STUDY ON SUPPLY CHAIN OF THE SELECTED VEGETABLES IN MON STATE

Inefficiency in the supply chain leads to post-harvest losses and wastages which finally results in higher prices paid by consumers and less income to the farmers and other stakeholders. The study was done to analyze the vegetable supply chain and examine performance of major players in the supply chain, to analyze the structures of production costs and profit share of key actors along the chain and to identify constraints for the improvement of vegetable supply chain for benefits of all key actors. Using simple random sampling method, the survey was done on 100 vegetable growers, 11 collectors, 14 wholesalers and 16 retailers from Belin, Mawlamyine, Paung and Thaton Townships. The results showed most of the vegetable growers were smallholder farmers with the average farm size of 0.37 ha. About 50% of vegetable cultivated lands were lowland and farmers have limited access to land and water for year round production of vegetables. During off-season, almost all of the vegetables were imported from other areas such as Shan State, Sagaing Division, Naypyitaw Division, Bago Division, Yangon Division and Thailand. Mostly grown vegetables in Mon State were yard-long bean, cucumber, eggplant, mustard and tomato. The supply chain analysis revealed that the major actors in Mon State were producers, collectors, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. According to the economic analysis for yard-long bean, cucumber, eggplant and tomato, the benefit cost ratio (BCR) were 2.7, 2.8, 2.4 and 1.7 and the profit share got by farmers were 46, 39, 42 and 43%, respectively. Farmers from Mawlamyine Township, which have easy access to wholesale market, got the highest profit (58%) among townships. Vegetable growers faced with pests and disease problem, lack of water during dry season, labor scarcity and high market competition. Supporting services such as training, extension and credit were very weak. On marketing side, insufficient capital, high market competition and fluctuated local supply were mentioned as the major constraints for traders. There were a number of flourishing opportunities for vegetable sector in Mon State such as continuous demand for vegetables not only from local but also from remote townships, feasibility of off-season production and existence of Asian highway