Agriculture Strategies and Marketing Perspectives of Farmers in Vidarbha Region-An Empirical Analysis

Vidarbha is considered as one of the most backward region in comparison with rest of the Maharashtra. Low productivity and low income are the striking features of Vidarbha farmers. The present study tries to make the empirical analysis of agriculture strategies and marketing perspectives adopted by the farmers in selected districts of Vidarbha with regard to cropping pattern preferred and the distribution channel adopted by the farmers to sell the produce. The districts selected for the study are Amravati, Bhandara, Nagpur, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. From each districts two talukas were selected based on judgement sampling and 104 farmers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The study concludes that the inclination of farmers is now undergoing a change towards the cash crops and the awareness about the distribution channels is significantly low amongst the farmers in Vidarbha which needs immediate attention.