Comparative Economics of Bean and Bottle Gourd Production in Some Selected Areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study was designed with a view to analyse the comparative economic aspect of selected vegetables such as bean and bottle gourd production. The findings of the study revealed that the production of selected vegetables were profitable. The per hectare total cost of production of bottle gourd and bean were Tk.105344 and Tk.104840 respectively and the corresponding gross incomes were Tk.200200 and Tk.174500 accordingly. The estimated net return of producing bottle gourd and bean were Tk.96656 and Tk.69660 successively. The results indicate that bottle gourd farmers received the highest gross return and net return compared to bean producers. Functional analysis revealed that the variation of yield was greatly influenced by the human labour, animal labour, cowdung, fertilizers and date of sowing. These factors were directly or jointly responsible for the variation of vegetable yields. The study also revealed that the vegetable farmers faced various types of problems, such as lack of irrigation facilities, shortage of human labour, high price of fertilizers and insecticides, non-availability of quality seeds, etc.

Key words: Profitability, Returns to scale, Resource use efficiency, Net return