AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF ORANGE IN KAMRUP METRO DISTRICT OF ASSAM
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Date
2020-03
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AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
Orange is commercially the most important sub-tropical fruit and one of the most widely cultivated fruit crops. The present study is an attempt to analyse the cost of cultivation of orange farmers, the economics of orange cultivation vis-à-vis competing crop and the marketing channel of orange in Kamrup Metro district of Assam. It will serve as a useful reference guide to the people involved in the cultivation and marketing of this crop as well as a guideline for similar studies that may be undertaken in other parts of the country. The present study is carried out with the following specific objectives: Find out the cost of cultivation of orange in study area; Study the economics of orange cultivation vis-à-vis competing crop; Study marketing of orange in study area. The sampling design consisted of four stages. In the first stage, the Kamrup Metro district of Assam was selected purposively. In the second stage two revenue circles namely Sonapur and Chandrapur were selected purposively. In the third stage, a total of six villages namely Kalangpur N.C, Dondoral N.C, Barkashrong N.C, Chandrapur Bagicha, Niz Panbari, Hingimari Bagicha from the two blocks were selected purposively. In the final stage, 32, 19, 25, 14, 15 and 15 farmers from Kalangpur N.C, Dondoral N.C, Barkashrong N.C, Chandrapur Bagicha, Niz Panbari, Hingimari Bagicha villages were selected randomly to constitute a total sample of 120 farmers. The selected farmers were categorized as small (those having less than 2 ha), medium (those having 2-4 ha) and large (those having more than 4 ha). The findings revealed that the per hectare establishment cost of orange on a small, medium and a large farm in the year 2019 were ₹129357.60, ₹137160.60 and ₹139772.60, respectively. The average maintenance per hectare cost of small farm was estimated to be ₹55265.75, ₹55622.92, ₹57530.97, ₹64107.23 in medium farms ₹64528.75, ₹65050.25, ₹66645.25, ₹66882.75, large farms ₹73058.75, ₹73966.75, ₹75866.95, ₹76987.08 in 10th, 15th, 20th and 22nd year respectively. Benefit-cost ratios were calculated as 1.38, 1.45 and 1.50 for the small, medium and large farms. The average cost per hectare cost for arecanut farm was found to be ₹ 22555.93, ₹ 22297.81, ₹ 22429.49, and ₹ 24992.51 on 8th, 10th, 12th, and 13th year age plants. The net present value and benefit-cost ratio were found to be ₹ 261218.20 and 3.32, respectively. The study of marketing of orange revealed that orange producers sold their products through three marketing channels viz., Channel-I (Producer – Pre-harvest contractor – Retailer – Consumer), Channel-II (Producer- Village Trader – Retailer - Consumer) and Channel-III (Producer- Retailer – Consumer). Among these channels, channel-III was found the most important channel in the study area. The market efficiency was 4.58 in channel-III.