An Assessment of Economic Gains of Off-Season Vegetable Production in Faisalabad, Pakistan

This paper empirically quantifies vegetable production (off-season and on-season) in terms of economic returns. The data on bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is considered for analysis. The primary data was collected from a sample of 110 farmers in the district of Faisal Abad, Punjab Pakistan. The data was analysed using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique. The results show that there is a significant difference between the on-season and off-season application of pesticides to bitter guard crop. The results clearly reveal that bitter guards’ yield is significantly higher in the off-season than on-season. It was also found that off-season bitter guard fetches 66% higher price in the market than on-season bitter guard. The analysis also revealed that the cost of pesticides is 43% higher for on-season bitter gourd production than the off-season. The findings also indicate that the cost of fertilisers for the on-season crop was 14% less than the cost of the off-season. On the contrary, the cost of irrigation was 71% higher during on-season than the cost of irrigation in the off-season. Similarly, the cost of seed for on-season bitter guard production is 10% higher than the cost of seed for the off-season. It is concluded that off-season vegetable production is more profitable than on-season vegetable production in Punjab, Pakistan. It is recommended that farmers may be facilitated by the relevant authorities for growing the off-season vegetable production. The farmers should be provided with the necessary requirements for off-season vegetable production to enhance farmer income and improve their socioeconomic status.