Abstract:
Kalpitya area belongs to the Agro ecological region low country dry zone and there is
an increasingly demand for cultivation of cool season crop, cauliflower. Study was
conducted among randomly selected 24 cauliflower cultivating farmers in Puttlam
district of Sri Lanka to study cultivation practices and profitability of Cauliflower. The
study showed that about 52 % of farmers having the land extent ranging from 0.5 to 1
acre, 8 % of them having more than 1 acre and 40 % of farmers having less than 0.5
acres of land. They intensively cultivated raddish, beet root, chilli, red onion, tobacco,
brinjal, okra and tomato. The commonly cultivated cauliflower varieties are Rajadha,
Whiteshot, Contra, White green and other hybrids. More than 78 % of farmers
cultivated the variety Whiteshot. Farmers are not interested to prepare separate nursery
bed for cauliflower and sow seeds in selected place inside the field. They applied cow
dung at the rate of 10 mt/ha and transplanted seedlings at the age of 21 to 28 days. They
irrigated crops two times per day soon after planting as well as during hot days.
Fertilizer application was fallowed as guided by Department of Agriculture. Harvesting
was started after the 40 to 45 days of transplanting and continued up to 55 days. The
average weights of curd during yala and maha season were 250 -300 grams and 300 to
400 grams respectively. Cargill’s food city has purchased 50 % of the product at farm
gate and other markets were Colombo market (30 %) and economic centers (15%) and
local market (5%). Market price varies from 100 to 200 rupees depending on quality.
The net expenditure and net profit per acre were 83610.00 and 164375.00 rupees
respectively.
