Effects of agro-chemicals practices in economic production of cabbage in valley districts of Manipur, India

Present investigation was conducted in Thoubal district and Imphal East district of Manipur, India to assemble the information about the economics of cabbage production, checking the practices done by farmers while using agro-chemicals and identifying the problems encountered by the producers in cabbage production. NPK was the most popular inorganic fertilizer amongst farmers. As such 59 farms applied fertilizer twice and 26 farms applied more than twice before harvesting. Different irrigation practices were encountered where use of pipes was more popular (53 farms) relative to the use of bucket irrigation (32 farms). Hoeing or hand fork were the most efficient tools for weed management (66 farms) followed by hand picking (21 farms). Majority of the farmers (79 farms) applied insecticides to control insect pest and fungicides as the major means of diseases management (78 farms). Overall the average cost of cultivation was worked out to be Rs. 18007.18 farm-1 with the cost of large farms much higher than the small farms which is estimated as Rs. 26827.12 farm-1 and Rs. 12126.35 farm-1 respectively. The main problems faced by farmers were pest and diseases problems, insufficient irrigation, inadequate electricity for irrigation, infertility of soil, non-availability of fertilizers in time and suitable plant protection chemicals. The study concluded that cabbage farmer misused pesticides in terms of its types and quantity used in order to increase its production. In addition, consumers were exposed to high pesticide residue levels due to limited or no waiting period before cabbage heads were harvested