Chilli plus muskmelon intercropping - An innovative module for doubling the farmers income

Land fragmentation is also biggest issue in Deesa pocket of Banaskantha district. Thus, to combat this situation, Krushi Vigyan Kendra, Banaskantha-I, innovated and tested intercropping module of chilli + muskmelon (1:2) on plastic mulch with drip irrigation during summer season on farmers field. Results of the study revealed that, chilli produced 248.58 q/ha and 233.75 q/ha green fruit yield and muskmelon produced 290.28 q/ha and 302.60 q/ha of fruit yield in intercropping system during the year 2018 and 2019, respectively. Crop equivalent yield was 373.87 q/ha and 364.37 q/ha with 1.80 and 1.81 land equivalent ratio during 2018 and 2019, respectively. Economical point of view, intercropping system earned gross income Rs.10.39 and 10.12 lakh/ha with net return of Rs.7.87 and Rs.7.51 lakh/ha and BCR 4.12 and 3.88 during the year 2018 and 2019, respectively. From the present investigation it is concluded that CMI module (Chilli and muskmelon intercropping) (1:2) could be promising in terms of efficient resource utilization, reduce cost as well as abiotic stress and higher productivity with more revenue generation. This module has gained very much popularity within a short time among the farmers and covered 566.92 hectare area in one year.