Economic feasibility of grow bag based cucumber and capsicum cultivation under greenhouse

Full text

458
Indian J. Hortic. 79(4), December 2022: 458-463
DOI : 10.5958/0974-0112.2022.00064.0
INTRODUCTION
Soilless cultivation is widely used in protected
cultivation for intensive horticultural production of
vegetables in a climate change environment with
limited land and water resources. In addition, many
greenhouse growers have shifted to soilless based
farming because the soil-borne diseases and root-
knot nematodes create serious problems for growing
the high value horticultural crop inside greenhouse.
Soilless cultivation is one of the components of
sustainable protected cultivation technology (Savvas
and Gruda, 11). In India, the soilless cultivation
technology under the greenhouse is in its nascent
stage and needs to be fully developed, standardized,
and indigenized for adoption in different agro-
ecological regions of the country. For large adoption
of soilless cultivation, an automatic fertigation system
needs to be developed as fertigation scheduling is
the most important, critical, and continuous activity
which is affected by a number of factors, including
crop parameters, climatic conditions, and substrate
culture. Numerous research studies on soilless
cultivation in greenhouses have been carried out
recently (Singh et al., 12; Singh et al., 13).
Further, one of the most important factors in the
adoption of soilless cultivation in greenhouses is
its economic feasibility and very few studies have
reported (Graadellis et al., 3; Engindeniz and Gul,
1; Sreedhara et al., 16; Gill, 2; Singh et al., 14). Many
studies revealed that the production of horticultural
crops inside protected structures ranging from 500 m2
onward were more protable and feasible (Murthy et
al., 7; Spehia, 15). Still, there is no study, especially
on the economic feasibility of crop combinations
cultivated under soilless grow bag system with
or without automation under Indian conditions.
Hence, such economic analysis would serve as a
base for the establishment of soilless cultivation
inside greenhouse. Growers can utilize cost and
returns budget to analyze total production costs and
revenue within diverse grower type, production time,
geographic region, operation area, and cost base
(Engindeniz and Gul, 1).
The present study aimed to determine the costs
and returns of capsicum and cucumber crops grown
in soilless grow bag cultivation inside the semi-
climate greenhouse and also help to develop a
Economic feasibility of grow bag based cucumber and capsicum
cultivation under greenhouse
R. D. Randhe*, Murtaza Hasan, D. K. Singh**, Pramod Kumar*** and Prakash, P.****
Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012,
NCT Delhi, India.
ABSTRACT
Soilless farming inside a protected structure is one of the promising technologies to produce nutritional
food for an ever growing population and to increase water use efciency where water is rare or unavailable.
In order to increase the adoption of soilless cultivation inside greenhouses, economic analysis needs to be
studied for growers’ budgetary planning. This study aimed to determine the costs and returns of capsicum and
cucumber crops grown in soilless grow bag system with developed automatic fertigation controller inside the
semi-climate greenhouse. And to develop a nancial statement for small greenhouse growers. The economics
of soilless cucumber and capsicum production in greenhouses was examined in this study. The yield and
returns from the cucumber and capsicum grown in 500, 1000, and 2000 m2 soilless greenhouses with developed
controller were calculated. In a 2000 m2 greenhouse, it was found that the net returns for cucumber and for
capsicum were Rs. 480858.1/- and Rs. 691286.2/- respectively. Techno-economic feasibility was carried out
with combinations of the crop under various sizes of greenhouses. Higher net present value, internal rate of
return, B:C ratio (1.62-2.56) and lower payback period (less than two years) were obtained under the automated
fertigation system in combinations of crops throughout the year under various sizes of greenhouse. Thus,
investment in coco-peat grow bag based soilless cultivation with an automatic fertigation controller system
was found to be protable and economically feasible.
Key words: Cucumis sativus, Capsicum annuum, soilless cultivation, economic feasibility.
*Corresponding author: ravindrardr@gmail.com, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Division, ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal-462038, Madhya Pradesh, India
**Division of Agricultural Engineering, ICAR- IARI, New Delhi, 110012, India
***Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi-110 012, India
****ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
-695017

459
Capsicum and cucumber in grow bags in green house
nancial statement for small greenhouse growers
who are going to use this soilless grow bag technique.
