An economic analysis of production and marketing of mango in middle Gujarat

The cultivation and marketing of high value crops require systemic planning, technical and remunerative ventures as compared to field crops. Mango is one of the major fruit crop cultivated in the country as well as in Gujarat state, but in recent years the productivity of mango has shown a decline trand. The presnt investigation was taken up to study economics and marketing of mango production in middle Gujarat region. Four districts namely, Anand, Panchamahal, Dahod and Vadodara were selected based on the highest production of mango for the study. The study revealed that cost A was ? 121643 per ha and cost C2 was ? 223529 per ha of mango cultivation and benefit-cost ratio over cost C2 was 1.64. There were three marketing channels identified in the middle Gujarat region. Among them, marketing efficiency was higher in channel III (Producer-Retailer-Consumer). Unavailability of labour, long distance of input market and increasing prices of inputs were the major production constraints faced by farmers. Not getting proper price for produce, delayed payments and higher cost of transportation were the major marketing constraints faced by farmers. The study suggests to use government schemes for orchard development and advises to establish FPOs and cooperatives for mango growers.