An Economic Analysis of Marketing of Banana (Musa paradisica L.) in Durg District of Chhattisgarh

The paper attempts to study the disposal pattern, marketing cost, marketing margins and price spread of banana in Dhamdha blockof Durg district of Chhattisgarh state for the year 2017-18. The marketing of banana has been studied by three marketing channels, viz., I: Producer wholesaler → retailer → consumer; II: Producer → wholesaler (through commission agent) → retailer → consumer; III: Producer → retailer (through commission agent) → consumer. The net price received by the producer was 58.75 per cent, 53.08 per cent and 62.43 per cent in marketing channel I, II and III, respectively. The producer’s share in marketing channel III was the maximum because of direct sale by the producer to the retailer through commission agent. In the marketing cost, expenditure was highest on commission charges followed by transportation in all the channels. The marketing channel I has been found most efficient because its marketing efficiency was 1.42 as compared to 0.96 and 1.36 in marketing channel II and III, respectively. The low marketing efficiency in supply chain II was on account of a higher number of market intermediaries in this chain. High price fluctuations followed by unremunerative prices, high commission charge, lack of regulated market and high transportation cost were the major problem reported by the banana growers. Whereas lack of cold storage facilities followed by non - availability of banana processing units, inadequate market infrastructure and shortage of electricity supply were the marketing problems highlighted by the intermediaries.