Economics of marketing costs and margin of poultry products in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh

Poultry is one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India today. Its growth rate has been rising at the rate of 8 to 10 per cent per annum. As a result India is now the third largest egg producer and fifth largest producer of poultry meat in the world. Indian poultry industry has been growing rapidly at a rate of 15–20 per cent during last two decades. Therefore the study was undertaken in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh with the objectives to examine the marketing pattern of poultry products and identify the constraints in egg and broiler marketing in the study area. It was observed that the marketing efficiency was higher in channel III (producer-retailerconsumer) as compared to all other channels in egg as well as broiler marketing as only one intermediary was involved in this channel. The producers had rated exploitation by middlemen as foremost constraint in both layer and broiler marketing followed by disease outbreak which made the producers to hesitate from expanding their production units. The other major problem identified was poor infrastructural facility, high capital and difficulty in labour management.