ASSESSMENT ON CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN KALAW TOWNSHIP, SOUTHERN SHAN STATE

In this study, the socioeconomic characteristics, cost and benefit, factors affecting yield determinants of cabbage and cauliflower production and constraints and challenges of production and marketing were investigated. The primary data were collected by interviewing 100 non-contract farmers in Myinmahti and Heho village tracts, 30 contract farmers in Kyauthtet, Heho and Thekhaung village tracts, and 34 sample market intermediaries in Kalaw Township during October to November, 2015. Descriptive analysis, cost and return analysis, marketing cost, margin and profit, production function analysis and SWOT analysis were used. According to the findings, both non-contract and contract farmers were at the primary education level. Home assets and luxury assets of non-contract and contract farmers were not significant. Regarding, the cost and return analysis, non-contract farmers can get more benefit cost ratio of rain-fed cabbage (3.02) and rain-fed cauliflower (3.55) than winter cabbage production of non-contract farmers (2.64), contract farmers (2.38) and winter cauliflower production of non-contract farmers (3.01). There were seven marketing channels along the cabbage and cauliflower supply chain. Retailers and township wholesalers got the higher profit than village collectors and commission men. Regarding to the winter cabbage production, the significant influencing factors were household head’s farming experience, farm size, total family labor cost, total hired labor cost, total material cost and access to credit for contract farmers while total family labor cost, total hired labor cost and access to credit for non-contract farmers. The significant factors of rain-fed cabbage yield were household head’s age, household head’s farming experience, farm size and total material cost of non-contract farmers. In the cauliflower production, household head’s education, amount of seed rate, total hired labor cost and access to credit were influencing on winter cauliflower production while only one influencing factor on rain-fed cauliflower production for non-contract farmers that was the amount of seed rate. In SWOT analysis, the serious factors of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of sample farmers were price information availability by mobile asset, not resistance pest and diseases, availability of local and export market and summer drought, respectively. SWOT analysis of market participants were price information availability by mobile phone asset, poor crop quality, high demand of product and high transportation cost, respectively. According to the study, farmers who had more experience can produce more products. Therefore, technical knowledge sharing should be promoted for farmers to get higher income