Economic cultivation and marketing of elephant foot yam in Andhra Pradesh

In India, elephant Foot Yam (EFY) is grown traditionally in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. The tubers are rich in medicinal properties and hence became an integral part of age old Indian medicinal practices including Ayurveda, siddha and Unani. However, it’s cultivation is restricted to only few regions and moreover, marketing is a major concern for the farmers as they depend only on commission agents for procurement and marketing. Hence an attempt was made in this study to analyze the cost of cultivation, identify the marketing channels and bring out the strategies for efficient marketing of foot yam. Bapatla and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradesh were selected for the study as the crop is primarily cultivated in this area. By using secondary data, the average annual growth rates of area and production of EFY were worked out in the state and it revealed a meager increase in area by 0.14% whereas production declined by 3.82% during 2023-24. Analysis of primary data collected from the farmers cultivating elephant foot yam in the study area during 2022-23 has revealed that the total cost of cultivation was Rs. 7,03,707.45 per hectare. Among different inputs, the cost incurred on planting material constitutes about 38.08 per cent of total cost incurred i.e. Rs. 2,67,995/ha. The gross income obtained by the farmer was Rs.13,65,460/ha and the net returns were Rs.6,61,753/ha. In order to overcome the marketing challenges faced by the farmers, an efficient value chain system has to be established by directly linking the farmers to the processors or by establishing an organized retail chain system. As the tubers have high export potential, the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) can be promoted for training the farmers especially on quality control, postharvest management, packaging, branding etc. and also to tap the international markets. On a priority basis, sufficient numbers of processing units are to be set up for preparation of value-added products.