Journal of Experimental Agriculture International

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) occupies a prominent place among the seed spices grown in India, prized both for its aromatic leaves and seeds, and it forms a valuable component of the country's spice export trade. Madhya Pradesh leads all states in coriander production, and within the state, Guna district contributes the single largest share of area and output. Despite this prominence, comparatively little empirical work has examined how profitable coriander cultivation actually is for growers in Guna, or how efficiently the crop moves from farm gate to consumer. The present investigation was therefore undertaken to estimate the costs and returns associated with coriander cultivation, to map the marketing channels through which the crop travels and to compare their relative efficiency, and to identify the constraints that growers encounter in both production and marketing. Data were collected from 120 coriander growers selected through a multistage random sampling procedure covering 20 villages in the Chachoda and Raghogarh blocks during the 2025-26 agricultural year. The average total cost of cultivation (Cost C2) reached ₹94,719.12 per hectare, of which variable cost accounted for 77.37 per cent. Growers earned an average gross income of ₹1,78,220.60 per hectare, translating into a net income of ₹74,029.55 per hectare and a benefit-cost ratio of 1.88 over Cost C2. Three distinct marketing channels operated in the study area, and among these, Channel III (Producer-Retailer-Consumer) proved the most efficient, recording a marketing efficiency index of 17.26 and giving producers the largest share of the consumer's rupee, at 95.38 per cent, while Channel I (Producer-Village trader-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer), the longest chain, was correspondingly the least efficient, with an index value of 10.59. Application of Garrett's ranking technique revealed delayed availability of fertiliser as the constraint that growers found most troubling on the production side, while the absence of local processing facilities ranked as the foremost marketing constraint. Taken together, these findings point to three practical levers for raising farm profitability in the district: shortening marketing chains, ensuring timely access to fertiliser and other inputs, and building local processing and storage infrastructure.