Furthermore, a feasibility study of possible soilless
cucumber and capsicum crop combinations in various
sizes of greenhouse with or without a developed
controller was conducted for sustainable adoption of
grow bag based soilless cultivation in India.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study was conducted on yellow-
coloured capsicum and cucumber crops which were
selected based on their short and long duration of
growth inside a 200 m2 climate-controlled greenhouse
at the Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology
(CPCT) in the Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi, during 2019–2021. In this experiment,
developed weight and timer based automatic
fertigation controller system was used for fertigation
scheduling of cucumber and capsicum grown in
coco-peat grow bags inside a greenhouse. This
automatic fertigation system maintained the adequate
amount of water and optimize dose of nutrient in each
irrigation events during the production of cucumber
and capsicum. Other details of soilless cucumber and
capsicum cultivation and production with automatic
fertigation controller system can be found out in
Randhe et al. (9) and Randhe et al. (10) prequel of
this paper.
From the experiment, yield data and other
parameters of cucumber and capsicum grown in
a greenhouse were taken for costs and returns
analysis. Thus, prots and expenditure data were
collected, for instance, and a nancial statement for
growers was developed. Then, the techno-economic
feasibility of the developed fertigation controller was
carried out by evaluating the capsicum and cucumber
crops with and without the controller under different
sizes of greenhouse. For selection of greenhouse
size, it was considered that the developed controller
was suitable for fertigation scheduling up to 2000
m2 greenhouse. Therefore, greenhouses were
selected and divided into three groups according to
the standard sizes, i.e. 500 m2, 1000 m2 and 2000
m2. Data related to the cost of fan pad greenhouse
components and management was taken as per the
cost norms of various components of the National
Horticulture Board. Then the data was statistically
analyzed and converted into an economic outline of
a typical greenhouse unit.
Costs and prots analysis was done to estimate
the costs and returns of capsicum and cucumber
crops grown in coco-peat grow bag with an automatic
fertigation controller inside the protected structure.
The costs were divided into xed and variable costs.
Fixed costs included land rental value, interest on
xed capital, the amortized cost of crop setup and
depreciation. The variable costs associated with
crop production were all inputs that directly related
to the production of cucumber and capsicum, and
it includes interest on working capital, planting
materials, plant protection chemicals, fertilizers,
labour, electricity charges (including electricity
units consumed by fertigation pump and fan), and
packaging and transportation costs (approx. cost per
kg is considered for this activity).
Gross and net returns were calculated to
determine the protability level of soilless capsicum
and cucumber grown with the developed automatic
fertigation controller in a semi-climate greenhouse.
The gross income was calculated by multiplying the
total quantity of capsicum and cucumber produced
with the price of the produce, which is xed by the
institute price xation committee representing real
market situation. While all production costs were
subtracted from gross income to get to their net
income.
Feasibility analysis of soilless cultivation was
carried out by assuming the project life of the soilless
vegetable-based greenhouse is to be 12 years.
Additionally, it was considered that capsicum could
only be grown once a year while cucumber could be
grown three times every year in a greenhouse. The
project evaluation technique, namely net present
value (NPV), benet cost ratio (BCR), internal rate of
return (IRR), and payback period, were employed to
evaluate the feasibility of the soilless capsicum and
cucumber cultivation with or without a developed
controller under the subsidized greenhouse (Kothari
et al., 5; Jain et al., 4; Kothari et al., 6).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The establishment cost of soilless cucumber
and capsicum under GI-framed polyhouse structures
as practiced in India in coco-peat grow bags is
presented in Table 1. The highest proportion of
this cost is accounted by the polyhouse structure,
which accounts for approx. 76-77% of the total
establishment cost for all sizes of structure. While
the cost of irrigation and fertigation system accounts
about 10-13% and crop establishment cost accounts
approx. 9-12% of the total establishment cost. The
total establishment cost of soilless cucumber and
capsicum under the greenhouse with subsidy is Rs.
