Price behavior and market integration of chickpea in major producing states of India

Present study was conducted in chickpea's major producing states in India. These states were Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh accounting for 80 per cent in area and production during 2015–16. One major market was selected from the each selected states to study the arrivals and price behaviour of chickpea. The annual increment of minimum support price of chickpea was 170.25 per quintal per annum. It was found that the minimum support price, the farm harvest price and the wholesale price of chickpea have been increasing over the years. Seasonality in arrivals has impacted the monthly wholesale price in all the selected markets. Advance econometric analysis like Granger Causality test, Johansen Co-integration test and Vector Error Correction Model were employed to examine the integration of markets. Out of six selected wholesale markets, 5 markets were having a long run relationship. Hence, the selected chickpea markets were integrated in the long run. The wholesale price of chickpea between markets was highly correlated and the coefficient of correlation ranged from 0.92 to 0.99. Concentration of marketing during the lean seasons helps reducing the impact of seasonality.