Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Chande JA, Chavan RV and Kolhe PR

Abstract:
A present study was conducted to examine marketing channels, marketing cost, market margin, producer’s share, price spread and marketing efficiency of cashew in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. There were four marketing channels found in study area; Channel-I: Producer → Consumer, 2. Channel-II: Producer → Processor, 3. Channel-III: Producer →Village merchant → Processor and 4. Channel-IV: Producer → Village merchant → Wholesaler → Processor. The most of the quantity was sold through channel-III (53.18 per cent) followed by channel-IV (38.58 per cent), channel-II (6.05 per cent) and channel-I (2.19 per cent). The maximum quantity was sold through village merchant whereas less quantity was sold directly to consumer even though per kg cost was higher than other channels because of less demand for raw freshly harvested cashew (ola kaju). The market margin is the highest in channel-IV and then in channel-III. The marketing cost was the highest in channel-II whereas the lowest in Channel-I. The price spread was the maximum in channel-IV followed by channel-III and channel-II whereas it was the lowest in Channel-I. The marketing efficiency was the highest in channel-III followed by channel-IV. The producers’ share in consumer price was the highest in channel-I followed by channel-II, channel-III and channel-IV respectively.