An economic analysis of production and marketing of mushroom in Panipat district, Haryana
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Date
2009
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
The Haryana State is a leading producer of mushroom (approx. 7,000 tonnes) in
India and is bound to increase its production in near future. In fact many unemployed
youth are adopting this enterprise as a business. Yet, many problems have also cropped
up before the mushroom growers both in production and marketing of mushroom. If
marketing aspect of mushroom do not get due attention, then efforts to increase the
mushroom production could go waste. Secondly, there exists ample scope of mushroom
exports from Haryana, being nearer to national capital market. The present study was
conducted in Panipat district of Haryana during the year 2008-2009 with the following
specific objectives: (i) to find out the cost and returns of mushroom production on
different mushroom units; (ii) to study marketing pattern and costs through different
marketing channels, and (iii) to identify the major problems faced by the growers in
production and marketing of mushroom.
For analysis of data, 60 mushroom growers from four selected villages were taken
and they categorized along with quantity of compost used, on the basis of number of trays
in to small, medium and large growers. Tabular analysis and benefit-cost ratio were
adopted to determine the cost structure, returns, profits and opinions of the growers
regarding the problems of production and marketing of mushroom. The study revealed
that (1) the proportion of fixed cost to the total cost being lowest on large farms as
compared to medium and small farms implied the optimum use of fixed farm resources
with that size of farm; (2) there exist a positive relationship between the mushroom
production and farm size. The income generating capacity of mushroom growers went up
with the increased size of farm; (3) large grower adopted the better management practices
which results them in to higher net income, followed by medium and small growers. This
indicated the applicability of ‘economies of scale’ in mushroom cultivation; (4) of various
channels, channel-I was the most common channel amongst different categories of
mushroom growers followed by Channel-II (producer- wholesaler- consumer) in small,
medium and large size farms; (5) the producer’s share in consumer rupee was the highest
in channel-IV followed by III, II and I, respectively. Due to large number of
intermediaries, channel-I was least efficient and (6) In major six production constraints
the main problem faced by growers was non - availability of quality spawn and in six
major marketing constraints the main problem was lack cold storage facilities in Panipat
district of Haryana.
The study further suggests that (1) good quality spawn should be provided by
government organization and research institute. There should be proper labeling of spawn
bags indicating the name of mushroom, strain, weight, expiry date, etc. At present, there
is no regulating authority in India to monitor the quality of spawn; (2) the Government
should install cold storage structure so that the growers far away from local markets can
store their produce; (3) since mushroom production is capital intensive in nature, so
government should provide loans for growers at cheaper interest rate; (4) more training
and more awareness programmes should be conducted by extension agencies through
which more number of people can adopt mushroom cultivation as an enterprise; (5)
Demonstration should be conducted by State Agricultural University (SAU) and
Agriculture Department, on various components of mushroom cultivation viz. spawning,
compost making, casing etc; (6) as far as possible, the economies of scale in mushroom
production should be followed.
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Keywords
Vegetables, Costs, Markets, Productivity, Economics, Tillage equipment, Marketing, Sexual reproduction, Composting, Variable costs