³*, H.P. SINGH^4
1Division of Dairy Economics, Statistics and Management, ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, 132001, India
²Department of Agricultural Economics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 231001, India
³Department of Agricultural Economics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 231001, India
⁴Department of Agricultural Economics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 231001, India
* Corresponding Author : anoopmangalasseri@gmail.com

Received : 07-08-2016     Accepted : 07-09-2016     Published : 30-10-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 52       Pages : 2553 - 2556
Int J Agr Sci 8.52 (2016):2553-2556

Keywords : Precision farming, Banana, Cost of Cultivation, Adoption rate
Academic Editor : Rudari S
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : None declared
Author Contribution : None declared

Banana is an important fruit crop of many tropical and subtropical regions of India. It is cultivated for food purpose as well as for the production of fibre used in the textile industry, ornamental purposes etc. India is the largest producer of banana in the world. India’s share in world banana production is around 27.8 per cent followed by China around 9.9 per cent. In India, Tamil Nadu is the leading state with respect to area and production of banana when comparing to all other states. Share of Tamil Nadu in India’s total banana production is around 19.0 per cent followed by Maharashtra around 16.3 per cent. This paper attempts to study costs and returns of banana cultivation under precision farming and conventional farming as well as rate of adoption of precision farming in banana in the study area. The results suggest that profitability of banana under precision farming in terms of net return was more as compared to the profitability of banana under conventional farming. The net return per rupee of investment in precision farming was also higher than conventional farming. So, it is advisable for the farmers to go for precision farming rather than conventional farming. The results also indicate that rate of adoption of precision farming has increased over the years due to increasing yield, gross income and net income in precision farming as compared to conventional farming.