Abstract

The present study depicts the economics of nursery raising, cultivation and essential oil distillation of Lavender (Lavandula officinalis) produced in Himachal Pradesh. Cost components were calculated on the basis of prevailing market prices of inputs and outputs. Cost of raising rooted cutting in nursery worked out to be Re 0.70/plant. Cost of cultivation for producing an average spike yield of 35 q/ha/annum worked out to Rs. 54,049.25/ha/yr. Cost of essential oil production and net returns were calculated as Rs. 1,894.37/kg oil and Rs. 32,247.25/ha/yr, respectively. Lavender oil production is a remunerative venture with Rs. 50,310.00 as net present value (NPV), 12.72 per cent as internal rate of return (IRR) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) as 1.58 and break even production of oil at 12.33 kg as found out from the compiled data of Lavender production in Himachal Pradesh.

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