ABSTRACT
This paper deals with the economic evaluation of a new technique of peanut growing in rainfed farming areas: flat cultivation of peanuts covered with perforated plastic sheets. Material and labour inputs as well as compensation for environmental losses are taken into consideration. The “replacement cost” approach has been adopted for evaluating environmental effects associated with the new technique and thereby carrying out the comparison of economic benefits derived from cultivation of peanuts with and without plastic mulch. Since all inputs in the two cases are only used for one peanut growing season, no discounting has been done in this study. The main emphasis is on the evaluation of technical and economic benefits; social and political factors are only briefly mentioned.
