| dc.description.abstract | There has been concern in recent years regarding the efficiency of marketing of fruits
and vegetables, and that this is leading to high and fluctuating consumer prices and only a
small share of the consumer rupee reaching the farmers. Marketing of horticultural crops is
complex especially because of perishability, seasonality and bulkiness. The study seeks to
examine different aspects of their marketing, focusing particularly, on the wholesale markets
for fruits and vegetables which have been established to overcome deficiencies and improve
the marketing efficiency. Results indicate that in Ahmedabad the direct contact between
commission agents and farmers is very low. For vegetables this is 50 percent and for fruits
only 31 percent. Further, in the system of transaction, secret bidding and simple transaction
dominate and open auction is relatively rare. In KFWVM, Chennai, the wholesalers act as
commission agents and receive consignments directly from producing centers through agents
or producers. By and large the system of transaction remains traditional and open auction is
rarely seen. This is one major reason for poor efficiency. However, in the small AUS market in
Chennai, the farmers sell directly to consumers. The share of farmers in the consumer rupee in
Ahmedabad was 41.1 to 69.3 percent for vegetables and 25.5 to 53.2 percent for fruits. In
Chennai KFWVM, the farmers' share was 40.4 to 61.4 percent for vegetables and, 40.7 to 67.6
percent for fruits. In the small AUS market in Chennai, where the farmers sell directly to the
consumers, the share of farmers was as high as 85 to 95.4 percent for vegetables. This indicates
that if there are few or no middlemen, the farmers’ share could be much higher. In the Kolkata
market the share of farmers ranged from 45.9 to 60.94 percent for vegetables and 55.8 to 82.3
percent for fruits. Thus, the shares are frequently very low, but somewhat better in Chennai,
lower in Kolkata and even lower in Ahmedabad. The margin as a percentage of farmerconsumer
price difference (an efficiency measure) shows that in Ahmedabad, the margins are
very high and range from 69 to 94 percent. In Chennai they range from 15 to 69 percent, and in
Kolkata they range from 46 to 73 percent. The high percentage of margin to farmer-consumer
price difference is indicative of large inefficiencies and relatively poor marketing efficiency.
There is great need to improve the marketing of fruits and vegetables. One important measure
would be to bring more markets under regulation and supervision of a well-represented market
committee. Another measure would be the promotion and perhaps enforcement of open
auctions in the markets. Yet another measure could be efforts to bring more buyers and sellers
into the markets, bringing them closer to perfect markets. The direct participation of farmers
should be increased. Market infrastructure should be improved through storage (go-down)
facilities, cold storages, loading and weighing facilities. Improvement in the road network, and
cold-chain facilities are also of substantial importance. Greater transparency of the operations
through supervision and systems can also help substantially. The market integration and
efficiency can also be improved by making up-to-date market information available to all
participants through various means, including a good market information systems, internet and
good telecommunications facilities at the markets. | en |
