Price spread analysis of milk marketing in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan

The study was carried out in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan state with a view to analysing the economic aspects of milk marketing like marketing costs, marketing margins, price spread, producer's share in consumer's rupee and the marketing efficiency of different marketing channels operating in the study area. A representative sample of 120 milk producing households was drawn from four villages selected randomly from two tehsils having highest milk production in Bhilwara district. In the study area, five milk marketing channels namely; Channel-I: Milk Producer-Consumer, Channel-II: Milk Producer-Milk Vendor-Consumer, Channel-III: Milk Producer-Halwai-Consumer, Channel-IV: Milk Producer-Milk Vendor-Halwai-Consumer and Channel-V: Milk Producer-Village Cooperative-District Cooperative-Retailer-Consumer were identified. Channel-V was noted to be the most important channel wherein one third of the milk producers sold almost half (49.09%) of the milk sold by the producers. The producer's share in the consumer's rupee was estimated to be 93.09 per cent, 86.39 per cent, 82.76 per cent, 79.90 per cent and 72.73 per cent in Channel-I, Channel-II, Channel-III, Channel-IV and Channel-V, respectively indicating that it decreased with the increase in the length of the channel. Producer's net share was observed to be maximum in Channel-I and minimum in Channel-V. The price spread and consumer's price were estimated to be the lowest in Channel-I as compared to other channels. The total marketing cost was lowest in Channel-I (6.91%) and highest in Channel-V (18.63%). The net marketing margin earned by the different market intermediaries was highest in Channel-IV. Channel-I (Producer-Consumer) was the most effi cient channel followed by Channel-II, Channel-III, Channel-IV and Channel-V.