Research Projects

Indian farmers often rely on middlemen for fruits and vegetable marketing, leading to poor deals, wastage, and quality issues. This has led to concerns about the efficiency of marketing, resulting in high consumer prices and only a small share of the consumer rupee reaching farmers. Marketing horticultural crops is complex due to perishability, seasonality, and bulkiness. This study aims to examine various aspects of marketing, focusing on wholesale markets for fruits and vegetables to improve efficiency. Investment in post-harvest facilities and cold chain transport infrastructure is required for local markets or replacing local markets with emerging global export markets. The study will explore emerging horticulture value chains, focusing on linkages between producers, small and domestic firms, and export businesses, as well as their impact on income and employment. The Jammu region will be selected for the study, and 200 farmers will be interviewed to understand the linkages between producers, exporters, and processors. The second stage will identify labor and employees working at farmers' fields and export/pack houses, with 10-15 interviews conducted.