Vol. 10, Special Issue 11 (2021)

Author(s):
PM Chavan, VS Shirke, MC Ahire and PB Kharde

Abstract:
In India, agriculture is the most important economic sector (Sucheta, 2019). It ensures food and income stability. Different types of soil and climate in India, which spans numerous agro-ecological areas, allow for the cultivation of a wide range of horticultural crops. Maharashtra is the country's largest grape-producing state. The Maharashtra government has proposed establishing an agriculture export zone that would include Nashik, Sangli, Pune, Solapur, Satara, and Ahmednagar districts for exporting table grapes and value-added products like wine in a coordinated manner. The research was carried out in the Nashik district. Seventy-two villages were purposively chosen. A total of 200 farmers were chosen for the study wherein 100 out of those were taking services from private consultancies and rest 100 were not taking any consultancy services. The information was gathered through personal interviews. The respondent farmers were facing lot many problems regarding grape cultivation and marketing etc. The major constraints faced by the farmers were non-effectivity advices provided by consultancy in specific weather conditions, technical language in the advisories, inaccurate weather forecasts, rare visits of government officials, marketing and unreliable traders, non-fixed rates of inputs, irregularity in delivery of information from government agencies, climate change and so on. Other minor issues were arbitrary nature of exporters, lack of proper contingency planning and regarding insurance compensation etc.