Impact of Harvesting and Marketing Behavior of Citrus Growers on their Socio-Economic Development: A Case of District Sargodha

Abstract

| Present research study was designed to investigate the impact of harvesting and marketing behavior of citrus growers on their socio-economic development. This research was conducted in district Sargodha, the hub of citrus production. The findings of the study indicate regarding harvesting behavior of the farmers that they do not harvest the fruit by their own. Only a small number of the citrus growers harvest the fruit by their own. Majority of the farmers were found to be unsatisfied about the role of intermediaries and termed these intermediaries as profit-making group indenting the share of farmers. The Harvesting behavior of the farmers is significantly affected by the area under citrus cultivation. The results also indicated that product marketing and harvesting behavior of citrus growers is positively associated with a unit increase in area under citrus cultivation. The analysis of Socio-economic characteristics of farmers sums up that the area under citrus cultivation is the most influencing characteristic that changes the marketing behavior of the farmers. Whereas the constraint analysis sums up that; large majority (83.6%) of farmers reported high price of inputs as a key hurdle. Majority of the respondents revealed their concern on rising inflation in the country. They reported that the increase in cost of production negatively effects the profit earned especially by the small farmers. The results of inter-correlation analysis of variables, which are considered to be a constraining factor in citrus production confirms that most of the variables are interrelated and by resolving one, may lead to the resolution of other accompanying factors.