Agri-entrepreneurship Development through Market Linkage in Bihar: A Situation Analysis

Abstract

"This paper focuses on the importance of markets to the rural people and strategies to achieve the remunerative price of their produce in order to reduce hunger and poverty as well as promoting health and nutrition in Bihar. It also undertakes a situational analysis of existing marketing pattern, disposal pattern as well as expenses incurred while marketing of major vegetable crops in the target district of Bihar based on five year average of data collected from traders, producers and consumers for the period from 2013-2018. Pattern of marketing of major vegetables in the selected markets indicated that there was an increasing trend in arrivals and prices of different vegetables over different periods, it might be because of the increase in general price level and increase in population. However, the major focus was on development of entrepreneurs of proper enterprise based policy for enhancing livelihood security and establishment of procurement centres in each zone that would act as added incentives to the vegetable growers. Therefore reliance type of organized retail market at public- private mode should be initiated as an alternate channel for the marketing of vegetables and for dairy products in which value addition should be initiated by the farmers. Linking small farmers to markets would only be possible through an organized mandi /proper collection centres i.e. one centre for five villages should be established to assure the supply of vegetables in Bihar."