Browsing by Author "Jayasree Krishnankutty"

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Analysis of marketing interventions in vegetables for the promotion of marginal and smallholder farmers
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture ,Vellanikkara, 2022) Nadhika, K; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Kerala, even with its rich agricultural heritage, depends on neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to meet the vegetable demand. To phase out this scenario, the state government initiated many schemes and programs to promote vegetable cultivation among smallholder farmers. Realizing that marketing is the area where smallholder farmers are the weakest, attempts to promote small holder marketing were also devised by the Government. Analysis of such interventions will help to see how far they have benefitted the smallholder farmers. The present study analyzed the marketing interventions like VFPCK, Ecoshop, Kudumbasree Nattuchantha and Agricultural Wholesale Market. The objectives of the study include identification of the components of market-led extension employed by the marketing interventions, analyzing and comparing the marketing efficiency through these interventions, studying the marketing behaviour of beneficiary farmers, examining the constraints experienced by the farmers as well as the implementing agencies and suggesting ways to enhance the marketing system for better inclusion of marginal and small holder farmers. Palakkad district was purposively selected as the location for the selection of VFPCK farmers’ market, Kudumbasree Nattuchantha market and Ecoshop. Two markets each under the selected market interventions were selected randomly. One market under the three Urban Wholesale Markets and one market under the three Rural Wholesale Markets were selected randomly. A sample of 20 farmers each from the different market interventions were selected randomly to form a total sample size of 160 farmers and 40 stakeholders including the marketing officials were selected randomly. Analysis of profile characteristics revealed that more than 50 per cent of the farmers belonged to the middle aged category and 77 per cent had at least high school level education. About 60 per cent of the farmers depended on agriculture alone and the majority of the farmers with vegetable area less than 0.25 ha and 0.25 to 0.4 ha had an annual income of less than 2 lakhs. More than 50 per cent of the farmers used the selected main marketing interventions. Identification of components of market led extension employed by each intervention revealed that VFPCK provided better market led extension services to its beneficiaries. The binary logistic regression analysis revealed that variables like owned land, leased land, area under vegetables, organizational membership and source of price information showed a significant relation with the satisfaction of farmers towards market led extension components. The analysis of marketing efficiency of channels under each intervention revealed that marketing channel 4 under the Ecoshop showed highest efficiency for all the crops and the net price received by the producer was also high for this channel. A scale was constructed to measure the marketing behaviour of the vegetable growers and the results revealed that the beneficiaries under Ecoshops and Agricultural Wholesale Markets showed very good marketing behaviour. Factor analysis using the principal component method was used to reduce the variables into four predictor factors. The results revealed that production factor, proficiency factor and social participation factor had significant influence over the marketing behaviour of farmers. Cluster analysis was carried out to categorize the smallholder farmers into different groups based on their common traits and four clusters identified were named as neoteric farmers, full time farmers, contemporary part time farmers and economically sound part time farmers. Discriminant analysis confirmed the correctness of the predicted group membership of cases under each cluster to be 98 per cent. Competition from other state produce, improper utilisation of surplus produce, poor market infrastructure, delayed payment and lack of coordination among the producers were some of the constraints faced by the smallholder farmers. Facilitation of market oriented production among farmers, provision for value addition and processing of surplus produce, establishing better market infrastructure, ensuring timely payments to farmers and proper channelization of government support towards market infrastructure development were some of the key suggestions for improving the marketing interventions for better inclusion of smallholder farmers.
Analysis of suitability of agriculture loan products for farmers: A study of Thrissur district co-operative bank Ltd.
