Production and marketing of vegetables in Malappuram district

Abstract

The present investigation on the production and marketing of vegetables (pumpkin and ashgourd) in Malappuram district was undertaken during the year 1981-82 to estimate the cost of cultivation, cost of production, benefit-cost ratio, price spread and to identify the marketing channels. The study was also aimed at identifying the problems of the farmers. Stratified multistage random sampling was adopted for the study. Costs A1, CostsA2, Cost B and Cost C per hectare were Rs.3457.39, Rs.4439.65, Rs.4984.49 and Rs.7898.16 respectively for pumpkin and Rs.3075.75, Rs.4072.80, Rs. 4603.25 and Rs.7324.97 respectively for ashgourd. The largest single item of input was human labour for pumpkin and ashgourd. In both the cases in terms of costs of operation irrigation was the most important item. The output of pumpkin was 14227.61 kg per hectare and it was 17201.03 kg per hectare for ashgourd. At the prices at which farmers sold these products, gross value of output was Rs.9796.66 for pumpkin and Rs.11362.13 for ashgourd, respectively. Cost of production per kilogram of pumpkin based on Cost A1, Cost A2, Cost B and Cost C were Re.0.21. Re.0.31, Re.0.35 and Re.0.56 respectively. For ashgourd they were Re.0.17, Re.0.24, Re.0.27 and Re.0.43 in the same order. Benefit-cost ratios based on Cost A1, Cost A2, Cost B and Cost C were 2.83, 2.21, 1.97 and 1.24 for pumpkin and 3.69, 2.79, 2.47 and 1.55 for ashgourd respectively. Farm business income for pumpkin was Rs.6339.27 per hectare and for ashgourd it was Rs.8286.38. Owned farm business incomes were Rs.5367.01 and Rs.7289.33 for pumpkin and ashgourd respectively. Family labour income for the production of pumpkin and ashgourd were Rs.4812.17 and Rs.6758.88 respectively. Net income for pumpkin was Rs.1898.50 and for ashgourd Rs.4037.16. Farm investment income for pumpkin and ashgourd were Rs.2443.74 and Rs.4567.61 respectively. Return over variable cost of ashgourd were Rs.3566.01 and Rs.5696.73 respectively. The predominant marketing channel was producer- wholesaler- retailer- consumer. About 50 per cent of the consumers’ rupee went to the middlemen in the marketing of both of pumpkin and ashgourd and hence the price spread was high. It was also found that the profit margin of intermediaries were very high, indicative of marketing inefficiency.