6.16 lakhs, Rs. 10.54 lakhs, and Rs. 19.50 lakhs for
the greenhouse of the sizes 500 m2, 1000 m2, and
2000 m2, respectively. The cost of the fertigation
controller is Rs. 50,000/- for all sizes of greenhouse.
It was considered that the developed controller is
suitable for fertigation scheduling up to 2000 m2
greenhouse. The cost of the controller was removed,

460
Indian Journal of Horticulture, December 2022
and the cost of labour was calculated to estimate
the establishment cost with subsidy for conventional
fertigation.
The details of the cost of cultivation of cucumber
and capsicum are depicted in Table 2. The cost of
cultivation of soilless cucumber and capsicum under
the semi-climate greenhouse is divided into two
groups: xed costs and variable costs. The total cost
of cultivation of soilless cucumber was found higher
as compared to soilless capsicum with and without
a controller for the different greenhouse sizes of 500
m2, 1000 m2, and 2000 m2 respectively.
The gross and net return from the soilless
cucumber and capsicum grown under greenhouses
is presented in Table 3. The price per kg of yellow-
coloured capsicum and seedless cucumber was xed
at Rs. 100.00 and Rs. 40.00, respectively, by the
institute price xation committee, and accordingly it
was taken for gross and net return calculation. The
yield of cucumber was 5000 kg, 10000 kg, and 20000
kg, and the gross returns were Rs. 2 lakhs, Rs. 4
lakhs, and Rs. 8 lakhs from cucumber crops grown
in four months in greenhouse sizes of 500 m2, 1000
m2, and 2000 m2, respectively. For the calculation of
returns, the xed cost was taken in proportion to the
crop duration (4 months). For four months, the net
returns of cucumber crop with controller were found
Rs. 103862.4/-, Rs. 230444.6/- and Rs. 480858.1/-
for 500 m2, 1000 m2 and 2000 m2 greenhouses,
respectively, after meeting the total cost of crop
duration (4 months). The yield of soilless capsicum
was achieved 3000 kg, 6000 kg, and 12000 kg
per eight months, for greenhouse sizes of 500 m2,
1000 m2, and 2000 m2, respectively. Average gross
returns for a capsicum crop in eight months were
obtained Rs. 3 lakhs, Rs. 6 lakhs, and Rs. 12 lakhs for
greenhouse sizes of 500 m2, 1000 m2, and 2000 m2,
respectively. For the calculation of returns, the xed
Table 1. Establishment cost of soilless cucumber and capsicum under greenhouse.
Particulars Life
(years)
500 m21000 m22000 m2
Amount (Rs.) % to total Amount (Rs.) % to total Amount (Rs.) % to total
1Polyhouse structure
Structural frame (GI pipe) 12 263418 26.8 552530 33.7 1074166 35.9
Polythene sheet 6 95223 9.7 107785 6.6 193894 6.5
Shade net 6 28822 2.9 39008 2.4 74663 2.5
Fan and pad system 12 170000 17.3 230000 14.0 325000 10.9
Packaging machines 12 50000 5.1 50000 3.1 50000 1.7
HDPE sheet ooring 12 70000 7.1 140000 8.5 280000 9.4
Miscellaneous 12 78592 8.0 150000 9.2 310569 10.4
Sub total 756055 76.8 1319322 77.5 2358291 77.2
2
Irrigation system 6 79000 8.0 129000 7.9 258000 8.6
Fertigation controller 5 50000 5.1 50000 3.1 50000 1.7
Sprayers 5 6000 0.6 6000 0.4 6000 0.2
Sub total 135000 13.7 185000 11.3 364000 10.5
3Crop establishment
Grow bags(Rs 180/bags) 3 90000 9.1 180000 11.0 360000 12.0
Miscellaneous 3 1500 0.2 2000 0.1 4000 0.1
Labour 3 1800 0.2 2400 0.1 3000 0.1
Sub total 93300 9.5 184400 11.3 367000 12.3
4Total establishment cost 984355 100.0 1638722 100.0 2989291 100.0
5 Subsidy 368028 609661 1114145
6Establishment cost with
subsidy and controller
616328 1054061 1950146
7Establishment cost with
Subsidy & without controller
566328 979061 1825146

461
Capsicum and cucumber in grow bags in green house
cost was taken in proportion to the crop duration. For
eight months, the net returns of the capsicum crop
with controller were Rs. 1.34 lakhs, Rs. 3.17 lakhs,
and Rs. 6.91 lakhs for 500 m2, 1000 m2, and 2000
m2 greenhouses, respectively, after meeting the total
cost of the crop duration (8 months).
