20 

 Economic Evaluation of Vegetable Cropping Patterns 



Cropping patterns are sometimes assessed in terms of various 

 economic parameters (105, H3» 120, I3I, 132). Methods and analyticaJ. 

 tools have been developed to enable farm management researchers to 

 evaluate yield responses of new crop cultivars, various levels of ' 

 mechanization, input-output relationships and net income (I05) • These 

 methods, however, were often developed and used for single crop enter- 

 prises. Menegay (I05) reported that current azialytical tools for 

 measuring, evaluating, studying, or comparing multiple cropping patterns 

 are limited in scope and flexibility. 



Two general economic criteria involving land use and production 

 are commonly used in evaluating performance of cropping patterns. 

 Several indices such as multiple cropping index (WCl) , diversity index 

 (DI), harvest diversity index (HDl), simultaneous cropping index (SGl), 

 cultivated land utilization index (CLUl) , and crop intensity index 

 (CIl) have been used to measure this criterion (I05, I06, 107, 157). 

 Crop intensity index (CIl) is more precise because it provides an assess- 

 ment of farmer's actual land use from an area-time perspective and 

 defines the composition of land use (I07). The use of indices ^o com- 

 pare economic perfonaance of cropping patterns is more appropriate in 

 studies conducted under actual farTn conditions where faiin sizes are 

 variable and cropping patterns within a farm vary from parcel to parcel. 



Level of returns to resources and other production inputs is 

 the most commonly used criterion in evaluating economic perfoiTnance 

 of cropping patterns because it relates inputs and products in terms 



