An Analysis of the Marketing Practices of Jute Farmers in Assam

Abstract

Jute is one of the vital cash crops in terms of livelihood creations as well as for its diverse utilities among agrarian families of Assam. Like the other parts of the nation, Jute farming in the region is also dominated by marginal and small farmers. Due to limited holding and small amount of production, it is difficult to attain production cost efficiency at the grower’s level. Besides, the marginal and small grower’s regularly face several other constrains while marketing their produces, which has widespread negative influence upon their farming decision in the subsequent crop years. In this paper an attempt is made to analyze the contemporary raw Jute marketing scenario of the Assam .in the process of documenting the existing marketing scenario, the factors influencing the choice of channel selection of the growers is also taken into consideration. It was observed that primary market plays a major role in the Jute marketing structure of the region. Distance to the nearest market, time of sale and the land holding status of the growers has significant association with the marketing practices as well as choice of channel selection. Removal of the constraints along with promotion of diversification at grower’s level is some of the suggestive outcome of the paper.