The feasibility analysis of crop combinations
cultivated under soilless greenhouse with or without
a developed controller is depicted in Table 4. The
various sizes of greenhouses with subsidies were
considered for analysis of the feasibility of the
developed controller in soilless cultivation. In case of
automatic fertigation with controller at 12% discount
rate, the IRR ranged from 57% for capsicum to 2334%
for cucumber-cucumber-cucumber depending on the
crops raised and various sizes of greenhouse. The
NPV ranged from Rs. 7.28 lakhs for capsicum to
Rs. 87.72 lakhs for cucumber-cucumber-cucumber.
The benet-cost ratio ranged from 1.62 for capsicum
to 2.56 for capsicum with cucumber. The payback
period for the cultivation of soilless cucumber and
capsicum with controller was found to be lowest
at 1.03 for cucumber-cucumber-cucumber and
highest at 2.44 years for capsicum depending on
the sizes of greenhouse. Thus, the greenhouse
soilless cultivation of capsicum and cucumber
was sustainable, feasible, and protable with the
developed fertigation controller. Under conventional
fertigation system at 12% discount rate, the IRR
varies from 12% for capsicum to 699% for cucumber-
cucumber-cucumber. The NPV ranged from Rs. 0.07
lakhs for capsicum to Rs. 75.99 lakhs for cucumber-
cucumber-cucumber. The benet-cost ratio ranged
from 1.0 for capsicum to 2.09 for capsicum with
cucumber. Thus, it is revealed that the cultivation
crops under conventional fertigation system is found
only few crop combinations appear to be rewarding
under 500 m2 area and quite rewarding with 1000
m2 and 2000 m2 areas. Previous research studies
also reported that growing horticultural crops in
polyhouses and soilless systems was profitable
(Graadellis et al., 3; Murthy et al., 7; Engindeniz
Table 2. Cost of cultivation of soilless cucumber and capsicum.
Particulars Cucumber Capsicum
500 m21000 m22000 m2500 m21000 m22000 m2
Amount
(Rs.)
Amount
(Rs.)
Amount
(Rs.)
Amount
(Rs.)
Amount
(Rs.)
Amount
(Rs.)
A. Fixed cost
Rental value of land 5000 10000 20000 5000 10000 20000
Land revenue 8 15 30 8 15 30
Interest on xed capital @ 12% p.a 73959 126487 234017 73959 123487 225017
Amortization of crop establishment 22691 44846 89254 22691 44846 89254
Depreciation 59339 88674 162115 59339 87007 151448
Total xed cost 160996 270022.5 505417 160996 265355.8 485750
B. Variable cost
Planting material (Cucumber seeds) 16000 32000 64000 4000 8000 16000
Plant protection 2894 5787 11574 3308 6617 13234
Fertilizer 10173 20346 40691 14002 28005 56010
Labour cost (With Controller) 9275 21000 34125 12075 26600 29400
Labour cost (Without Controller) 84000 91000 101062.5 140000 148866.7 154700
Electricity charges 11306 15118 30235 18547 24657 49095
Packaging and transportation 5000 10000 20000 6000 12000 24000
Interest on working capital @ 7% p.a 3825 7298 14044 4055 7411 13142
B(i) Total variable cost with controller 42472 79548 150670 57988 105290 184881
B(ii) Total variable cost without controller 117197 149548 217607 185913 227556 310181
Total cost with controller [A+B(i)] 203468 349570 656086 218984 370646 670631
Total cost without controller [A+B(ii)] 278193 419570 723024 346908.8 492912.2 795930.5

462
Indian Journal of Horticulture, December 2022
and Gul, 1; Spehia, 15; Punera et al., 8; Singh
et al., 14).
