Marketing of Jaggery: Problems and Prospects

This book is sweepingly wide, the agricultural architecture including the regulated markets, middlemen, farmers, Agricultural research stations, institutes and universities along with the discussion on Agricultural production and marketing techniques ranging from auctions in the regulated markets to wholesale and retail trading of jaggery and labour problems in the discussion. The theory and practice are juxtaposed to be useful to students in the real world. The analysis is kept simple and lucid for the average students to grasp the basics of the subject. As agricultural reforms and marketing is a continuous process and development in agricultural policy, trends, problems and prospects of jaggery marketing is an added advantage to the students of this subject. The coverage of the book is so wide that it can be adopted for many subjects in agriculture and marketing, management, Arts and commerce streams and for both graduate and postgraduate courses in universities and colleges in India. The author gratefully acknowledges the help and cooperation of Economics Department of Shivaji University and the Serials publications in this venture. In India, Sugarcane is an important cash crop for sugar and allied industries. Out of many by-products of sugarcane, jaggery occupies an important place. It is considered as a big cottage industry under unorganised sector. The book discusses the basic problems and prospects of jaggery marketing in India. The First module deals with methodology and database covering exposition of hypothesis, objectives and urge of study. The Second module deals with jaggery profile of the study area with information on special features of the district (study area) like population, occupational structure, size of land holdings, transport, commerce, etc. The Third module discusses on jaggery production in the study area. The Fourth module analyses marketing aspects of jaggery like method of sale, packaging, storage, etc. The Fifth module provides information on profile of jaggery producers including their Age structure, social status, educational background. The Sixth module analyses producer’s role in production and sale of jaggery with thorough discussion on sources and volume of finance, reasons for borrowing funds, cost of production and sale of jaggery. The Seventh module discusses on profile of middlemen including their experience, social status, income, etc. The Eighth module analyses role of middlemen in jaggery marketing with thorough discussion on problems in buying, selling, storage, transportation and bad debts. The Ninth module discusses the role of Agricultural Market Committee in the study area with extensive research on growth of regulated markets, its administration and composition, method of sale, market charges, etc. The last module finally, summarizes the study and suggests for improving marketing and sale of jaggery in country and abroad. It also highlights on removing negative effects of malpractices carried in jaggery production and marketing on the society at large.