Economics of soybean cultivation and its marketing pattern in Malwa plateau of Madhya Pradesh

The study was undertaken with the objective to find out the economics of production of soybean on various sizes of farms, its marketing behaviour and to analyse the costs, returns and price spread in the marketing of soybean of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Study revealed that the total cost increased with the increase in the farm size. The total cost and its component in large farmers was relatively higher than those in medium and small farmers. The net return was found higher for large farmers followed by medium and small farmers since large farmers used more resources in production process. In the marketing of soybean middleman's margin was highest in channel III followed by channel IV, II and I. The producers share in consumers rupee was highest in channel I (73.17 per cent) followed by channel IV, II and III. The marketing channels II and III were complicated involving a number of middlemen and market functionaries between the producer and consumer as compared to channels I and IV. The marketing efficiency was highest in channel I followed by channel IV, II and III. In this channel a large number of intermediaries were involved resulting in higher marketing cost and lower market efficiency. Study concluded that there was immense scope for soybean processing industry which should be promoted in order to generate gainful income and employment in the study area.