Understanding factors influencing vegetable farmers’ choice of marketing channels in India

Purpose Despite several government initiatives, smallholder agriculture has remained less market-oriented worldwide. Commercialization strategy framing is, therefore, imperative for advancing the economic growth of most developing nations, including India. The present study examines marketing channel choices by small vegetable growers in Eastern India and evaluates the factors affecting their market preferences. Design/methodology/approach A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was followed to select 300 vegetable growers from Eastern India. Data was collected based on household, yield, transportation and market parameters. Then, multinomial logit regression (MLR) was applied to identify factors influencing market choices. Findings The present study identifies Producer–Consumer (Channel A, 66%), Producer–Mandi–Retailer–Consumer (Channel B, 23%) and Producer–Commission Agent–Wholesaler/Retailer–Consumer (Channel C, 11%), three marketing outlets that smallholders frequently use to sell their produce. Considering Channel B as the base category, the empirical model confirmed price satisfaction had the highest impact on smallholders’ market selection. Furthermore, factors including age, off-farm income, access to storage facilities and availability of market information were instrumental in determining their market choices. Research limitations/implications The identified determinants could help craft sustainable agri-marketing policies for smallholders’ welfare in developing economies. These findings are based solely on vegetable growers, so their applicability to other commodities requires further investigation. Originality/value Based on the outcomes, a novel farmer producer organization (FPO)-based agribusiness framework for vegetable smallholders has been formed.