An economic analysis of production and marketing of small millets in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand
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Date
2022-09
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G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
Abstract
Millets are one of the most important cereal crops that are known as nutri-cereals due to their exceptional nutritional qualities. Small millets hold a major share in the total millet production in the country producing around 12.46 million metric tonnes from an area of 8.87 million hectares. Among all the small millets, India is the topmost producer of barnyard and finger millet with 99.9% and 53.3 % share of total production, respectively. In Uttarakhand, finger and barnyard millet are the most important kharif crops after paddy and hold a vast potential to increase the production of millets. The study was conducted in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The objectives were compute the trends in area, production and productivity of small millets in the district, to work out costs of and returns of its cultivation, analyze the marketing efficiency of different channels and to identify the constraints in the production and marketing of small millets. The data was collected from 60 randomly selected sample farmers pertaining to the year 2020-21 from two blocks of Chamoli district. A sample of 4 market intermediaries of each type involved in small millet marketing was also identified. The findings of the study showed that the growth trends in area, production and productivity of finger millet to be positive and insignificant while in case of barnyard millet there was a positive and significant growth in area, production and productivity for the last ten years from 2009-10 to 2018-19. The results indicate that the cost of cultivation was found to be higher in barnyard millet than the finger millet which accounted of Rs. 61861.28 and Rs. 49894.03 per hectare, respectively. The share of imputed value of family labour was found to be highest among all the other costs for both the crops. The gross return from finger and barnyard millet cultivation was estimated to be Rs. 8820.97 and Rs. 12374.72 per hectare, respectively. The value of return per rupee expenditure in the study area was 1.17 for finger millet while for barnyard millet, it was 1.20. The most popular channel for disposal of the produce was channel II (Producer- Wholesaler- Retailer- Consumer) and marketing cost incurred by the finger and barnyard millet was Rs. 136.30 and Rs. 137.05 per qtl while the absolute margins were Rs. 661.50 and Rs. 590 per qtl, respectively. It was observed that majority of the small millets growers reported the problem on fragmented land holdings, damage caused by the wild animals, unfavorable climatic conditions, migration of people etc. while the marketing problem associated with small millet producers were mainly less remunerative prices, high transportation costs and lack of organized market place.