A Comparative Economic Analysis of Bitter Gourd and Snake Gourd Production in Some Selected Areas of Mymensingh District

The study attempts to examine the costs, returns and relative profitability of bitter gourd and snake gourd production and socio-economic characteristics of sample farmers in two selected villages of Mymensingh district. Two villages namely Noudar and Solimpur under Trishal upazila in Mymensing district. Data were collected from the study areas by direct interview method. The duration of data collection was June 2024 to May 2025. Total 100 sample farmers from two villages were selected by multi-stage random sampling method. Collected data were processed and analyzed. Both tabular and statistical techniques were used. In this study, Regression analysis, STATA software were used for the results. In the study Cobb-Douglas production function model was used. Secondary data were also used in the study. The major findings of the study are: i) farmers of Noudar received higher gross and net returns than those of Solimpur, ii) benefit-cost ratio of bitter gourd farming was 1.82 and it was 1.34 for snake gourd farming. Bitter gourd production was profitable compared to Snake gourd, iii) years of schooling in Noudar was 5.9 and it was 4.5 in Solimpur. For bitter gourd farming, the co-efficient of multiple determinations R2 was 0.98 and F-value was 237.42. F-value of the estimated production function was significant at 1% probability level which implied good fit of the model. The co-efficient of multiple determinations R2 was .86 and F-value was 20.79. The F- value was significant at 1% probability level which implied good fit of the model. However, the production of bitter gourd and snake gourd vegetables were profitable in the study areas. Measures should be taken to ensure easy availability of chemicals fertilizers and other essential agricultural inputs to the farmers.