Resource Productivity and Resource use Efficiency in Drip Irrigated Banana Production

Banana (Musa paradisica.L.) is one of the most important fruit crops in the world. It ranks next to mango in both area and production in India. About 48 drip irrigated banana growers were randomly selected for the study. Cross sectional data were collected from the banana growers with the help of pretested schedule by personal interview method. The study was conducted to know the resource productivity, resource use efficiency and optimum resource use in banana production. Cobb-Douglas production function was fitted to the data. The results revealed that the regression coefficient of machine labour, irrigation and area under banana was 0.054, 0.203 and 0.213, respectively which were positive and significant. Marginal productivity with respect to area, bullock labour and machine labour was 51.291, 2.759 and 2.746 quintals, respectively. It inferred that if area is increased by one hectare, bullock labour increased by one pair and machine labour increased by one hour, it would lead to increase banana production by 51.291, 2.759 and 2.746 quintals, respectively. The sum of the production elasticities (bi ) was 0.576 which indicated decreasing return to scale.