International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.3, 186-194 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 192 2.3.1 Primarily sale of potato The main actors that played role in the marketing of potato in the study area were local collectors, wholesalers, retailers and cooperatives. 50% potato farmers sold their produce to local collectors who collected it in bulk and sold to the wholesalers or nearby market. Few sold their produce (5%) directly to retailers. Farmers who purchased their seed tubers and other inputs for potato production were mainly found to be selling their produce to cooperatives. Especially, the farmers of the area where easy transportation facility were unavailable sold their potato to local consumers (15%) (Figure 3). Figure 3 Sale of potatoes to different buyers (Source: Field survey, 2023) 2.3.2 Marketing channels Marketing channel is the sequence of intermediaries or middlemen, and markets through which produce pass from producers to final consumers. Marketing channel makes sure that the goods and services are distributed from producers to consumers by involving a number of middlemen. Mainly, four marketing channels were found to be used as follows (Figure 4). Figure 4 Four marketing Channels (Source: Field survey, 2023) In the study area, among the channels given above, channel 1 is mostly used (24%). However, channel 3 (17%) is also frequently used. Some farmers directly sell their produce to local consumers (15%). 4% used channel 4. 2.4 Ranking constraints of potato production and marketing in the study area Five-point scaling technique was used to determine the seriousness and for ranking the production and marketing constraints faced by the farmers. The scale value of 1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4 and 0.2 was used. 1 indicated most serious, 0.8 indicated serious, 0.6 indicated moderate, 0.4 indicated a little bit whereas 0.2 indicated least serious.
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