Agricultural and Horticulture Produce marketing in Hamirpur Himachal Pradesh

Agricultural  and Horticultural produce marketing in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh

Hamirpur is the smallest district of Himachal Pradesh. The geographical area of district is 1118 Sq KM out of 55673 Sq KM of the state. In percentage terms it comes about 2%. The population of district as per 2011 census was 4,54,768 person. Whereas states population was 68,64,602. It comes out 6.62 %. The population density of district is 406 person per sq. KM, which is highest in state followed by Una (338) and Bilaspur (327).

The mean sea level height of Hamirpur district lies between 400 to 1130 mts. Highest point in district is Awahdevi hill. Average yearly rainfall is around 1572 mm and average annual temp is 21.6 degree Celsius. It falls under shivalik mountain range and climate is subtropical.

The agricultural and horticultural produce production (MT) in district is as under:

                                                                                     In MT

Agriculture Production
	Bhoranj	Sujanpur	Bamsan	Hamirpur	Nadaun	Bijri	Total
2015-16	24.77	17.17	23.8	17.17	26.7	31.5	141.11
2016-17	23.83	22.17	22.17	22.17	25.65	25.65	141.64
2017-18(Kharif)	14.73	12.37	11.96	12.06	15.06	15.05	81.23
Horticulture Production
	Bhoranj	Sujanpur	Bamsan	Hamirpur	Nadaun	Bijri	Total
2015-16	51.4	35.8	51.7	41.3	47.1	55.6	282.9
2016-17	65.8	64.1	109.8	63.3	88.8	75.2	467
2017-18 (Kharif)	44.8	29.3	44.6	39.3	44.8	55.1	257.9

In Hamirpur district the marketing of Agricultural and horticultural produce is done through APMC yards and direct marketing to consumers. APMC is having its yards at hamirpur, Nadaun and Jahu. One yard is coming up at Sujanpur.

The Annual arrival in yards is as under :

                            In MT

	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Hamirpur	8086	8273	8735
Nadaun	2937	3701	3366
Jahu	351	385	674

Most of arriving commodities in APMC yards are fruits and vegetables.  The percentage of arrival of fruits in total arrival varies from 15-25%. As Hamirpur yard is having around 25 % fruits arrival and 75 % vegetable arrivals. In Naduan and Jahu it comes around 15 % accordingly.

Considering the total production in district and arrival in market yards as mentioned in above table there is significant gap in production and consumption

Total Production	In MT
2015-16	424.01
2016-17	608.64
2017-18(Kharif)	339.13

Considering the average production of 457 MT per year of last three years and average arrival of 12170 MT. The production in district can met the demand for 14 days only in a year.

This is a rough estimate regarding production and consumption. Various variables like non marketable production and consumption, export of domestic produce to other markets etc not considered but it is calculated to get rough estimates.

Since there is very significant gap in production and consumption so there is huge potential regarding import based agricultural marketing and production of specific crops.

The marketing channels in district:

In Hamirpur district the marketing of agricultural commodities is done through different channels. It also depends upon the old practices adopted by farmers. The marketing in nadaun area is done directy by farmers to consumers. Farmers bring their produce in small quantity in buckets and sell it in old market of Nadaun. In Bhoranj, Barsar and Sujanpur areas the channel is through retailers. Farmers sell the produce to retailer and retailer further sells it to consumers. As the production quantity is small so farmers prefer to sell the produce themselves and through retailers. Farmers get good price as the produce is marketed as local produce and fetches 15-25% extra price.

The medium and large size farmers prefer APMCs to sell the produce through commission agents. As they do not have sufficient time to market themselves or to retailer, who cannot sell the whole produce so it is marketed through APMC.

One recent trend is developing. Farmer lease out the land to migrants from different states, particularly from UP and Bihar. He gets the lease amount. The labourers grow the crops and sell in APMC or directly in nearby town.

As told earlier the local production is not sufficient to meet the consumers demands the majority of produce is brought from other markets of state and country. For vegetables the markets of Una ( in winter season and cucurbit season), Jalandhar and hoshiarpur market are main source. The markets of Bhuntar, takoli are sourced for off season crops like peas, cauliflowers and other fruits like apple, pomegranate and stone fruits. Rest of fruits are sourced from delhi,  jalandhar and hoshiarpur markets.

The district is having well connected road network, this has brought new scope for direct suppliers or order suppliers. These people purchase the commodities from markets like una or other Punjab markets like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur etc and sell directly to retailers or consumers. They have their pick up vans and market directly.

The route like Barsar-Bhota-Ladraur- Sulgwan and Jahu is one circut and gagret-amb-Nadaun- Sujanpur  circut is mainly followed by these suppliers. In Hamirpur town the main channel is through APMC commission agents/ traders. The traders of APMC have their own pick up vans and they supply to Hamirpur and Bamsan areas. The small retailers of town also purchase fruits and vegetables from APMC hamirpur.

Due to availability of various marketing channels the fruits and vegetables are readily available at comparative prices in hamirpur districts and its towns.