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INTRODUCTION
Agriculture in the Ecuadorian countryside is of great importance, since the demand for food is increasing, because as the population grows, the consumption of food increases.
Passion fruit cultivation occupies a vast planted area in the country, involving around 10,000 small and medium producers (Valarezo et al., 2014). The main producing areas are located in the provinces of Los Ríos, Guayas and Manabí, represent two-thirds of the planted area, contributing almost 75% of production. The price of this product is not constant because, during certain periods, there is a shortage in the production of the crop, and in others, an overproduction. Casa (2010), adds that this product behaves like a commodity and a seasonal product, so its price is cyclical. The yellow variety is the most widespread and accepted, it already has a higher industrial yield, which explains the great concentration of its production in the coastal region (Tigrero et al., 2016).
According to the INEC- Ecuador (2010), in 2019 the El Oro province had an area of 134 ha planted with this crop, with yields of 4.14 t/ha. Showing an adequate development and carrying out its exploitation in various communities, becoming a family-type activity, being its fast and safe commercialization, influenced by the demand of the national and international industry. So it becomes an attractive business for small producers in the area, allowing them to obtain economic income on a weekly basis.
According to Aguilar (2013), passion fruit prices are usually very volatile during the different stages of the year, the fruit can cost between 15 cents of a dollar to 18 almost 25 cents of a pound of fresh fruit, generally they are needed 5 to 6 fruits to complete a pound. The variation in prices is subject to supply-demand fluctuations, which is why most passion fruit producers in the coastal region seek to enter into pre-sale contracts in order to ensure the sale of their production to large industries, since almost the 95% of the passion fruit production is destined for the production of passion fruit concentrate. The price of a barrel of passion fruit concentrate ranges between $ 4,500.00 US dollars.
Within the production process of passion fruit, the activities that are required for the sowing process of this fruit are shown, where to carry it out, according to Durán & Alcívar (2020), the costs must be adequately estimated, since they determine the contribution that is obtained in business operations, helping decision-making. One of the problems that farmers have is that they do not accurately determine the production costs of the agricultural product and its profitability, due to the lack of academic preparation or because they often maintain their informal businesses.
Guajardo & Andrade (2008), profitability will allow us to visualize the return obtained by the equity invested in the company, that is, it represents the net profits that the company earns in the value of each sale. These must be taken into account by deducting financial or government charges and determines only the utility of the operation of the company. Regarding the benefit-cost indicator (B/C), it is interpreted as the amount obtained as a benefit, for each dollar invested, because for decision making, the following must be taken into account: B/C > 1 Se you can carry out the project. B/C = 1 It is indifferent to carry out the project. B / C <1 The project must be rejected (Aguilera, 2017).
Due to the aforementioned, the objective of the following investigative work is to know the productive process of passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), according to its particular characteristics and to determine its profitability for small production in the Vega Rivera Zone.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research was carried out in the Vega Rivera Zone, belonging to the Santa Rosa canton, El Oro province, Ecuador. Its population is 82 171 inhabitants (INEC- Ecuador, 2010).
The margarita farm, object of study, has a total of 35 ha, of which 28 ha are planted with forests, 5 with timber trees and 2 ha will destined for the sowing of passion fruit.
Determination of the Sample
For the research, part of the universe of small producers who are directly and indirectly dedicated to the production of passion fruit in the Vega Rivera area was considered, which corresponds to 12 passion fruit producers, who have similar characteristics, both in their daily life and production knowledge.
To determine the number of sample was employed probabilistic method, performing cluster sampling Otzen & Manterola (2017), valid to realize prevalence study or survey in inhabitants of a locality, well they are more economical and efficient.
Methodology for the Productive and Economic Evaluation
The methodology applied in the study that served to gather necessary information, was based on the review of bibliographic information available on the production process of passion fruit, visits to producers in the area to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the cultivation of the fruit, learn about the crops, its costs and its dependence on national and international markets. For this, observation and survey techniques were used. Once the information was obtained, it was tabulated and analyzed to determine the results.
For the economic evaluation, the expenses that will affect the production of passion fruit were determined, these will be accounted for in an appropriate calculation sheet to collect said information, taking into account the agricultural work for its sowing. Determining through these the production costs, the cost benefit ratio, the profitability and the cost of production of a kilogram of passion fruit.
