There are two cropping seasons in khanozai valley:
Kharif and Rabi. Kharif crops are sown in summer and harvested in late summer or
early winter, while Rabi crops are sown in winter, or during early summer and
harvested in summer. Important Rabi crops are wheat, barley, cumin, vegetables
and fodder. Crops grown during Kharif are fruits, melons, vegetables, tobacco,
potato, fodder, onion etc. It is interesting to note that almost all the crops
grown during Kharif season are cash crops. This indicates that the farmers of
Pishin are commercial minded. It is worth mentioning that fodder and melons are
the only crops which are sown both on irrigated and unirrigated plots. The
farmers use scarce water resources in an efficient and effective manner.
Most
economical fruit of khanozai is Apple. At the time of sowing and reaping, the
demand for seasonal labour increases and male labour is employed on daily wages
for this purpose. It is worth mentioning that rural male labourers from Pishin
have migrated to khanozai areas in search of better wages and that they have
been replaced by skilled Afghan refugees, who are hard working and
submissive.
During the Rabi season wheat occupies the major share of the
irrigated area, followed by barley, cumin, vegetables and fodder. In the Kharif
season, the major share is taken by different kinds of fruits especially by
Apple, followed by vegetables and tobacco. Potatoes and onions are also
important Kharif crops. The farmers of Pishin mostly produce market crops. This
shows that the farmers are highly commercialised. They have diversified their
cropping pattern over the years from subsistence to high valued cash
crops
Land ownership and Tenure system
As far as land ownership in
district Pishin is concerned, the cultivated area is under personal ownership,
while pasture land and those lands which have not been brought under
administrative record belong to the tribe residing in the area. Cultivation is
normally done by owners with the help of labourers or by means of share
cropping, with the labourers on cash tenancy for an agricultural year.
Due to favorable soil and climatic conditions, zarakat
khanozai produces a wide range of fruits and vegetables of good quality, and in
quite sizable volumes. From horticultural point of view Balochistan can
legitimately be called as the “Fruit Basket of Pakistan”. Balochistan is the
major producer of apple in Pakistan, it produced 480 thousand tones of apple
from an area of 35 thousand hectares apple which constitutes about 70% of the
deciduous fruits in Balochistan, (GOP, 1997).District Pishin espically in
khanozai adjecnt area is the major producer of apple in Balochistan. It produces
1, 16, 120 tones apple from an area of 7600 hectares in 1996-97,which
contributes about 24% of the total production of the province(GOB, 1997). There
are a number of popular commercial apple varieties grown in khanozai town. Which
are, Kaja which is a newly introduced variety is grown on 8 % area while Tor
Kulu (Red Deliscious), Shin Kulu (Golden Delicious), Amri, Mashadi and Kashimiri
are grown on 75% area (FAO, 1990).
Farmers of the area are confronting
various apple marketing problems.Poor and inadequate roads, lack of credit
facilities, poor grading and cold storage facilities for perishable products and
shortage of warehouses are the common marketing problems eroding the farmers
incomes and leading to big marketing margins. They further argued that in the
marketing process various marketing intermediaries are involve who receive the
major share in the farmer’s income from apple sold in the market, they are
organized, whealthy and informed about market conditions, marketing system and
price behavior while the farmers on
the other hand are generally
disorganized, financially weak and ignorant about market conditions. These
conditions cause wide marketing margins which results in the exploitation of
farmers. reported that the presence of pre-harvest contractoris a distinctive
character of marketing in Pakistan. Many studies have been undertaken in the
past to find out the marketing margins of different fruits and vegetables ranged
from 10 to 70 % of the consumer price and showing big marketing margins exist
for various agricultural commodities and hence indicating that farmers are
exploited by the various marketing middlemen.
This study is important to
sort out the producer’s share in consumer’s rupee and also to know the shares of
different intermediaries involved in the marketing process and the returns made
by them. This study will also help to find out the costs incurred at various
stages of marketing process.
Results and Discussion
Marketing Channels: The
marketing channels common in Khanozai are;
1. Producer- Pre-harvest
contractor- Commission agent-Wholesaler -Retailer-Consumer. About 80 % of apple
producers market their produce through pre-harvest contractors.
2.
Producer-Commission agent-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer. 20% farmers undertake
self marketing and get 12 % higher net margin than those marketing through
pre-harvest contractor. Henceforth, the first marketing channel will be called
as channel-1 and second marketing channel called as channel-2. Marketing channel
for tor kulu apple in karazat khanozai. Marketing Margins: Marketing margin is
the difference between the price received by the producer and the price paid by
the consumer of produce.It is also computed as the percentage share of final
price received.
Materials and Methods
This study was conducted in Pishin
especially Karazat Khanozai of Balochistan in 1998. Awell structured
questionnaire was used to collect data from producers, pre-harvest contractors,
commission agents, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. A list of major apple
producing villages in sub division Pishin were obtained from the Extra Assistant
Director of Agriculture Pishin. Five villages were selected through random
technique out of entire population. These villages were, Manzaki, Huramzai
Samzai, Kakazai and Alizsai. Stratified random sampling technique was used for
the selection of apple producers. The 45 apple producers were selected, 30
preharvest contractors, 10 commission agents, 10 wholesalers and 30 retailers
were selected randomly from Quetta market where the apple growers of Pishin
supply their produce. Weighted averages were used for analysis and
interpretation of the data.