~ 3645 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(2): 3645-3648 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(2): 3645-3648 Received: 12-01-2018 Accepted: 13-02-2018 Janmejay Kumar Department of Agricultural Economics, SHUATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Dinesh Kumar Department of Agricultural Economics, SHUATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Correspondence Janmejay Kumar Department of Agricultural Economics, SHUATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Market dynamics and supply chain efficiency of litchi in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar Janmejay Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Abstract Litchi (Litchi chinensis) is the most important sub-tropical fruit which originated from China about 3,000 years ago. India is the second largest producer of litchi in the world after China. Presently in India, litchi is cultivated in an area of about 74.40 thousand hectares with a total production of 483.60 thousand metric tonnes and productivity of 6.50 metric tonnes/ hectare. Bihar produces nearly 73.38 per cent of total litchi of the country with 40 per cent of the area under cultivation. It is cultivated in an area of about 31.1 thousand hectares with a total production of 227 thousand metric tonnes and productivity of 7.3 metric tonnes/ hectare. It is mainly cultivated in the old districts of Muzaffarpur, Champaran and Darbhanga. In India, litchi maturity starts in the middle of May in the states of Tripura, West Bengal, Jharkhand; end of May and June in North Bihar, followed by Northern Tarai region of Himalaya in Uttarakhand. Litchi is a non-climacteric fruit that possesses poor shelf life and results in very high post- harvest losses. This studies conducted identify the various channels in Litchi marketing ans assess the efficiency of each channels in the district Muzzafarpur of Bihar. Channel I: Producer – Pre - harvest contractor – Commission agent cum Wholesaler –Retailer – Consumer. Channel II: Producer – Village Trader – Wholesaler (local) – Commission agent (distant) – Wholesaler (distant) – Retailer – Consumer. Channel III: Producer – Retailer – Consumer. Channel IV: Producer – Consumer. The producers share in consumer’s rupee in channel IV is the highest since it is the shortest channel (68.99 per cent). Where as the producers share in consumer’s rupee in channel I, II and III are 33.59 per cent, 11.97 per cent and 42.27 per cent respectively. The marketing efficiency index of channel I, II, III and IV was 0.662, 0.197, 1.129 and 9.05 in the same order indicating the superiority of channel IV. Keywords: litchi, production, marketing channel, marketing efficiency Introduction Litchi is the most important sub-tropical evergreen tree and most renowned edible fruits belonging to the family Sapindaceae, which originated from China about 3,000 years ago. It is botanically designated as Litchi chinensis Sonn. (Nephelium litchi Cambess) and is widely known as litchi and regionally as litchi, lichee, leechee or lychee. Unlike annual crops, investment on orchards demands vast resources and there is a wide gap between investment and harvesting of crop due to long gestation period. It is highly specific to climatic requirements and probably due to this reason its cultivation is restricted to a few countries in the world. Litchi is a delicious fruit of excellent quality. The fruit has high sugar content which varies from 10 to 22 per cent due to cultivar and climatic conditions. Besides sugars, litchi contains 0.7 per cent protein, 0.3 per cent fat, 0.7 per cent minerals (particularly calcium and phosphorus) and vitamin C (64mg/100 g pulp), Vitamin A, B1 and B2 are also present in considerable amount. Litchi being a temperature sensitive fruit, the access to market is constrained by unavailability of cool chain facilities to transport it to distant markets. It is important to reach the produce to distant locations at ambient temperature within 24-36 hours after plucking, in order to retain its desired colour. The supply chain from farm to final consumers outside the state market is not so efficient to maintain the timings. Hence refrigerated trucks and cool chain facilities are essential for targeting larger markets. For export markets, litchi requires some processing to increase its shelf life. Additionally, litchi is also processed for pulp, juices, canned litchi etc. for preservation. Currently, there are about 5 pack houses/ litchi processors in the state. Litchi is negligibly exploited at post harvest level for processing and value addition. This situation would normally encourage effort to develop various litchi products like nut, canned fruits juices, squash, jam, jelly, wines etc. Product diversification will lead to income and employment generation in the agro processing sector.