(College of co-operation, banking and management, Vellanikkara, 2016) Sruthi, T; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Analysis of the management for sustainable agriculture by the farmers of Kerala
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1995) Jayasree Krishnankutty; Prasad, R M
The study was conducted with the main objectives of analyzing the concept and dimensions of sustainable agriculture and the extent of knowledge, attitude and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by the farmers of Kerala and also the factors affecting them. The study was undertaken in Thrissur District of Kerala State covering 270 farmers selected using multi – stage random sampling procedure. Besides farmers, 25 agricultural scientists, 25 agricultural extension personnel and 25 progressive farmers were also selected to analyse the perception about the concept and dimensions of sustainable agriculture. The dependent variables selected for the study were knowledge about sustainable agriculture, attitude towards sustainable agriculture and extent of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. Fifteen independent variables were selected in relation to the objectives and based on review of literature and pilot study. Correlation analysis multiple regression analysis, step down regression analysis, and path analysis were employed for data analysis and interpretation. It was deducted from the study that a farming system can be called sustainable when it meets the product demand for which it is intended, can maintain the productivity without depleting the natural resource base, is not harmful to the environment, is economically viable, suited to the local conditions in all aspects and can be expanded without any deleterious effects in case of increased future demand. Six dimensions were identified as important for sustainable agriculture and they were resource use efficiency, environmental soundness, economic viability, technological appropriateness, economic feasibility and local adaptability. Content analysis of the various schemes implemented by the three development departments of the State revealed that the extent of inclusion of the components of sustainable agriculture in the development programmes is only less than 25 per cent. Majority of the respondents were in the medium category with respect to knowledge, attitude and extent of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. Education, income from agriculture, exposure to interpersonal sources, perception about availability of sustainable agricultural techniques, perception about price of inputs and extension contact were found significant in predicting the variation in knowledge of farmers about sustainable agriculture. Exposure to interpersonal sources, perception about availability of sustainable agricultural techniques and perception about price of agricultural produce had significant contribution towards the variation in attitude of farmers towards sustainable agriculture. Farming experience, income from agriculture, exposure to interpersonal sources, perception about availability of sustainable agricultural techniques and extension contact were found to have significant contribution towards the extent of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by the farmers. Apprehension about fall in profit margin, high cost of labour, lack of information about sustainable agricultural practices, acute shortage in the availability of organic inputs, shortage in labour availability and lack of easy availability of many of the sustainable agricultural practices were the major constraints in adoption of sustainable agricultural practices as expressed by farmers.
Enhancing the role of informal sector in food security and poverty reduction in malawi-policy implications and recommendations
(Department of agricultural extension, College of horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2012) Aston Oliver Mulwafu; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Homestead based agro - biodiversity - a farmer participatory study
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2011) Krishna Priya, N; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Homestead farming is a traditional practice of multiple and mixed cropping in small holdings in Kerala. Home gardens are an integral part of the livelihood systems, and could contribute to the family food, income and the conservation of biodiversity. Home garden is one of the components of agro biodiversity. The home garden agro ecosystem is an important system for the maintenance of agro biodiversity beyond its primary function in crop production, household food security and nutrition. It is an important area for effectively implementing programmes geared towards biodiversity conservation, food security and sustainable development. This study was undertaken in Thrissur, Thrikkur, Pananchery and Adat panchayats were selected representing high elevation lands, medium elevation lands and low elevation lands respectively. From these panchayats 15 homesteads were selected purposively based on farm size making a total sample size of 45. Inventory of crop and other plants was prepared for 45 homesteads and divided into different categories with the percentage occurrence of each crop. It was noted that 100 per cent occurrence is obtained for coconut crop. Next crop which recorded the highest frequency was banana i.e.97.78 Biodiversity of homesteads of these regions were estimated based on two major biodiversity indices namely Margalef index (1958) and Shannon-Wiener diversity index (1985). Margalef index measures the species richness and Shannon-Wiener diversity index measures the species diversity. Based on this low elevation lands recorded the highest species richness and species diversity. The level of awareness about agro biodiversity was assessed. More than 55 per cent of the respondents were having medium level of awareness. The level of perception about ecosystem services of homesteads was also found medium among the respondents. Positive correlation between farmer’s awareness on agro biodiversity was observed for three variables namely education, information source utilization and innovativeness were positively and significantly correlated at 1 per cent level of significance. The correlation analysis for the perception of the stakeholders about the ecosystem services of the homesteads had similar results. Age and occupation had negative correlation. Gender roles in agro biodiversity confirmed that most of the activities were undertaken by women farmers. Kitchen garden activity which is recorded the highest per cent i.e. 90. Most important constraint faced by farmers in homestead based agro biodiversity conservation was the unavailability of water. The next important constraint was scarcity of labour and high cost of labour which was expressed by 95.56 percentage of respondents. Unsustainable human activity was the main threat to homestead based agro biodiversity conservation with the highest frequency of occurrence i.e. 100 per cent. Second most important threat was large scale introduction of cash crops and mono-cropping (96.67 per cent). To conclude, variability in home gardens exists within region and between regions and as the size of holding increased, agro-biodiversity was found to decrease. The homesteads surveyed, generally were rich in agro-biodiversity. Women gender contributed more to conserving it.
