African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 11 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2023. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Economic evaluation of bell pepper production under colored shade nets system in the southeast region of the USA

Esendugue Greg Fonsah¹, *Saurav Raj Kunwar² and Juan Carlos Díaz-Pérez³

¹Department of Ag & Applied Economics, University of Georgia. 2360 Rainwater Road, Tifton, GA 31793.

²Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 336 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL.

³Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia. 2360 Rainwater Road, Tifton, GA 31793.

Accepted 01 September, 2022

Abstract

Bell pepper (Capsicum annum L.) is one of Georgia’s top ten commercial vegetables and an essential crop in the southeast and the United States at large. In 2020, Georgia reported a farm gate value of $126 million. Economic Research Service report shows that bell pepper production fell by 11% in 2020 compared to 2019. The annual US utilized production was 1,200.4 million pounds in 2017; in 2020, it decreased to barely 821.9 million pounds, hence a 31.5% decrease. As a result, the University of Georgia started researching bell pepper production under the colored shade nets in 2015 to determine if plant growth and fruit yields would be superior to the conventional system. The research aimed to determine whether the bell pepper produced under the colored shade nets will provide a superior return to investment to the growers vis-à-vis the conventional system. Our findings will be crucial to the vegetable industry and stakeholders in their crop production decision-making process and profit-maximizing goal.

Keywords: Bell pepper, colored shade, costs, risk-rated returns, sensitivity analysis.