Banana Supply Chain: A Case Study of Vadodara City of Gujarat

Abstract

The supply chain begins with acquiring fundamental raw materials and ends with delivering the finished product to the consumer. The growing interest in Agricultural Supply Chain Management (ASCM) can be attributed to two main factors: agricultural industrialization and the uncertainty brought on by differences in product quality and safety. The study objective was to identify different marketing channels of banana in Vadodara city, to estimate the price spread of banana and to identify problems faced by producers and intermediaries. Primary data were collected from 40 farmers, 15 wholesalers and 25 retailers to accomplish these objectives. Secondary data were collected from different private and government publications, review papers, literature, and journals. For the study descriptive type of research design was used. In the research sampling method was non-probability sampling method and sampling technique was convenience sampling technique were used. Channel-IV was the most effective way to reach consumers because it has the shortest route. Channel-I was less effective than the others because its marketing cost was the highest. The study reveals that the existing supply chain has a serious problem of lower prices faced by farmers. A significant problem for wholesalers is the lack of a ripening chamber. The major problem for retailers is that they suffer from higher post-harvest losses due to the lack of storage facilities, forcing them to sell products quickly to maximize profits and minimize losses. After doing certain changes like developing a ripening facility in marketing channel IV company may adopt this channel because its channel has the highest marketing efficiency and more share of producer in consumer rupee. To overcome these problems, there is a need to develop infrastructures, cold storage facilities, set up ripening chambers, processing facilities and use refrigerated vehicles for long-distance transportation, etc.