S. SHAROOQ TAHIL*, H. SRINIVASA RAO, O. SARADA AND SK. NAFEEZ UMAR

Institute of Agribusiness Management, ANGRAU-S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati-517 502.

ABSTRACT

The present study titled “Marketing Efficiency of Cocoa Crop in West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh” was conducted to evaluate the marketing system of cocoa with specific focus on identifying marketing channels, assessing their efficiency, and identifying constraints faced by farmers. A multistage purposive sampling technique was employed to select 120 cocoa farmers and 40 intermediaries from six villages across three major mandals of the district. Four key marketing channels were identified:

Channel I (Farmers → Cadbury Agent),

Channel II (Farmers → Heritage Agent),

Channel III (Farmers → Village Trader → Cadbury Agent),

Channel IV (Farmers → Village Trader → Heritage Agent).

The most preferred marketing channel was Channel I, used by 48.3 percent of farmers. Marketing efficiency was highest in Channels I and II, both with a perfect efficiency score of 1.0, attributed to direct company procurement and absence of intermediaries. Producer’s share in consumer rupee was also 100 percent in these channels. Major constraints identified through Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance were non-remunerative prices, price fluctuation, lack of market information, inadequate storage, and absence of regulated markets. Findings suggest strengthening regulated markets and farmer collectives like FPOs to improve marketing outcomes and farmer income.

KEYWORDS: Cocoa, marketing efficiency, marketing channels and constraints.