The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying factors affecting marketing, marketing channels and analysing the marketing cost, margin, price spread, and marketing efficiency of farmers in the marketing of green chilies in Jorhat district of Assam. A sample of 80 farmers was selected using multistage stratified random sampling, and 30 market intermediaries were selected from the study area. Production was kept for home consumption, and the seed was one of the factors that indirectly affected the marketable surplus of green chili, significant at 1 percent. However, transportation costs of green chilies directly affected the markable surplus, significant at 10 percent. Among the two marketing channels identified, total marketing cost was low in channel I (` 124.06 per quintal) as compared to channel II (` 178.04 per quintal), signifying that marketing cost was low if the channel has lesser market intermediaries. The best channel for both producer and consumer was found to be channel I, in which producers receive the maximum share of consumers’ rupee (77.06 percent), and consumers purchase the product at the low price ` 7700 per quintal. Marketing efficiency was found to be higher in channel I (3.36). The major constraint faced by the producers in the marketing of green chili was the low selling price that prevailed during the Covid-19 pandemic in the local and distant markets during the peak harvesting time.

Highlights

• Major factors affecting the marketing of green chilies were production kept for home consumption and seed rhizome and transportation costs.
• Two marketing channels of green chilies were identified, viz., (i) Channel I: Producer → Retailer → Consumer and (ii) Channel II: Producer → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer.
• Presence of middlemen and low selling price of the produce as perceived by growers were the major constraints found in the study area.