Economics of Marketing of Papaya in Middle Gujarat Region of Gujarat

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken with a view to study the marketing of papaya (Carica papaya L.) in Middle Gujarat. A multistage random sampling design was used for selecting the sample. The study covered 4 talukas, 12 villages and 120 papaya growers (37 marginal, 18 small, 25 medium and 40 large) from Anand and Vadodara districts of Gujarat. For studying price spread in marketing, five functionaries from each category of papaya marketing were randomly selected from Anand and Vadodara markets. The reference period of this study for farmers was August-2009 to January-2012 and for market functionaries it was April-2012. As papaya is a market oriented crop, on an average about 99 percent of production was marketed, while negligible portion was utilized for other purposes. The producer to pre harvest contractor to Wholesaler-cum-Commission agent to retailer to consumer was the major marketing channel as more than 90 percent of papaya moved through this route. The total cost in marketing of papaya per quintal was 526.95 which was 30.29 per cent of the consumers'rupee. Among it the highest marketing cost observed in pre harvest contractor which accounted as 183.12 per quintal followed by retailers (161.05), wholesaler-cum-commission agent (174.40) and growers (8.38) per quintal. The results also indicated that transportation cost was the major marketing cost possessed by pre-harvest contractor and wholesaler-cum-commission agent while retailer possessed damage cost. The margins in papaya marketing amounted to `614.45 per quintal which was 35.32 per cent of consumers’ rupee. The producer's share in consumer's rupee was estimated to be 34.39 per cent.