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Encouraging off-season farming

By Nadeem Akmal and Muhammad Azam Niazi

The production of vegetables in the country is currently limited to certain time periods during the year due to seasonal variations. However, due to the invention of modern agriculture production and storage techniques, there is an opportunity for growing a variety of vegetables in off-season as well. In this regard, two options can be considered: first is to store vegetables under an artificially created environment while the second would be to grow them off-season.

With regards to storage, some vegetables can be stored for long periods but other vegetables such as tomato, sweet pepper and cucumbers cannot be stored for extended periods because they loose their freshness, texture and physical appearance. Therefore, growing them off-season is a better option. These off-season vegetable productions would change the food habits of consumers and increase the annual profits of farmers as well. But this can only be possible by creating awareness amongst vegetable producers.

Recently, the Social Sciences Institute and the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) carried out a sample study in Faisalabad division in which 19 off-season vegetable producers were interviewed. The commodities selected for the study were cucumber, tomato and sweet pepper. Several farmers were growing these three vegetables and most of them were educated as well: 64 per cent were intermediate and graduate, while 21 per cent were post-graduates. In addition, more than 50 per cent of the farmers had both tube well water and canal facilities, while 37 per cent had only tube well, and merely 5 per cent had only canal water facility. It was also noticed that easy access to input and output markets increased the efficiency of farmers The average distance from farm to local markets and other places were as under:

*     Metalled roads - 1.24 km
*     Local markets - 11.21 km
*     Fertilizer shops - 9.49 km
*     Pesticide shops - 9.76 km
*     Extension office - 10.22 km

The off-season vegetable growers were also using modern implements and several had more than one improved implement according to their land holdings. These areas under off-season vegetables were discovered to be as follows: 5.49 acres for tomato, 4.17 acres for cucumber and 2.16 acres for sweet pepper.

Other observations from the survey revealed that not all farmers were growing all three types of these vegetables. Moreover, land preparation cost per acre for selected off-season vegetables was highest in the case of cucumber followed by tomato and sweet pepper. The average per acre cost of seed for tomato, cucumber and sweet pepper was Rs13,807, Rs23,853 and Rs13,947, respectively.

Farmyard manure (FYM) costs per acre was highest in the case of tomatoes (Rs2,889), and lowest for sweet pepper (Rs2,315). It was also observed that 80 per cent of the sample farmers were applying FYM. The use of chemical fertilizers among farmers producing off-season vegetables was higher. Per acre cost was highest in the case of tomato at Rs11,767 followed by cucumber at Rs10,226 and sweet pepper at Rs7,452.

The canal irrigation water charges (abiana) were Rs100 per acre. The cost of tube well water was calculated at Rs2,940, Rs2,772 and Rs2,100 for tomato, cucumber and sweet pepper, respectively. Moreover, wooden crates are widely used for packing. The highest picking and packaging labour cost was calculated for cucumber (Rs10,850) followed by tomato and sweet pepper. The transportation cost was highest for tomato followed by cucumber and sweet pepper to the tune of Rs33,535 per acre for tomato, Rs24,017 for cucumber and Rs10,277 for sweet pepper. There was much difference of yield due to management practices and other factors: average yield of tomato, cucumber, and for sweet pepper was calculated as 31,488 kg, 24,017 kg, 89,21 kg per acre, respectively.

Regarding factor shares, the highest proportion of total production cost went to fixed costs comprising land rent and tunnel structure Among the variable costs, the major ones included fertilizer, seed and sowing costs. (See table)
Insect pests, diseases, high seed cost, low prices of the produce, high transportation and credit costs were the constraints reported by the farmers. Off-season vegetables require hybrid seed. Presently 100 per cent seed is imported and this proves to be very expensive. Moreover, it is a capital-intensive enterprise with high initial cost.

To encourage off-season farming in the country, awareness should be created among the farmers about production technology. Technical training should be arranged in potential areas while seed costs can be reduced by domestic production. The cost of credit also needs to be reduced along with improvement in the marketing of the produce and linkages to be strengthened between producers and market intermediaries. Finally, export potential for the off-season vegetables needs to be explored.