Farmers' experience problems and constraints in production, processing, and marketing of lemongrass in Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir union territory: An analysis

Lemongrass is known for its oil which is obtained from leaves by steam distillation. The oil contains citral (75 percent) which gives lemon like fragrance and a source of Vitamin A. The research was carried out in the Jammu region of the Jammu and Kashmir (U/T). Reasi, Kathua and Udhampur districts were selected purposively as only these districts cultivated lemongrass. Selection of farmers were done through census survey. The study was carried out in the Jammu area of the Jammu and Kashmir union territory in order to determine the challenges that farmers confront in the cultivation, processing, and marketing of lemongrass. Surveys were used to acquire primary data from a number of respondents. Using a complete pre-tested schedule-cum-questionnaire, primary data were collected from lemongrass farmers and secondary data from KVKs and CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu. Garret ranking technique was used as a methodology for data analysis. The key challenges faced by farmers in production, processing and marketing were lack of financial resources, lack of technical knowledge, irrigation facilities, lack of availability of processing unit, lack of knowledge about appropriate stage of harvesting, lack of knowledge of running distillation unit, prevalence of low prices in local and distant markets, lack of market information and high transportation cost. According to the findings of the study, it could be recommended that the concerned institutes must provide technical guidance regarding package of practices and post-harvest management including marketing information to the farmers which helps them to earned maximum share.