Economic Impact of Commercial Hybrid Seed Production in Vegetables on Farm Income, Employment and Farm Welfare – A Case of Tomato and Okra in Karnataka
Commercial Seed Production (CSP) in vegetables like tomato and okra is
an important economic activity for farmers in the dry regions like Haveri
and Gadag in Karnataka providing assured returns and additional
employment. Its economic impact assessed at individual and aggregate
levels based on a sample of 70 cultivators has indicated that the activity
provides stability, equity in income distribution across the group and
helps enhance family welfare. Undertaken mainly during the khraif season
on a plot of around 0.43 ha, the farmers incur an expenditure of around
Rs 49,780 / ha for tomato and Rs 38,555/ha for okra. With a seed yield of
0.493 and 5.66 quintals of tomato and okra, respectively, the farmers could
realize a net return of Rs 88,338/ha from tomato and Rs 39,440/ha from okra.
Being highly labour-intensive involving special operations such as
emasculation and hybridization, the commercial seed production generates
employment opportunities of around 415 women-days in both tomato and
okra CSP. With low coefficient of variation in the range of 8 per cent price
in okra to around 28 per cent for yield in tomato, the CSP could provide
income stability for the dryland farmers. Measured in terms of Gini’s
coefficient of income equality, the CSP of tomato and okra with a value of
0.22 and 0.24 has proved to improve income distribution across the group.
By adopting a combination of two plots of tomato, one during kharif and
one during rabi, with one plot of okra in kharif, CSP could fetch the
highest net return of Rs 33,859/ha. The presence of surrogate water market
and dwindling groundwater in the region highlight the urgent need for a
policy and action points for safeguarding the social and environment
issues in the highly beneficial CSP of tomato and okra
