Value Chain Analysis and Marketing Behaviour of Honey: A Study From The Peri-Urban Areas of India

Entrepreneurship development through value addition and processing is very important for profitable farming. Even if beekeeping is identified as an entrepreneurial activity, studies and data related to the economics and marketing behaviour related to bee farming and processing at the farmer-processor level are rare. This paper presents the comparative study of marketing behaviour, determinants of post-harvest decision making, and profit analysis of the honey bee farmers and honey processors of peri-urban areas. Statistically significant difference was found between the honey processors and honey producer, in total cost of production (t = 9.235, p < 0.05) and net returns (t = 13.546, p < 0.05). A single channel of direct-selling was identified among the honey processors for marketing. But in the case of raw honey, two marketing channels were identified with a huge difference in the producers’ share in consumer’s price. The most significant motivators identified for the value addition decisions were reducing the distress sale and branding and new look of products after the processing (p < 0.05, Chi-Square = 62.996 and df = 12). The study implicated an urgent need to make awareness about all the possible facilities available in the country to increase the value-addition in honey to reap the benefits out of it.