Crop diversification and changing agriculture marketing in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal

The agricultural marketing matrix has gradually changed over the years due to crop diversification and increasing reliance on non-farm livelihood as a coping strategy by the rural community. Declining landholding size coupled with increasing input cost of cultivation has led to a situation when cultivators have no option but to grow more remunerative horticulture crops like vegetables. The rotation of the new crops is more frequent and in absence of storage facilities, their shelf-life is very short. In addition, as price support for vegetables is usually ad hoc in nature; the cultivators are forced to sell their produce to middlemen. The farmer's vegetables bazaar in Haldibari of Cooch Behar district is a classic example of an oligopsonistic market. The market is controlled by middlemen commonly known as syndicate and farmer's are at their mercy. Bumper harvest of any vegetable crop followed by huge supply of it in the bazaar leads to a coordinated decline in its price by the middlemen. Strengthening both vertical and horizontal agriculture marketing channels will help to increase income of the cultivators.