Impact assessment of skill based trainings of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Thrissur
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2016) Aparna, T G; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Integrated rural development programme- a case study
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara., 1988) Jayasree Krishnankutty; Ramachandran Nair, K P
To have an indepth analysis of the various aspects of Integrated Rural Development Programme in the State, giving more stress to the beneficiaries angle, the present investigation was undertaken under the title “I. R. D. P – A case study”. Awareness of the beneficiaries about the programme and their extent of utilization of the facilities of the programme was measured in this study. Awareness was measured in 3 dimensions viz. awareness about the schemes, about the benefits of the schemes and about the implementing agencies of the programme. The experience of the beneficiaries in the utilization of IRDP facilities and constraints or problems experienced by them were also analysed. The study was conducted in Ollukkara Block of Trichur District. The sample was 120 IRDP beneficiaries consisting of 40 marginal farmers, 40 agrl/non-agrl. Labourers and 40 beneficiaries belonging to Schedule Castes or Scheduled Tribes. Data was collected using an interview schedule and suitable statistical techniques were employed in the analysis of the data. The study revealed that majority of the respondents had medium awareness about the schemes, low awareness about the benefits of the schemes and all beneficiaries had low or medium awareness about the implementing agencies. As far as extent of utilization was concerned, there was absolutely no beneficiary with high extent of utilization. Majority of the respondents had low extent of utilization. Most of the selected independent variables contributed substantially in the case of awareness. But in the case of extent of utilization, only four variables had substantial contribution towards it. The experience of beneficiaries in utilization of IRDP facilities was medium. The analysis of the constraints felt by the beneficiaries revealed that there were a lot of malpractices prevalent in the sanctioning and distribution of assistance, there were undue delays in disbursing the loans and that quality of the products obtained by way of assistance was poor. The results point out vividly to the prime need for a more systematic and effective functioning of the programme with better co-ordination and supervision at all levels in order to have a better image of the programme in the rural sector.
Integrated rural development programme: An awareness study
(Kerala Agricultural University, 1992) Jayasree Krishnankutty; Ramachandran Nair, K P
The study on awareness about IRDP revealed maximum awareness in the marginal farmers. Others like agricultural labourers, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes had either very low or medium awareness only. The awareness about the benefits of the programme was very low for majority of the beneficiaries under the study. None had the correct knowledge on the various implementing agencies of the programme. This was very marked in the socially and educationally backward beneficiaries.
Management options for the kole wetland ecosystem through stakeholder studies
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2013) Lakhsmi Shilpa, V; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Wetland management strategy is not very scientifically drawn in India. In Kerala, state policies do not reflect the conservation element. The kole wetlands are central Kerala’s unique rice production ecosystem. The ecosystem significance of the area is evidenced by its inclusion as a Ramsar site, and recently, they have been considered a separate high value biodiversity area. The development policies so far do not uphold the provisions for ecosystem protection of the wetlands. Covering visible interests of the stakeholders, policy makers touch the politically correct options alone. The marginalised and voiceless stakeholders mostly lose their interests and so do the ecological concerns, with no one to project them. This study aimed to come out with policy suggestions as to how wetland conservation without sacrificing the human economic activity can be carried out which will inform management plans for the wetlands in the long run. The study has been conducted in six randomly selected panchayats, three from each of Thrissur kole and Ponnani kole, which were Arimpur, Paralam and Thanniyam from Thrissur kole and Kattakampal, Perumpadappu and Nannamukku from Ponnani kole. Major Stakeholder groups were identified using the snow ball sampling technique. The major stakeholder groups identified were farmers, government departments, agricultural labourers, input agencies, cooperatives, marketing agencies and NGOs. Stakeholder interactions and information from secondary data led to the development of structural and functional relationships among the stakeholder groups. Farmers’ awareness regarding various ecosystem services provided by the kole lands was studied. The ecosystem functions provided by the kole lands have been categorised into seven such as hydrological, chemical, recreational, biological, environmental, socio-economic and other functions. Awareness of the respondents of the Thrissur and Ponnani koles was analysed and stakeholders from both koles were commonly aware of 14 services. Preferences of the stakeholders regarding resource use of the kole lands were studied using a five point continuum. The major preferences lay in the premises of livelihood provision, food production, water conservation, role as a natural resource base, water storage, soil nutrient regulation and provision of leisure activities. Stakeholders’ perspectives were elaborately studied by concept mapping procedure. The perspectives were classified into production, environmental, socio-economic and ancillary services. Multidimensional scaling was used to develop a map where each perspective is a point on the map. Proximity values of the perspectives were considered to interpret the output. As a result similar perspectives were grouped into one cluster. Concepts in the clusters were suitably labelled. Based on all the analyses done, management options for the kole lands were developed. The important ones were neededs for promotion of more than one crop in kole, need for integrated farming, proper maintenance of water ways, promotion of organic measures, education of farmers on water conservation measures and the like. The study points towards the need for extensive measures for problem identification and management in kole lands to sustain them as a major rice producing area in Kerala.
