Cost: benefit analysis of the potato seed production facility in Seetha Eliya farm of the Department of Agriculture in Sri Lanka

Potato is one of the important tuber crop in Sri Lanka, where high cost of potato seed has shrunken the comparative advantage of the crop. In order to reduce the seed potato production costs, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) has intervened by implementing high tech facility at Seetha Eliya in the Central province of Sri Lanka. In 2017, the facility has produced 1.2 million of potato mini tubers. However, no study has been done to evaluate the financial and economic feasibility of the facility to justify its establishment. This study aimed at fulfilling this gap. Primary data were collected from the seed farm at Seetha Eliya, and were analyzed using non-linear programing models for annual operating profitability. The production levels were used as inputs for the project appraisal techniques to evaluate the overall profitability at project economic lifespan. The results of the study showed that seed production in net houses is financially and economically feasible over conventional method. Even though the financial profitability is high in net house cultivation for production of only G0 seed, the economic profitability is high for the combined cultivation of G0 and G1 seeds. The expansion of the glass house space is strongly recommended owing to its limited capacity. Furthermore, seed production is suggested to be confined to G0 seeds under adverse conditions.