Marketing Pattern and Price Spread of Polyhouse and Open Field Cucumber Production in Jaipur District of Rajasthan, India

In recent years, there has been concern about the effectiveness of marketing fruits and vegetables, which has resulted in high and volatile consumer price with only a minute portion of the consumer rupee flowing to the farmers. Horticultural crops are difficult to market because of their perishability, seasonality and bulkiness. Present study was an attempt to study the marketing channel and their efficiency. The Jaipur district of Rajasthan was selected purposively for the present study. A total of 26 intermediaries and 50 farmers were selected randomly. Among the total farmers, 25 growers producing cucumber in polyhouses and 25 in open field were selected randomly. The most common marketing channel engaged in marketing of polyhouse and open field cucumber in Jaipur district are following: Channel – I: Producer – Commission Agent – Wholesaler – Retailer – Consumer and Channel- II: Producer- Commission agent- Retailer- Consumer. Among both cucumber production system, in channel II the marketing cost incurred per quintal of cucumber was much lower than cost incurred in channel I. Since the marketing cost and marketing margin in channel I was higher, so the marketing efficiency was very low for that channel. At the same time in channel II was found to be lower price spread under both production systems. The most effective means of enhancing farmers' market access and reduce marketing cost through institutional means is by reinforcing cooperative societies, FPOs and shorten the marketing channel.