CALCULATION OF BENEFIT-COST (B / C) AND PROFITABILITY
CALCULATION OF PRODUCTION COST PER KILOGRAM OF PASSION FRUIT
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Passion fruit production process
According to the bibliographies studied Miranda et al. (2009); Cañizares & Jaramillo (2015); Haro et al. (2020) and the interviews carried out with producers in the area, among the most important aspects to consider to establish a productive system of Passion fruit fall under edaphoclimatic conditions, requiring a minimum of 11 hours of light per day to start flowering and a temperature between 210 and 320.
The results of survey show that the producers in the zone produce passion fruits in own places, being not associated, what does he production more profitable. The 75% of this is dedicated to passion fruit cultivation in low scale, with 1 ha or less of crop area, that show uncertainly to cultivated this fruit in high extensions of land, while a 25% maintain2to 10 ha. The majority of respondents (75%) trade this production as fresh fruit, through to intermediaries, for this razon them have not identified the potential customers. Signaling the low price as ones of the main marketing problems (80%)
In the figure 1 it shows that 100% of these producers qualify the obtained profits as medium, valuing the demand between high (50%) and medium (50%) and the offer as medium (75%) and low (25%).
The production process of passion fruits to follow by the producer it shows in Figure 2. Where suggest variety ¨criolla sowing pf yellow color, for this zone, for the reasons stated above.
In what corresponds to the seedling process, they are generally made in plastic bags containing a mixture of three parts of soil and one part of manure. In each bag, between 3 to 4 seeds are planted, 1 cm deep, covering them with a light layer of soil. When the seed begins to grow and is at 3 to 5 cm, the strongest and most vigorous plant is selected while the others are separated from the seedbed.
Once the land is prepared, a planting distribution of 3 m between rows and 4 m between plants is established, for a total of 800 plants ha-1. A trellis must be placed with two wires of wire, built with posts 2.5 m high, which must be planted 60 cm according to Burbano & Villafuerte (2010) and 50 cm deep according to Saborío & Loría (2012), distributed 5 m from each other.
The harvest consists of collecting the yellow fruits from the plant. The fruits reach maturity between 50-60 days after anthesis (7-8 months after sowing), at this point they reach their maximum weight (130 g). A yield per hectare of 3 t (total for two hectares 6 t) is estimated, taking into account the density of 800 plants ha-1 mentioned above and the average production of other producers in the area.
Economic Evaluation
The Margarita will have 2 ha to passion fruit production. Actuality it has a gravity irrigation system without pumping, but into the future plane has a drip irrigation system acquisition for this crop production. The soil preparation is carried out by the producer himself manually. Although in the future three workers will be hired at a cost of 20 USD per journal, to guarantee the fruit production.
Table 1 shows the production costs in 1 ha of the passion fruit crop. Showing that the total cost of production is the $1090.00, the gross income from product sales corresponds to $1920.00, which allows a profit or net income of $830.00. Therefore, in the second year because production costs decrease in 37,61%, gross income high in 52,63%, to equivalent a 747.00 USD/ha. Because if will doing the sowing of 2 ha, as the entrepreneur think, these costs duplicating, as well as incoming.
