A Study on Economics of Coffee (Coffea arabica) Plantation in Nagaland, India

The present study was conducted for estimating the economics of coffee plantation in Nagaland. Three districts were selected, and 60 respondents were interviewed from the selected districts. Selection of respondents was carried out with the help of snowball sampling method. Snowball sampling method was used due to limitation of secondary data on coffee farmers and the uneven distribution of coffee farmers. The cost of coffee cultivation was estimated by using different cost concepts used in farm management studies. This study revealed that total establishment cost of coffee was Rs. 22,271/- per acre. The gestation period of arabica coffee found as 4 years for the present study, thereafter the maintenance stage begins with an annual maintenance cost of Rs. 17,762/- per acre. Average yield reported in the study area was 229 kg/acre and making a gross income of Rs. 45,868 /- per acre. The net return worked out as Rs 28,106/- per acre / annum. The productivity of coffee was found as lower than the national average, which maybe as a result of poor availability of labour, the plantations are rainfed and organic by default, therefore absence of fertilizer input may attribute to low productivity. The cost as well as the yield was found lower in the marginal category and increased as the plantation size increases, this may be due to the absence of competitiveness and poor technical knowledge on the management of the plantation among the marginal growers. However having a return to scale value of 1.03 and benefit cost ratio of 1.6, it was cleared that the coffee plantation in Nagaland is profitable and can be undertaken in a commercial scale.