Impact of csr bio - an eco-friendly bio-growth enhancer on increasing the profitability of horticultural crops to small and marginal land holders

The profitability of commercial crop production system in the current agricultural scenario of developing countries is being commonly encountered with problems of increasing input cost, diminishing marginal returns and negative drift of ecological balance due to indiscriminate use of plant protection chemicals. To overcome these problems a cost effective bio-growth enhancer CSR BIO was developed under National Agricultural Innovation Project and was intervened in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh which is one of the disadvantaged district designated by planning commission of India. The current study looked into the profitability of the formulation in commercial crops like tomato and banana with its impact on reducing use of chemical protection chemicals toxic to the environment. This investigation was carried out by descriptive survey from 2010 to 2013. Results showed an overall increase in yield up to 22.43 and 15.62 % in the adopters of tomato and banana which simultaneously increased the gross profitability to 20.11 and 17.39 % in banana and tomato, respectively. The study also showed the change in expenditure incurred in production and also in the use of plant protection chemicals which was 47.33 and 33.36 % lower than the non-adopters who didn’t practiced the technology. The results of this study furthermore indicates that assessing the impact of the eco-friendly cost effective technologies like CSR BIO would be a critical component of agricultural research as it helps to define priorities of research and guide researchers and those involved in technology transfer to have a better understanding of the way new technologies are assimilated and diffused into farming communities.