​An Economic Analysis of Chilli Production in Tripura, India

Background: Chillies are one of the most widely used spices and a commercial crop. It is the most widely used universal spice and is named as the wonder spice. Tripura is one of the largest producers of a commercial crop of chilli in the entire north eastern state. Commercial cultivation of chilli is very profitable and can expect high revenue because of high market value or market demand in local markets. Under this backdrop, the paper attempts to study the economics of chilli production in Tripura, India.
Methods: This study was conducted on a sample of 150 chilli growers in Dhalai district, West Tripura and the Sipahijala district of Tripura during 2019-20 as it is the highest chilli growing area. A personal interview method was used to collect the data and suitable statistical tools were used for analyzing the data. The cost of cultivation for chilli was calculated by using the CACP (Commission on Agriculture Cost and Prices) approach.
Result: The study revealed that the majority of the respondents were under the age of 54 years, belonged to the schedule tribe category i.e., 48.66 per cent (24.33) followed by the general category i.e., 34.66 (17.33) and the schedule caste category i.e., 16.66 per cent (8.33). All the respondents were from farming families, mainly belonging to marginal and small land holdings. It has been observed that the maximum cost was incurred on total family labour, i.e., Rs. 41230.11, Rs. 56769.23 and Rs. 51972.17 respectively in West Tripura, Unakoti and South Tripura, whereas in the case of total hired labour cost, no was involved by the growers of South Tripura district. The total production of chilli was 2894.45 kg/ha and the overall return over cost C was determined at Rs. 104572.94 per ha. In the different districts, the return per rupee over cost C ranged from 1.99 to 2.44.