Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure In Coochbehar District Of West Bengal: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The income of the farmers may highly depend on production and market price of the product but agricultural marketing infrastructure also plays a major role in the profitability of the farmers. Development of agriculture marketing infrastructure can safeguard the farmers from price volatility by enhancing the storage capacity. In this article an attempt is made to analyse the current status and bottlenecks of the agricultural marketing infrastructure of the Cooch Behar District. For the purpose of the study, a survey was conducted and information was collected from 582 respondents from Coochbehar using simple random sampling technique. The study indicates that majority of the farmers of the District do not have cold storage access. Along with it, majority of the farmers are facing problems regarding black marketing of the bonds of cold storages. To tackle these issues, the Government should promote investment in agricultural marketing infrastructure and also take strict action against all those who are involved in black marketing of the bonds.