Non- governmental sources of agricultural extension in Kerala: status and potential
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture,Vellanikkara, 2005) Simi George; Jayasree Krishnankutty
The study entitled “Non-governmental sources of agricultural extension in Kerala: Status and potential” was undertaken to “ collect and consolidate the different types of non-governmental extension sources involved in providing extension in the state; to classify the non-governmental extension sources based on their involvement in agricultural development; to analyse the activity focus, extension approaches followed and the mode of operation of the selected non-governmental extension agencies; to identify the success indicators of these non-governmental extension providers; and to analyse the salient personal and socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries under different agricultural programmes implemented by the non-governmental extension providers and to appraise the suggestions of the beneficiaries in improving the non-governmental extension services”. The study was carried out in five non-governmental extension agencies of Kerala, selected based on the predominant roles being performed by them, identified by the researcher. A sample of 30 beneficiaries covering different agricultural programmes was drawn from each agency following simple random sampling, thus making the total sample size 150. The personal and socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiary respondents as well as the probable success factors of the non-governmental extension agencies were selected through judges rating. The selected variables were measured using suitable procedures. Data were collected through pre-tested interview schedules and were analyzed and interpreted using appropriate statistical tools. Types of non-governmental extension agencies identified are: (1) Agricultural consultants/firms (2) Para technicians (3) Progressive farmers (4) Farmer’s organizations/Co-operatives (5) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (6) Agri-business firms (7) Input dealers (8) Print and electronic media (9) Private sector banks (10) Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The major roles found being performed by the non-governmental extension agencies are: (1) Advocacy (2) Consultancy (3) Infrastructure development (4) Input supply (5) Marketing. Mode of operation is influencing the outcome of non-governmental efforts. A high degree of concordance among beneficiaries regarding their perception about various success factors of the agencies was noticed. All the selected agencies were comparatively good in their effectiveness and the general factors found to be contributing to their effectiveness and success were communication methods, periodic evaluation and review of activities, co-ordination and integration of activities, resource use efficiency, participatory approach, and activities based on felt needs of clientele. Taking into account the effectiveness index computed for every selected agency, the agency selected for ‘marketing’ role came first and the agency selected for ‘consultancy’ role, the last. The factors that distinguished between the most effective and the least effective agencies were communication methods, periodic evaluation and review of activities and resource use efficiency. The mean status score was computed for assessing the status of any new agency that is to be taken up for studying on this particular aspect. Beneficiary respondents were analysed based on their socio-economic characteristics and 100 per cent variation could be noticed among them on their socio-economic characteristics. Regarding the scope for non-governmental extension services in future, both the staff and beneficiaries feel an ample scope for them in the coming years. Suggestions to improve the non-governmental extension services were collected after discussing with the beneficiary respondents. The study draws attention to the emergent need of effective utilization of the experiences and services of non-governmental extension agencies for rural development, particularly for agricultural development.
