Price Spread of Soybean in Amravati District of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

India rank fourth in respect of production of soybean in the world. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are the two major soybean producing states in India.In India Marketing of Soybean crop is in developing stage. The development of marketing is as important as that of increasing production. Farmers always desire to get reasonable price for their farm product. Therefore, for profitable transaction a careful planning of marketing of Soybean is must with this view it is essential to study the marketing of Soybean in Amravati district of Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, soybean is mainly grown in the districts of Amravati, Akola, Washim and Nagpur. This study was conducted for estimation of marketing cost, marketing margin and price spread through different marketing channels of soybean in Amravatidistrict. The study was based on primary data and secondary data for the year 2022-23, collected from the APMC market of Amravati district of Maharashtra, the total 120 producers, 10 village traders, 10 wholesaler were selected for the study. Three major marketing channels were identified for the soybean i.e. channel-I: Producer- village trader-wholesaler- oil processor (consumer), Channel-II: Producer→ Wholesale →oil Processor (consumer), Channel-III: → Producer→ oil Processor (consumer). The channel -I was found most important channel of distribution. Producer‘s share in consumer’s rupees was highest in channel III as compared to channel II and channel I. The comparison between costs incurred by different market intermediaries in the marketing channel shows that Channel-III incurred lowest cost and it was also observed that the producers share in consumer price was 98.81 percent. Farmers always desire to get reasonable price for their farm product. Consequently for profitable transactions a careful planning of marketing of Soybean is must. For this purpose present study has been done.