Elephant foot yam is traditionally cultivated on commercial scales in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. The statistics on area, production and yield of this crop are not available in the literature and this paper has estimated the cost of cultivation, farm income measures and resource-use efficiency of the crop in these states, except West Bengal. The study has indicated the gross cost of cultivation as Rs 1,73,105, Rs 93,450 and Rs 1,68,032 per ha and the benefit-cost ratios as 1.38, 1.38 and 1.50 for elephant foot yam cultivation in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively. The study has revealed excessive use of all NPK fertilizers in Kerala, indicating the need for rationalization in use of these inputs, while... |