To Study the Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on Market Prices of Horticulture Crops

Author: Mohan G.S.,Vinushree R., Ashish Baluni and Megha J.

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Abstract

According to the second advance estimate of horticulture production released by the Ministry of Agriculture, India is expected to have the highest ever horticulture production of 329.86 million tonnes in 2020-21, up by 2.93 per cent over previous year. The scenario of horticulture crops in India has become very encouraging, due to the imposed lockdown, activities related to supply chains from agriculture were notably disrupted. Tomato is one of the major vegetable crops whose supply and price was affected by the unexpected changes. This research was carried out to study the effect of Covid-19 pandemic (before and after lockdown) on market prices and arrivals of horticultural crops in APMC, Kolar district. Secondary data was collected on market prices and arrivals of tomato, chilli, cabbage, beans and cucumber crops from Jan 2016 to Dec 2021 from website www.krishimaratavahini.kar.nic.in.com. The statistical tools used for the analysis of data were Descriptive statistics, Regression, Paired-t test. The result revealed that cubic model was the most suitable model for arrivals of the crops and prices were not following justifiable trend which did not yield any suitable model. The agriculture crop area was declined and replaced by vegetables, especially tomato and cabbage. During Covid-19 pandemic tomato and cabbage price variation was maximum but in case of chilli the prices showed less variation. Analysis of data showed linear regression trend which indicates the positive growth of vegetable prices during lockdown in the year 2020 and 2021. The paired t-test approach was used to compare the Covid-19 pandemic hit year 2020-21 with year under study (2016-2019) in context of lockdown, the findings revealed that, except in the year 2018 the years 2020 and 2021 showed significant decline in prices of crops when compared to past years. The Covid-19 crisis has caused significant damage to the national and global economy due to the lockdown measures initiated in March 2020 in many countries.

Keywords

Descriptive statistics, Regression analysis, Paired t-test, Covid-19

Conclusion

Diversification in horticulture requires effective marketing linkages, supported by modern marketing practices including introduction of grading, post-harvest management, cold chains etc. The price spread along the marketing channel is directly proportional to the number of market intermediaries involved along the channel. Horticulture development is currently constrained by poor marketing arrangements. The gap between prices received by the farmers and those paid by urban consumers is large, reflecting inefficient marketing arrangements. Marketing is critical for moving products from producer to consumer and maintaining price stability. Changes in the demand and supply of agricultural products and marketing must be coordinated with projected increases in agricultural production. The Covid-19 crisis has caused significant damage to the national and global economy due to the lockdown measures initiated in March 2020 in many countries, including India. Using the past observations of the same variable, a model describing the pattern of the time series will be developed and model will be used to obtain trend of market prices and arrivals of crops

References

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How to cite this article

Mohan G.S.,Vinushree R., Ashish Baluni and Megha J. (2024). To Study the Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on Market Prices of Horticulture Crops. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(5): 177-182.