An Economic Analysis on Turmeric Cultivation in Coimbatore District of Tamilnadu

India is agrarian society where sole dependence has been on agriculture since time immemorial trading of agricultural produce began in exchange of money. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 percent of India’s population. Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture forestry and fishing was estimated at Rs.19.48lakh Crore (Us$276.37 Billion) in 7y 20(PE). Growth in GVA in agriculture and allied sectors stood at 4 percent in 7Y 20. In 2020-21 Government of India is targeting total food grain production of 298 MT. Indian turmeric is the best in the world due to the presence of Cur cumin content. This study was conducted to assess the cost and profitability of cultivation of turmeric in the Coimbatore district. The data required for this study were collected from primary as well as secondary sources. Tools such as index number, mean, range, standard deviation and coefficient of variance are used for the present study. Both the Total Variable Cost and Total Fixed Cost were high for large farmers in the Coimbatore district, i.e., 40.17 percent and 13.44 percent respectively. It is concluded that turmeric cultivation is profitable with a Total Cost of production for an acre of Rs. 108794 and gross income from turmeric cultivation were Rs. 214821. The Net Income was Rs. 106027 per acre. The Cost-Benefit Ratio was greater than one. It indicates that the production of turmeric was highly remunerative and profitable for the growers.


Introduction
India is agrarian society where sole dependence has been on agriculture since time immemorial trading of agricultural produce began in exchange of money. And from trading to the marketing of agriculture produce began although mostly it is a way of traditional selling. The market as a term is breaded than traditional trading. And agriculture marketing as a concept is still evolving in Indian society. In the olden days, agriculture produce was fundamentally bartered by nature where farmers exchange goods for goods and also agent services generally the scenario changed with the change time and agriculture produce for exchange of money.
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 percent of India's population. Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture forestry and fishing was estimated at Rs.19.48 lakh Crore (US $276.37 Billion) in the financial year 2020 (PE). Growth in GVA in agriculture and allied sectors stood at 4 percent in Financial year 20. In 2020-21 Government of India is targeting total food grain production of 298 MT.
India's GDP shrank by 23.9 percent in the June quarter due to covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed. Agriculture sector emerged as the only savior giving hope for future. Agriculture is the only sector that has registered positive growth, i.e., 3.4 percent GDP growth and others were shown negative trend.
India is called the "Spices Bowl of the World" to produce a variety of spices with superior quality. Turmeric, a botanical name is called 'Curcuma longa', is essentially a crock of the tropics with conservation extended from India to Indo-China, East Indies, production of China and sir lank. It is the root of a plant of the ginger family and continues to be extensively used are such versatile spice throughout India the middle east and far eastern vegetarian and non-vegetarian food preparation. It is an annual crop the convention period required is one year. Growing spices for various purposes has been famous since ancient times. There are records about various spices and their properties in the Vedas as early as 6000 BC. India is well known for the trade since the exploration of sea routes because of its variety of spices and superior quality, which attracted foreigners to India. This is the key reason because of which India was invaded by European countries and was imperialized. To such an extent, India is famous for the spices.
Indian turmeric is the best in the world due to the presence of Curcumin content. Turmeric is also an important incident in cosmetics as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. Crop calendar the harvesting of a plant is done when the leaves of this plant start turning yellowish after7-10 month of plantation turmeric requires a warm and humid climate. It is harvested from January and in the by March. Arrivals start during February to April period. Turmeric is recognized as a Kharif crop in India. The plantation starts in June and continues till August. The arrival of new crop starts coming in January month in Andhra Pradesh and packing in March due to strong supplies from TamilNadu and Maharashtra. Alleppey finger Kerala Erodes Salem, TamilNadu and Rajanpur Maharashtra. Among all these erode and raja pure varieties of the most popular in the international market as day contain the rich Cur cumin contents of around 3.5 to 4 percent.
Turmeric is grown as a kharif crop in India due to high Cur cumin content. India's turmeric major producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, West Bengal and Karnataka and it contributes about 36 percent of total production. Tamil Nadu and Orissa place themselves are the second and third position sharing 26 percent and 14 percent, respectively India is also the largest consumer of turmeric in the world; India's domestic consumption accounts for nearly 90 percent of total production. Dhanalakshmi et al. (2018) in their study the production and cost and returns of turmeric cultivation were done, it was revealed that from the research that majority of the farmers were not adopting recommended application of micronutrients. The cost and return structure in turmeric cultivation for one hectare were shown in the total cost. The expenditure incurred of cultivation of turmeric was Rs 43,000 for control it was Rs 40,000. This indicates that the farmers are not adopting recommended practices on various inputs levels. The benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was 3.2, for control was realized by the sample farmer was 54.2, concern with untreated it was 45.8q/ha. Farmers faced and realized, and the study revealed that the major problem faced by the growers in production are nonarability of time, lack of technical knowledge, lack of knowledge on the importance if micro-nutrient, inadequate market information and low productivity. Chinnadurai. M et. al., (2018), this paper attempts to estimate the cost and economic returns of turmeric cultivation among various size categories (marginal, small, semi medium, medium and large), of farmers in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, which is one of the major turmeric growing region in India. The study results showed that of all the size categories, the economic returns realized by large farmers were comparatively higher..Besides ensuring reasonable price to the farmers, the study suggested value addition, like boiling, drying and grading of rhizomes to achieve maximum returns in turmeric cultivation.

