Price Spread, Marketing Efficiency and Postharvest Losses in Marketing of Selected kharif Vegetables in Palghar District of Maharashtra State, India

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Vegetables play an important role both in the regional and national economy of the agricultural sector. These crops are generally of short duration. The post-harvest losses in kharif vegetables due to insufficient storage, packaging, transportation, and handling technologies for perishable crops, such as vegetables, lead to significant wastage. The present study was undertaken to estimate these losses at various stages and price spread of selected vegetables in study area. The study was conducted in Palghar district of Maharashtra, involving 90 farmers, 6 commission agents, 9 wholesalers and 30 retailers, that the study involves multiple groups of stakeholders (farmers, commission agents, wholesalers, and retailers), with specific numbers from each group. The sampling technique used in this case likely purposive sampling. The important kharif vegetables were identified for the detailed analysis. In of case brinjal the total postharvest losses were 12.62 kg/q. out of which maximum postharvest losses of brinjal vegetables was observed to be highest (4.62 kg/q), at retailer level followed by (3.2 kg/q) at wholesaler level and (1.65 kg/q) at commission agent level. Similarly in case of okra, postharvest losses in kharif season was estimated to 13.52 kg /q, out of which the retailers level postharvest losses was highest at (5.12 kg/q), followed by (3.78 kg /q) at wholesaler level, (2.87 kg /q) at farmer level and (1.75 kg/q) at commission agent level .Whereas for cowpea total postharvest losses was workout to 12.73 kg/q out of which 4.12 kg /q postharvest losses was observed at retailer level, 3.65 kg /q losses at wholesaler level, 3.08 kg /q at farmer level and 1.88 kg /q postharvest losses at commission agent level. In study were identified channel-I (Producer-Commission agent-wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer), channel-II (Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer) and channel-III(Producer-Consumer). For brinjal, the price spread was Rs. 2962.91 in Channel-I and Rs. 2634.72 in Channel II, with marketing efficiency of 1.01, 1.24, and 33.76 in Channels-I, II, and III, respectively. Channel-III exhibited the highest marketing efficiency, while Channel II had the lowest price spread. For okra, the price spread was Rs. 1939.70 in Channel-I and Rs. 1733.20 in Channel II, with marketing efficiency of 1.51, 1.85, and 28.84 in Channels-I, II, and III, respectively. Channel II demonstrated the highest marketing efficiency and lowest price spread. In the case of cowpea, the price spread was Rs. 4000 in Channel-I and Rs. 3260 in Channel-II, with marketing efficiency of 0.91, 1.76, and 29.76 in Channels -I, II, and III, respectively. Again, Channel III provided the highest efficiency, while Channel II had the lowest price spread. Channel-III emerged as the most efficient channel for all crops due to the direct sale to consumers, resulting in the highest marketing efficiency. Channel-II also showed better efficiency, especially in okra, while Channel-I consistently had the lowest efficiency across all crops.