Resource use efficiency of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India

This study aimed to assess the profitability and resource use efficiency of bitter gourd production during the agricultural year 2021-22 in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. A multistage stratified purposive cum random sampling technique was employed to select the district, block, villages, and respondents. A pre-tested questionnaire collected primary data and information from 100 bitter gourd-producing farmers. These farmers were classified into 66 marginal, 23 small, and 11 medium categories, selected from five villages in the Dubeypur block of Sultanpur district. Cobb-Douglas production function was employed to estimate resource use efficiency and analyse the functional relationship between inputs and output. The t-test was used to examine the significance of factor elasticities, while the F-test was applied to test the significance of the R2. The findings of the study revealed that the return to scale in bitter gourd production was increasing, indicating the potential for further investment in variable inputs to optimize income. Moreover, the Marginal Value Product was greater than one in most cases, indicating favourable prospects for investment. Aggregate measures calculated for financial efficiency indicated that marginal farms yielded higher profitability than small and medium farms. This demonstrates the comparative advantage of marginal farms regarding farm business income. The study highlights the importance of resource allocation and investment decisions for enhancing profitability in bitter gourd production.