Page 55 - 2018

Ph.D.
(Management)
AN IN - DEPTH STUDY OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
PRACTICES FOR POTATOES IN GUJARAT

Ph.D. Scholar : Sodhi Harpreet Bhupendrasingh
Research Supervisor : Dr. Amit A. Patel

Regi. No.: 13146031008
Abstract :
Since half of the workforce of our country is occupied in agriculture and allied activities,
agriculture of India has to perform well for overall development of the nation. Vegetables,
particularly potato possess a dominant role in domestic as well as export market. The
consumption pattern of people in India has changed during recent past owing to the
rapidly changing socio-economic setup. Potato is considered to be the most popular
convenient food. It is the most important commercial crop of Gujarat where the state
ranks 6th in area, 4th in total production and 1st in productivity in the country. Numbers
of intermediaries are involved to move the produce from farm gate to ultimate consumer.
To know the role played by each market functionaries in depth study of the supply chain
management practices need to be researched. The middlemen are the actual
beneficiaries, while the farmers who actually produce the potato are the worst sufferers in
economic terms. Therefore, the study requires critical analysis of price spread and
marketing efficiency of potato marketing channels.
To develop background of the research that is rational of study, basic information was
collected towards area, production, and productivity of potato in the world, India and
Gujarat state. After finding out rational of the study, the pertinent reviews of the
previously conducted studies in respect to potato marketing channels, marketing cost,
margin, price spread, producer’s share in consumer rupee and marketing efficiency were
collected. The reviews related to different factors influencing the market intermediaries to
choose a particular functionary in the supply chain and weightage given by different
market functionaries to sell and to purchase the commodities were also collected. This
created a background for further research. After critically studying the available review of
literature, the research gaps were identified and theoretical framework of the study was
developed.

Gujarat state was selected for the study. Multistage stratified random sampling
technique was adopted for selection of the districts, talukas and villages. Major five
districts viz., Bansakantha, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Gandhinagar and Mehsana were
selected for the study. Two talukas from each selected district having maximum area
under potato cultivation were selected purposively for the study. A cluster of three

36