An economic analysis of production and marketing of peach in Ramgarh block of Nainital district of Uttarakhand
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Date
2018-07
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Agriculture has been the backbone of Indian economy since times immemorial. Even today 67 per cent of the population of our depends upon agriculture and allied sectors for their livelihood. Horticulture is one of the most important sub sector of agriculture as it contributes 29.50 per cent of the total GDP produced from agriculture. Uttarakhand is the leading producer of peach sharing 51.7 per cent of the total production of the country. The state has 7855.77 ha land under peach cultivation with total production of 57933.81 Mt. Nainital is the leading producer of peach in Uttarakhand with Ramgarh block as the main pocket of peach production because of favourable climate required for the growth of peach. The study was based on sample survey research of 80 peach growing farmers selected from four villages of peach growing belt of Ramgarh and 20 marketing intermediaries were selected from Haldwani market- 5 local traders, 5 forwarding agents, 5 wholesalers, and 5 retailers. The study aimed to achieve four objectives viz., to study the socioeconomic status of peach growing farmers; to estimate the economics of peach production and financial feasibility of peach orchards, to identify existing marketing channels and associated marketing costs, margins, and marketing efficiency and to identify the constraints faced in the production and marketing of peach by the growers. The average cost of establishment of peach orchard per hundred plants was Rs. 13417.70 out of which fixed and variable cost incurred were Rs. 3037.54 and Rs10550.28 respectively. The maintenance cost during the non bearing age for overall farms was Rs. 12745.46 in the first year of plantation which consecutively increased over the years to Rs. 14174.60 in the fifth year. The total cost of maintenance of orchards was highest during 11-15 years of age as different operations such as training and pruning, fruit picking, application of plant protection chemicals was involved. Total cost with intercropping during bearing age of orchard on overall basis was Rs. 19320.60, Rs. 27068.93 and Rs. 24763.82 during 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20 years of age. The cost of production was found Rs. 1077.98, Rs.932.55 and Rs. 970.38 per hundred plants for the bearing age group. On an overall basis the yield for the three different age groups of bearing period was found to be 17.93 qtls/100 plants, 29.05 qtls/100 plants and 25.67 qtls/100 plants in 6-10 years, 11-15 years, 16-20 years of age group during bearing stage.Among the three categories of farmers, small category farmers had highest yield 24.93 qtls followed by medium and marginal farmers with 23.64 qtls and 23.34 qtls of production per hundred plants respectively. The gross returns obtained from peach orchards per hundred plants was Rs 53790.00, Rs. 87150.00 and Rs. 77010.00 during 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20 years of age-group, respectively. Payback period was found to be 3 years in case of including intercropping for all the three categories of farms. BC ratio was calculated as 2.09 on an overall basis thus showing profitability of the peach plantation. NPV was highest in case of small famers accounting to Rs. 171956.90.The major marketing channels were channel-A (Producer-Consumer), channel-B (Producer-Local trader-Consumer), channel-C (ProducerForwarding agent- Wholesaler- Retailer- Consumer), channel-D (Producer-Forwarding agent- Wholesaler (distant market) -Retailer - Consumer). The net price received by the farmers varied between Rs. 2952.78 /qtl to Rs. 3580.65/qtl among different channels. For channel-A producer’s share in consumer rupee was found to be 97.34 per cent, for channel B it came out to be 85.94 per cent followed by channel-C where it was reduced to 59.60 per cent. Marketing efficiency was calculated 36.59 followed by channel B (6.11) and channel C (1.48) respectively. It was seen that there existed an inverse relation between net marketing margin and marketing efficiency. The problems faced by the peach grower were non- availability of inputs at proper time, lack of quality planting material lack of availability of finance at proper time, scarcity of irrigation. Marketing problems associated with peach growers were high marketing cost, high post harvest losses and price fluctuation for the produce.
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