An economic analysis of production and marketing of Cluster bean in Rajasthan

Abstract

The present study aims at analyzing economic aspects related to production and marketing of cluster bean in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. The study is based on primary data collected from 100 cluster bean growers spread over four randomly selected villages of two random blocks of Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan by interviewing individual respondent who were classified into marginal, small, medium and large cluster bean growers on the basis of farm holdings. The Area, Production and Productivity of Cluster bean registered positive growth rate of 2.68%, 5.44% and 2.70 %per annum in India and at 3.23%, 7.44 % and 4.09 %per annum in Rajasthan during the study periods 2000-01 to 2014-15 respectively. It was observed that total cost, gross income, net income and cluster bean production per farm increased with size of farm holdings. However, cost of production per quintal of cluster bean was found to be Rs 1435.59, Rs 1392.67, Rs 1432.32 and Rs 1523.54 in case of marginal, small, medium and large farms respectively. Cost of production was higher (Rs 1523.54) in large farms. The analysis revealed that large farm category was efficient than marginal, small and medium and hence its benefit-cost ratio is more (4.0).The share of producer in consumer’s rupee was observed to be lower in channel I (77.012%) than that in channel II (88.18%) and Channel III (86.84%) .It was further observed that total marketing cost was higher in channel I as compared to channel II and channel III.Major constraints faced by cluster bean growers with respect to production and marketing were; Inadequate supply of quality certified seeds , non-availability of technical knowledge, high cost of inputs , lack of adoption of plant protection measures, labour scarcity and lack of irrigation facilities, higher rate of transportation, price fluctuations, inadequate availability of market news and intelligence, inadequate transportation facility, Inadequate processing unit in local area and lack of storage facility.