The overall results revealed that the highest
net present value, internal rate of return, B:C ratio,
and lowest payback period were obtained under the
automated fertigation system in combinations of
crops (capsicum and cucumber) throughout the year,
followed by the manual control fertigation system in all
combinations of crops. The benet-to-cost ratio was
highest in the combinations of cucumber-cucumber-
cucumber and capsicum-cucumber throughout the
year, varying in the range of 2.06-2.08 (for 500 m2)
to 2.45-2.56 (for 2000 m2), indicating that the growing
of capsicum and cucumber crops in combination
for greenhouse soilless system was economically
viable. Also, a payback period of less than two
years was observed for combinations of soilless
cucumber-cucumber-cucumber and capsicum-
cucumber cultivation in various sizes of greenhouses,
varying from 500 to 2000 m2. Thus, investment in
soilless cultivation with combinations of cucumber-
cucumber-cucumber and capsicum-cucumber crops
under an automated fertigation controller system
was found protable and economically feasible on a
long-term basis. Therefore, growers are advised to
adopt soilless cultivation with the use of a developed
indigenous conditional controller for fertigation
scheduling to get maximum production and returns
Table 3. Returns from soilless cucumber and capsicum with controller.
Returns components Cucumber Capsicum
500 m21000 m22000 m2500 m21000 m22000 m2
Number of plants in greenhouse (No.) 2000 4000 8000 2000.0 4000.0 8000
Yield per plant (kg) 2.5 2.5 2.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Total Production (kg) 5000.0 10000.0 20000.0 3000.0 6000.0 12000.0
Average sale price per kg (Rs./kg) 40.0 40.0 40.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Gross return (Rs.) 200000.0 400000.0 800000.0 300000.0 600000.0 1200000.0
Total cost(Rs.)*96137.6 169555.4 319141.9 165318.5 282193.6 508713.8
Net return (Rs.) 103862.4 230444.6 480858.1 134681.5 317806.4 691286.2
Note: Fixed cost was taken in proportion to crop duration (4 months for cucumber and 8 months for capsicum)
Table 4. Feasibility analysis of crop combinations cultivated under soilless cultivation for developed controller.
Crop
combinations
Feasibility criteria With controller With conventional system
500 m21000 m22000 m2500 m21000 m22000 m2
Cucumber-
cucumber
NPV (Lakh Rs.) 10.70 23.44 49.78 1.55 15.47 42.21
IRR (%) 84 130 172 21 78 134
B:C ratio 1.75 1.89 2.01 1.07 1.45 1.74
PBP (years) 2.08 1.55 1.42 4.24 2.1 1.48
Capsicum NPV (Lakh Rs.) 7.28 17.78 39.04 0.07 10.91 31.99
IRR (%) 57 86 111 12 53 87
B:C ratio 1.62 1.89 2.08 1.0 1.41 1.74
PBP (years) 2.44 2.07 1.72 8.09 2.39 2.04
Cucumber-
cucumber-
cucumber
NPV (Lakh Rs.) 19.30 42.13 87.72 6.13 29.84 75.99
IRR (%) 238 623 2334 52 220 699
B:C ratio 2.06 2.29 2.45 1.2 1.66 2.032
PBP (years) 1.30 1.12 1.03 2.24 1.25 1.09
Capsicum-
cucumber
NPV (Lakh Rs.) 16.28 36.10 76.17 4.45 24.90 64.97
IRR (%) 165 327 609 39 151 346
B:C ratio 2.08 2.37 2.56 1.17 1.66 2.09
PBP (years) 1.46 1.24 1.13 3.02 1.38 1.20

463
Capsicum and cucumber in grow bags in green house
even though the initial capital investment for soilless
cultivation is high.
AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTION
Conceptualization of research (RDR, MH, DKS);
Execution of experiments and data collection (RDR,
MH, PK); Analysis of data and interpretation (RDR,
PK, PP); Preparation of the manuscript (RDR, MH,
DKS, PK, PP).
DECLARATION
Authors declare no conict of interest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge the ICAR-IARI, New
Delhi for nancial assistance in the form of IARI
Ph.D. fellowship and extend their sincere gratitude
to ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal for granting study leave.
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Received : August, 2022; Revised : October, 2022;
Accepted : November, 2022