Abstract:
Spine-gourd is a naturally grown vegetable crop which locally introduced as Thumbakarivila. Due
to its medicinal and nutritional values, deliciousness, limited production and seasonality, this
vegetable crop fetches good demand and high price in the market. Despite its’ demand, organized
cultivation of spine-gourd was lack due to its short harvesting period, low yield, tuber dormancy
and lack of standard propagation techniques. After introducing hybrid spine-gourd by the
Department of Agriculture, production of this crop has noticeably increased during the current
decade. This study aimed to estimate total farm productivity and factors determined the spine
gourd productivity. Sixty-nine (69) spine gourd farmers in Monaragala and Hambantota districts
were randomly selected to be in the sample by employing multi-stage sampling procedure.
Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire. Major productivity determinants
used in the analysis were Gross Margin analysis (GM), Total Factor productivity (TFP) and Partial
Factor Productivity (PFP) analysis. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression methods were
employed to identify major factors that influencing the productivity. Results indicated that gross
margin (profit) was Rs. 1,410,219 with total cost of Rs. 1,377,657 per hectare. Mean TFP was 4.7
with minimum of 0.4 and maximum of 12.8. Linear function (OLS) shows that predictors of
education, cultivated extent, total labour, amount of fertilizer and income through spine gourd
farming had significant association with TFP. According to PFP analysis, the highest factor
productivity was incurred by extent cultivated. Amount of fertilizer and labour days used also
decisive factors for productivity enhancement. Study concluded that spine-gourd is still a
profitable business for dry zone farmers albeit diseases and lack of planting materials were found
as major issues. Study recommended expanding cultivation further through facilitating farmers
with healthy planting materials or providing technology for own planting material production.
Controlling virus and bacterial incidences will leads for advantageous to the consumer for buying
spine gourd at reasonable price without harming producer’s average profit margin.
