Includes bibliographical references.

Vegetables play an important role in supporting human nutrition as well as uplifting the economy. The area and production of vegetables have seen an increasing trend over time. In India, vegetables like potato, tomato, onion and cucurbits are abundantly found .Cucurbits, the largest group of vegetables crops are widely cultivated in all the North eastern states of India. Sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica) is one such which is found mostly in tropical and sub tropical areas of Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur .Tender form of vegetable is consumed and used as loofah (dried Luffa)when it’s matured. In Meghalaya, over the centuries loofah was used among the people as natural scrubber. It acts a source of income in the state. Since, it is a minor crop therefore its cultivation has not yet flourished on commercial level and its proper acreage is also not available. Therefore, it is imperative to map the actors and study marketing channel of sponge gourd in Meghalaya. Keeping, the above mentioned facts in view following objectives were formulated: (1) To estimate the marketed and marketable surplus of sponge gourd,(2) To map the different actors, their activities and functions in the value chain and (3) To identify the factors affecting the marketed and marketable surplus of commodity under study. The study has been conducted in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya where a sample of 63 respondents were randomly selected from Umling block and Bhoirymbong block from where a cluster of 5 and 4 villages were selected from each blocks respectively. Primary data were collected from pretested interview schedule and the secondary data were collected from various government published reports, statistical abstracts and articles. The analytical tools like marketed surplus, marketable surplus, marketing cost, marketing margin, price spread, producer’s share, marketing efficiency and multiple linear regression were employed to achieve the afore-mentioned objectives. The marketed and marketable surplus of sponge gourd was found to be of 83.80% and 86.06% respectively. The marketed and marketable surplus of loofah or dried luffa was found to be 91.54% and 93.97%. In the study area, three marketing channels were identified. Highest quantity of sponge gourd and loofah were disposed through channel-III. Direct channel i.e, channel-I was found to be more efficient than channel-II and III. Low price and transportation facilities were identified as major constraints in the study area. Farm size, production and price were positively related to the marketed surplus. Farm size, total production, price of commodity and total consumption had significant effect on marketed surplus. The study revealed that marketed surplus was found to be less than marketable surplus hence no distress sale was prevalent and therefore more amount were retained for home consumption and various other purposes. Hence, steps should be taken to strengthen the channel-III to make it more market efficient and area under sponge gourd cultivation should be increased along with focus on its marketing aspect with a view to develop a proper supply chain to connect the growers to the market segments.