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Abstract
This study undertaken in Punjab on kinnow mandarin has suggested to
include marketing loss in the estimation of marketing margins, price spread
and efficiency and has used a modified formula for it. It has been observed
that a majority of kinnow producers sell their orchards to the pre-harvest
contractors/ traders at different stages. The aggregate post-harvest losses
from orchards to consumers in kinnow in two different markets ranges
from 14.87 per cent in Delhi market to 21.91 per cent in Bangalore market. It
has indicated the necessity of establishing kinnow processing industries
for development of value-added ready-to-serve (RTS) quality products,
minimizing post-harvest losses and providing remunerative price to the
producers. The results have emphasized that efforts should be made to
adopt improved packaging techniques, cushioning material and cold
storage facilities at the retail level. The producer’s share in consumer’s
price as estimated by old method has been found higher in local market
than Bangalore and Delhi markets, largely because of lower marketing
costs and profit margins of traders. The inclusion of marketing loss in the
estimation of marketing margins, price spread and efficiency has indicated
that the old estimation method unduly over-states the farmers’ net price
and profit margins to the market middlemen. It is appropriate to use modified
method for the estimation of marketing margins and price spread.