Vol. 12, Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Suman Das, Rijusmita Sarma Deka, Jiaul Hoque, Saurav Baruah, Sanju Borgohain and Prasanna Kumar Pathak

Abstract:
Agriculture sector is the heart and soul of the Indian Economy. India’s 43% of geographical areas is occupied by Agricultural land. Out of total geographical area (2.72 lakh ha), of Assam, 41.03% area is cultivable, 27.23% is under forest (Agricultural Department, General Statistics, Govt. of Assam, 2022) [1]. The Morigaon District of Assam has total geographical area of 1.43150 lakh ha and the soil is mainly clayey, clayey loamy, sandy and sandy loam (Soil survey report of Morigaon District, National Bureau of Soil survey & Land use planning – ICAR, North Eastern Regional Centre, Jorhat). Assam is the land of major production of predominant crop – Rice along with other important crops – Pulses, Jute, Silk, Tea, Sugarcane, Potato, Cotton, Oil Seeds, Fruit crops, Coconut etc. Morigaon District of Assam has cropping intensity of 186% and Paddy, Maize, Black Gram, Mustard, Jute and other vegetables are prominent crop of the District. It has been observed in Agricultural marketing sector in Morigaon district as well as in the whole state that the Farmers or growers who are the backbone of our society do not get the reasonable price of their products, besides the price of the maximum commodities are high and fluctuates at different market within the district due to various reasons. Agricultural Marketing board, other channels, facilities are running in the District to control the marketing system, they have their protocols in the market but still the marketing system is facing many small or big issues. Therefore it is very important to find out and solve those problems in the district. The motive of this study is to observe and identify the present scenario of the marketing system and find out the issues faced by the Growers as well as by the Consumers in the market in Morigaon district as well as the state of Assam. In the present study it was revealed that inclusion of numerous middle man in the market results hike in commodity’s price which leads to imbalance in the marketing system. Due to lack of advanced storage facility in the district the growers are unable to store their products for longer period results in unable to export their products to nearby districts or state.