Author(s):

Janmejay Kumar and Dinesh Kumar

Abstract: Litchi (Litchi chinensis) is the most important sub-tropical fruit which originated from China about 3,000 years ago. India is the second largest producer of litchi in the world after China. Presently in India, litchi is cultivated in an area of about 74.40 thousand hectares with a total production of 483.60 thousand metric tonnes and productivity of 6.50 metric tonnes/ hectare. Bihar produces nearly 73.38 per cent of total litchi of the country with 40 per cent of the area under cultivation. It is cultivated in an area of about 31.1 thousand hectares with a total production of 227 thousand metric tonnes and productivity of 7.3 metric tonnes/ hectare. It is mainly cultivated in the old districts of Muzaffarpur, Champaran and Darbhanga. In India, litchi maturity starts in the middle of May in the states of Tripura, West Bengal, Jharkhand; end of May and June in North Bihar, followed by Northern Tarai region of Himalaya in Uttarakhand. Litchi is a non-climacteric fruit that possesses poor shelf life and results in very high post-harvest losses. This studies conducted identify the various channels in Litchi marketing ans assess the efficiency of each channels in the district Muzzafarpur of Bihar. Channel I: Producer – Pre - harvest contractor – Commission agent cum Wholesaler –Retailer – Consumer. Channel II: Producer – Village Trader – Wholesaler (local) – Commission agent (distant) – Wholesaler (distant) – Retailer – Consumer. Channel III: Producer – Retailer – Consumer. Channel IV: Producer – Consumer. The producers share in consumer’s rupee in channel IV is the highest since it is the shortest channel (68.99 per cent). Where as the producers share in consumer’s rupee in channel I, II and III are 33.59 per cent, 11.97 per cent and 42.27 per cent respectively. The marketing efficiency index of channel I, II, III and IV was 0.662, 0.197, 1.129 and 9.05 in the same order indicating the superiority of channel IV.

Pages: 3645-3648  |  1370 Views  459 Downloads

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