Impact of drip irrigation on costs and returns of banana growers in Gujarat

The comparative economics of banana cultivation under drip and conventional irrigation methods was studied by collecting data from 80 drip farms and 80 non-drip farms of Anand and Vadodara district during 2017–18. It was revealed from the study that per ha cost of cultivation of banana i.e. cost C2 was slightly less i.e. Rs 204875.3 under drip method of irrigation whereas under conventional method, it was Rs 211631.9. The average yield per ha and net gains over Cost C2 per ha was 743.56 and 642.36 quintal and Rs 314613.7 and Rs 237462.1, for drip and conventional banana growers, respectively. The yield and net profit was found significantly higher (about 15 per cent and 32.49 per cent) on drip farms over conventional irrigated farms, which indicated that productivity was higher in drip method due to efficient use of inputs or resources saving i.e. [labor (18.30 per cent), water (30.80 per cent), growth regulators (22.95 per cent), plant protection chemicals (22.36 per cent), fertilizers (13.63 per cent) and manures (7.52 per cent). Input-Output ratio over Cost-C2 under drip and conventional method of irrigation was 2.54 and 2.12, respectively. So, in nutshell this reveals about superiority of drip in terms of yield and returns advantage by spending less on all inputs.