Objectives of the Study
Following are the major objectives of the study; • To examine the trend in area, production and productivity of turmeric in India. • To assess the cost and profitability in the cultivation of turmeric in the Coimbatore district.

Methodology
The data required for this study were collected from primary as well as secondary sources. All the data used for the analysis were not related to the reference period due to the non-availability of continuous data. The time-series data on area, production and productivity of turmeric and export and import performance of turmeric in India related to (2008-09 to 2017-18). Primary data for the study were collected from the selected farmers (Turmeric growers) in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. The field investigation for directly approach the farmers was carried out from January 2020 to March 2020.
The blocks in the Coimbatore district there more than 13 blocks. Among the maximum area under turmeric blocks such as Karamadai and Thondamuthur were selected. These two blocks account for 40 percent area under turmeric in the district. The villages of selected two blocks were listed, and two villages were selected randomly from each block. Finally, four villages were selected study from each selected village randomly. A Sample of 94 respondents was selected proportionate random sampling method. The latter the respondents were classified into two categories, namely viz., small farmers (below 3 acres) and large farmers (above 3 acres).

Tools of Analysis
The following tools were employed to analyze the data with reference to objective chosen for the study.
• The compound growth rate of all India Area, production, Productivity, State wise area, production, productivity. • Index number, mean, range, standard deviation and coefficient of variance are used.

Production
The General trend of production indicated shows that it had increased from 821200 tonnes in the year 2008-09 to 1070600 tonnes in the year 2017-18 with some fluctuating is in the intervening years.

Productivity
The productivity trend of India shows that it has increased from 4535 kg per hectare in the year 2008-   Table 2 shows that the effect of productivity, Area and interaction of Turmeric production in India during the period 2008-09 to 2017-18 are calculated. The total production of Turmeric increased during the reference period was about tonnes of which 73.64 percent, was due to increase in productivity, 21.43 percent was due to interaction between both Area and productivity. Area Effect is more than productivity Effect in the case of change in the total production of Turmeric.

Total Cost
The total cost of both small and large farmers was given in the table 3. It involves both Total Fixed Cost as well as Total Variable Cost. The Total Cost of large farmers (i.e., Rs.110597 per acre) is greater than the small farmers (i.e., Rs.106990 per acre) in the Coimbatore district. As compared to large farmers there is only small difference (Rs. 3607 per acre) in the overall cost of small farmers, because the small farmers have to incur more expenses on fertilizers and pesticides as their land holding is comparatively small that of large farmers.

Total Fixed Cost
From the table 3, it is evident that the Total Fixed Cost involves the rental value of land, interest of fixed capital and the tax on land. The percentage of Total Fixed Cost for small farmers (25.80 percent) is greater than that of large farmers (25.07 percent). Table 3 reveals Total Variable cost incurred by both large as well as small farmers & it includes cost on land preparation, harvesting, irrigation, human labour, manure and so on. The overall Total Variable Cost of large farmers (Rs.82872 per acre) was higher than that of small farmers (Rs.79390 per acre).  Table 4 reveals the cost and returns of turmeric cultivation in Coimbatore district. It has been found that the total cost incurred by the large farmers as compared to small farmers was relatively high i.e., Rs.110597. In case of the gross return, the small farmers earn Rs.223333 i.e., more than that of large farmers. The yield of small farmers (25.42) was high as compared to large farmers (23.81).

Conclusion
It has been found that the Total Cost of large farmers (i.e., Rs.110597 per acre) is greater than the small farmers (i.e. Rs.106990 per acre) in the Coimbatore district. As compared to large farmers there is only small difference (Rs. 3607 per acre) in the overall cost of small farmers, because the small farmers have to incur more expenses on fertilizers and pesticides as their land holding is comparatively small that of large farmers.
In case of the gross return, the small farmers earn Rs.223333 i.e., more than that of large farmers. The yield of small farmers (25.42) was high as compared to large farmers (23.81). The Total Variable Cost as well as Total Fixed Cost were high for large farmers in Coimbatore district i.e., 40.17 per cent and 13.44 per cent respectively. The gross return and net return the small farmers yields more i.e., Rs.223333 and Rs.116343 per acre respectively. It is very much clear from the table that the cost benefit Ratio was more for small farmers (1.08) as compared to large farmers (0.86).
It is concluded that turmeric cultivation is profitable with Total Cost of production for acre of Rs. 108794 and gross income from turmeric cultivation was Rs. 214821. The Net Income was Rs. 106027 per acre. The Cost-Benefit Ratio was greater than one it indicates that the production of turmeric was highly remunerative and profitable for the growers.

Suggestions
• The farmers may engage in intercropping (such as chilli, onion and tomato) in turmeric cultivation. • Should ensure more subsidies to the farmers (such as fertilizer, pesticides, farm equipment and irrigation development). • The government should give natural fertilizer for the turmeric growers. • The government should give more knowledge to the farmers to get more productivity in a small land.