Department of Social Sciences, Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India
*Corresponding author: rk11107139@gmail.com (ORCID ID: 0000- 0002-6137-4589)
Online published on 15 October, 2020.
The study was conducted in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh because of its significant contribution to the area and production of Litchi in the state. The current study was an attempt to find out marketing cost, market margins, price spread, and marketing efficiency of litchi growers in the selected area. The interview schedule was use to collect primary data from 60 growers of the Kangra district and from 5 wholesalers, 5 retailers and 5 pre-harvest contractors in the market. The findings indicated that most of the farmers sold their produce through the pre-harvest contractor. Also, three main marketing channels were found prevalent in the study area for the marketing of Litchi crops. The channel-C (Producer → Preharvest contractor → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer) was found to be the most preferred channel as 50.28 percent of the produce was traded through this marketing channel. The price spread found to be maximum in channel-C which, was ` 3372.81. The marketing efficiency which was, estimated using Acharya’s method, discovered highest in channel-A followed by channels D, B, and C, respectively.
• Channel-C (Producer → Pre-harvest contractor → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer) found to be the most preferred channel in the study area, as 50.28 percent of the produce was traded through this marketing channel.
Marketing channels, Marketing costs, Marketing efficiency, The Price spread