TABLE 1 Production costs in 1 ha for the cultivation of passion fruit
|
|
Production cost in the firsrt year | Production cost in the second year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detal | Unit | Amount | Unit Cost | Total Cost | Amount | Unit Cost | Total Cost |
| DIRECT COSTS | |||||||
| workforce | |||||||
| Cleaning | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | |||
| Plow | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | |||
| Raking | Jornal | 1 | $ 20.00 | $ 20.00 | |||
| Impaling the ground | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | |||
| Wire placement | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | |||
| Renewal pruning | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 |
| Open irrigation dig | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | |||
| Irrigation system maintenance | Jornal | 2 | $ 20.00 | $ 40.00 | |||
| Subtotal 1 | 13 | $ 260.00 | 4 | $ 80.00 | |||
| Sowing | |||||||
| Sowing | Jornal | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 | |||
| Subtotal 2 | 3 | $ 60.00 | |||||
| Cultural labors | |||||||
| Weed Control | Jornal | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 |
| Subtotal 3 | 3 | $ 60.00 | 3 | $ 60.00 | |||
| Equipos y Materiales | |||||||
| Fumigate Pump | 1 | $ 30.00 | $ 30.00 | ||||
| galvanized Wire No.12 | kg | 150 | $ 2,20 | $ 330 | |||
| Tools | 1 | $ 20.00 | $ 20.00 | ||||
| Subtotal 4 | 2 | $ 380.00 | |||||
| Harvest | |||||||
| harvest | Jornal | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 |
| Transfer of fruit picking | Jornal | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 | 3 | $ 20.00 | $ 60.00 |
| Subtotal 5 | 6 | $ 120.00 | 6 | $ 120.00 | |||
| Supplies | |||||||
| Seeds | |||||||
| Seeds | unidades | 1 200 | $ 0.05 | $ 60.00 | |||
| Subtotal 6 | 1200 | $ 60.00 | |||||
| Fertilizers | |||||||
| YaramilaComplex (50 kg) | kg | 2 | $ 30.00 | $ 60.00 | 2 | $ 30.00 | $ 60.00 |
| Fertilizer 12-36-12 | kg | 1 | $ 28.00 | $ 28.00 | 1 | $ 28.00 | $ 28.00 |
| Subtotal 7 | 3 | $ 88.00 | 3 | $ 88.00 | |||
| Fungicides and Insecticides | |||||||
| Omite 30 w | kg | 3 | $ 9.00 | $ 27.00 | 3 | $ 9.00 | $ 27.00 |
| Fulminator 600 EC (120 ml) | mL | 2 | $ 10.00 | $ 20.00 | 2 | $ 10.00 | $ 20.00 |
| Subtotal 8 | 5 | $47.00 | 5 | $47.00 | |||
| Herbicide | |||||||
| Ranger 480 (1 litro) | L | 3 | $ 5.00 | $ 15.00 | 3 | $ 5.00 | $ 15.00 |
| Subtotal 9 | 3 | $ 15.00 | 3 | $ 15.00 | |||
| TOTAL DIRECT COSTS | $ 1090.00 | $ 410.00 | |||||
| INDIRECT COSTS | |||||||
| ------------------ | ------- | ------ | --------- | ------- | |||
| TOTAL PRODUCTION COSTS | $ 1090.00 | $ 410.00 | |||||
| GROSS INCOME | |||||||
| Product sale | kg | 4 000 | $ 0.48 | $ 1920.00 | $ 4140.00 | $ 0.48 | $ 1987.00 |
| NET INCOME | $ 830.00 | $ 1577.00 | |||||
The production costs have been determined by several authors for this crop Chuquilla (2012); López (2018) & Ospina (2019).
In Table 2, it is observed the ratio Benefit/Cost obtained for the first and second production year, reach values of 0.76 y 2.84 respectively. In the first year the investment is recuperated in 76%, while that the profitability for the second year is 284%. Which means that the cultivation of this fruit is feasible. Indicating that for every dollar invested there is a profit of 3.60 USD. Similar results were obtained by León (2013); Velasteguí & Guaman (2017) and Flores et al. 2019).
For Cuban conditions Reyes et al. (2016) demonstrated of farm diversification, as agriculture practice in smoll scale can be available, to obtained a profitability of 0.17 USD per each dollar investid; taking acount that, in the firts tree years, production increase, and as well as the costs. There for is recomendate to entrepeneur to diversificate it productions. (saled Wood and others) at lest in the first year, to increases the farm income.
Passion Fruit Production Cost per kilogram
The production cost per kilogram of passion fruit decrease in 47.3% in the second year production (0.20 USD) respect to the first year (0.56 USD). Simillar results obtened. Sinche (2016); in La Capilla sector, El Tambo Parish, Cantón Catamayo, Provincia de Loja, Ecuador.
CONCLUSIONS
The passion fruits production is profitability business for a small producer in Vega Rivera zone.
The benefit/cost ratio obtained is 0.76 & 2.84 for the first year and the second year, respectively. Indicating that for every dollar invested there is a profit of 3.60 USD
The passion fruit harvested cost per kilogram in Vega Rivera zone is 0.20 USD for the first year & 0.56 USD in the second year.
