Marketing of sweet orange in Jalna district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra

The economic aspect of fruit production is very important in case of well maintained and established orchard which brings better return than field crops from the same piece of land. It is well known that man cannot live on cereals or pulses alone. To supplement normal body requirements, it has been suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) that a working man should take at least 60gm of fruit per day in addition to cereals, pulses, milk, vegetables, eggs, etc. Thus, the cultivation of fruit crops is of paramount important for having maximum income for per unit of land. Of the variety of fruits grown in India and in Maharashtra state, sweet orange is a major fruit grown. Major Sweet orange producing states are Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh, etc. Total sweet orange production in India is 3886.2 thousand metric tons. Sweet orange is important fruit crop in Maharashtra. It is cultivated on an area of 95 thousand ha with a total production of 712.5 thousand MT and productivity of 7.5 MT/ha during 2013–14 (Director of Horticulture, It is important that merely producing the fruits or any other agricultural produce does not fulfil the requirements of the consumers unless it is marketed efficiently. In marketing, the agricultural produce has to undergo a series of operations before it finally reaches to the consumers. The returns depend largely on the way in which these operations are performed. It is strongly applicable to the agricultural produce like fruits and vegetables. And if the fruit is of sweet orange type, a perishable one, at most care is required to be taken while making it ready for marketing. The sweet orange is a perishable one. The marketing of the perishable fruits thus, is utmost important and influence the income of the producers. In view of these aspects, how the marketing of sweet orange is being done and economics involved needs to be analyzed. The present exercise was therefore, undertaken to study the marketing costs and all other related aspects.