Trends in Arrivals and Role of Market Prices of Groundnut Pods in APMC, Karad

The present study was conducted to access the trends in arrivals and prices of Groundnut pods in APMC, Karad. Groundnut is the 13th most important food crop and 4th most important oilseed crop of the world. It is the single largest source of edible oils in India and constitutes roughly about 50% of the total oilseed production. Groundnut is grown mostly in five states namely Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and together they account for about 90% of the crop’s total area in India. The time series data on arrivals and prices of Groundnut pods over the period of fourteen years (April 2008-09 to March 2021-22) were collected from the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, Karad. The collected data were further analysed to compute growth rate and seasonal indices. The study was revealed that arrivals of Groundnut pods shows declined and non-significant growth rate over the period of time but prices increased significantly with compound annual growth rate of 16.58%. The moving average method revealed that the peak arrivals of Groundnut pods concentrated in months of October to December. There is a large fluctuation in arrivals as it ranged between 21.91 to 299.65 per cent. The seasonal indices regarding prices revealed that, there is no fluctuation in prices. The significant increase in arrivals of Groundnut pods was noticed in APMC, Karad during the period 2008-09 to 2021-22 and the prices of Groundnut pods increased significantly during the period 2013-14 to 2021-22. Positive relationship in arrivals and prices of Groundnut pods observed in APMC, Karad. The higher prices were observed in month of august for groundnut pods. The study suggested that the Groundnut growers shall bring groundnut for sell in the APMC, Karad during the months of July, to get the good prices for the produce thereby enhance farm income.