Kadian, R.S.Khichi, Parmod2016-11-162016-11-162009http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/85801The 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.enVegetables, Costs, Markets, Productivity, Economics, Tillage equipment, Marketing, Sexual reproduction, Composting, Variable costsThesis