Role of Kapok plantation on the upliftment of rural economy of South Western Tamil Nadu

Abstract

This study was carried out with the overall objective of analyzing the economic incentives associated with the kapok plantations besides assessing the income and employment generation by the tree husbandry activities in the rural settings of South Western Tamil Nadu. Bodinaickanur taluk of Theni district was purposely selected as it had maximum area under tree husbandry activities following a three stage random sampling technique with district at first stage, taluk at second stage and the farmer respondent at third stage. The sample farms were post stratified into three income groups based on the annual household income and designated as Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3. As the size of holding increased, area under tree crops also increased. Analysis of source wise income revealed that tree husbandry activities are capable of generating higher income than that of crop husbandry activities and the cost of production of one thousand pods is also low as compared to its sale price. Production function analysis in respect of kapok show that the function is contributing an increasing return to scale.