TY  - BOOK
AU  - Lalrinsangpuii
AU  - Raju, V.T.
TI  - Economics of chow-chow (Sechium edule) in Aizawl, district of Mizoram
U1  - 338.175630954166 
PY  - 2011///
CY  - Umiam
PB  - CPGS, CAU
KW  - Chow-chow
KW  - Production
KW  - Mizoram
N2  - Chow-chow (Sechium edule) is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family and a popular vegetable in North Eastern Hilly Region and grown abundantly without much care and attention. Cultivation of S. edule is one of the most important sources of livelihood for many farmers in Aizawl district of Mizoram. During the past few years expansion in the area and production of this crop has shown a very satisfactory trend. The present study was conducted in Aizawl district of Mizoram in order to work out the economics of chow-chow with the specific objectives of estimating the cost of cultivation and production, to work out the resource use efficiency, to study the disposal pattern and finally to identify the major problems in the production and marketing and to suggest suitable measures to overcome the problems. Multistage sampling technique was applied for the study. The total sample size was 80. The primary data was collected by using pre-tested well structured schedule through survey method. The cost concept (CACP) viz., Cost A?, Cost A?, Cost B?, Cost B?, Cost C? and Cost C? was used to work out the cost of cultivation. In order to establish functional relationship of chow-chow production with its various input use, Cobb-Douglas production function was applied. The disposal pattern of chow-chow was worked out by identifying the marketing channels prevailing in the district and the price spread and producer's share in consumer's were worked out. To examine the constraints in the production and marketing of chow-chow, Garret Ranking Technique was used. The study revealed that the average yield of chow-chow was 179 q/ha with the gross income of `89,500/ha. The total cost of  cultivation was estimated to be `26,440/ha. Among the variable costs, human labour was the most important cost as it shared 28.95 per cent to the total cost. Rental value of land was the most important item of fixed expenditure as it accounted for 36.09 per cent to the total cost. Based on the cost concept the total cost of cultivation i.e., Cost C? was  estimated to be `34,500. The farm business income was worked out to be `74,281  and the net return was `55,000. The total cost of production per quintal was worked out to be `193. The Cobb-Douglas production function indicated that the variables land and human labour were significant while input manures and fertilizers showed negative significant. MVP of inputs at their geometric level showed that farmers still have scope for further utilization of land to increase the returns. While the  expenditure incurred on human rabour and manures and fertirizers need to be reduced in order to increases the income of sample farmers. From the total production, the quantity kept for seed was 0.69 per cent while family  consumption was 3.78 per cent. The marketed and marketable surplus was found to be 93.23 per cent and 95.53 per cent to the total production respectively. In Aizawl district, three major marketing channels were identified and was found that Channel I was the most important channel as the farmers transacted 91.98 per cent of their marketed surplus through this channel. Through the least used channel i.e., Channel III only 2.61 per cent of the marketed surplus was transacted though the producers' share in consumers' rupee was highest. Among the various problems faced by the farmers, the most serious problem in production of chow-chow was lack of knowledge about  the application of chemical fertilizers while the most serious problem of marketing observed was high price fluctuation. Gluts during peak period was the most serious problem of market intermediaries
ER  -