Economic Assessment of Sea Buckthorn Cultivation and Processing in Conditions of Intensive Production

The cultivation of medicinal plants is a current topic of growing importance. In Europe, but also the world, the demand for high-quality food is constantly growing. Sea buckthorn can be considered a functional food, which is an intermediate step between classic foods and medicines. Sea buckthorn contains a high content of vitamin C, which makes it an ideal helper in the treatment of flu or angina; thanks to the high content of vitamin B, it heals burns, has antiseptic effects, consumption of products from this medicinal plant ensures prevention in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, supports digestion, detoxifies the body, purifies and supports the activity of the kidneys and urinary system, reduces high cholesterol, improves memory, has anti-inflammatory effects. In the contribution, we focus on the economic assessment of the cultivation and processing of this superfood in an intensive cultivation method. We modeled two alternatives: “Alternative A” - frozen fruits, “Alternative B” - 100% sea buckthorn juice. Based on the performed analysis, the second alternative is more economically efficient, given that the payback period is before the seventh vegetation year, the internal rate of return is at the level of 35.67% and the net present value reaches the level of 1,379,316 €. In the contribution, we also evaluated the intensity of production based on the resulting indicators (revenues, costs, management result per hectare, average profitability of revenues and costs) with conventional crops grown in the corn production area (wheat, barley, corn). We found that the values of all indicators were more favorable for sea buckthorn.