Perception of school students of Kerala on agriculture and its implications
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2015) Razia Fathima; Jayasree Krishnankutty
With growing urbanization, better literacy standards and greater skill attainment by rural youth, our younger generation is moving away from agriculture.In India, children get hardly any exposure to agriculture through a curriculum predominated by arts and science.This is all the more pronounced in Kerala, the state with highest degree of urbanization in India. In this background, the present study entitled ‘Perception of school students of Kerala on agriculture and its implications’ was taken up in the Department of Agricultural Extension, college of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, during 2013-15 to assess the awareness level and perception of today’s children on agriculture. Survey was conducted among higher secondary school students of Alappuzha and Thrissur districts of Kerala. From each district, one urban school each with CBSE and state syllabus and one rural school each with CBSE and state syllabus were selected. Thus a total of eight schools were selected, and from these schools, the entire students of one division, randomly selected, formed the respondents. Hence, three hundred and ninety three students were surveyed. In addition, a total of sixty four teachers from all these schools were randomly surveyed as it is important to know their awareness on agriculture and perception about agriculture as an occupation for prospective youth. The results revealed that there exists huge variation in the awareness level of students from rural to urban background and also between respondents from state and CBSE syllabus. The ANOVA analysis done proved that the highest level of awareness on agriculture, was exhibited by the students from rural state syllabus school of Alappuzha District closely followed by the students from rural state syllabus school of Thrissur district. The lowest awareness level was recorded for students from urban CBSE schools of Thrissur and Alappuzha districts with a mean value of awareness as 0.449 and 0.470 respectively. The results of Kruskal Wallis test showed that there exists statistically significant difference in awareness level among teachers from different schools, with teachers from rural state syllabus schools having the highest awareness with a mean value of 50.53 and from the urban CBSE schools having low awareness with a mean value of 20.34. On analysing the perception of students on agriculture, the salient features that came up include, close to 36 percent of the sampled respondents have a negative perception that farming occupation is meant for the less privileged in the society, and 44 per cent of the student’s felt it as better for educated youth to engage in industrial/service sector than earning a living through agriculture. Nearly 48 per cent of the students think about agriculture as a good occupation only for the rural youth. The analysis of perception of teachers revealed that though all of them believe that it is necessary for our youth to explore the immense opportunities offered by our agribusiness sector, close to 86 per cent of them consider agribusiness enterprises as highly risk oriented having unpredictable prospects. About 84 per cent of the teachers included in this study felt it as necessary to incorporate the agri based experiential learning module into the school curriculum. The simple correlation analysis between the independent variables included in the study ( namelygender, background, nature of landed property, crops grown, type of dwelling, rural contact, purpose of contact, familiarity with farming, participation in extracurricular activities, garden in home and income from agriculture)with the dependent variables awareness and perception separately revealed that there exist strong, positive or negative correlation between them. With a view to assess the relationship between the dependent set of variables with the independent set of variables, a canonical correlation analysis was done. The canonical correlation analysis yielded a canonical R value (Rc=0.691) and squared correlation value R²C= 0.477 and the same were found to be highly significant as revealed by Chi square value of 271.35 (p <.001). To find out the contributory factors affecting the dependent variables awareness and perception, a stepwise regression analysis of the two dependent variables on the vector of independent variables was conducted separately. The analysis revealed that background, garden in home, participation in extracurricular activities, familiarity with farming and income from agriculture were the key factors affecting awareness whereas background, income from agriculture, participation in extracurricular activities and gender were found to bethe key explanatory factors affecting perception of students. A principal component analysis was conducted to assess how the eight schools surveyed could be clustered based on the independent variables included in the study.The analysis yielded a correlation matrix wherein the rural schools of the two districts were found to be significantly correlated with each other. High correlation existed between the urban schools too.The component plot in rotated space clearly depicted the close relationship between the two sets of schools- rural and urban, irrespective of their syllabus, and indicated the existence of a rural-urban divide with regard to the awareness and perception on agriculture.
Rural empowerment through joint liability groups promoted by Thrissur district co-operative bank Ltd.
(College of co-operation, banking and management, Vellanikkara, 2016) Vidhu Varghese; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Stakeholder analysis for enhancing the role primary producers in mango value chains
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2017) Nadhika, K; Jayasree Krishnankutty
India is the largest mango producing and the chief exporting country in the world with an annual mango production of 18 million metric tons, which accounts for about 50 per cent of the global mango supply. In total India has about 8.97 lakh ha dedicated to mango farming, out of which Kerala accounts for about 77.30 thousand ha under mango cultivation during 2014-’15. Muthalamada in Chittur taluk of Palakkad district, is known as the ‘Mango City’ of Kerala. The mango orchards in Muthalamada covers around 4000 hectares, with about 5000 mango cultivators. The annual production of mango in Muthalamada Panchayat is approximately 40,000 tonnes. However, the mango sector in Palakkad district is not devoid of any problems, which hinders its economic advancement. In this background, the present study entitled “Stakeholder analysis for enhancing the role of primary producers in mango value chain” was taken up in the Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, during 2015-17. The study was formulated with the objectives to identify the stakeholders in mango value chains, their functions and value share, to analyze the institutions and its role in mango value chain, to identify the marketing channels utilized by the farmers, to examine the price spread and marketing efficiency of the farmers, to understand the constraints faced by the farmers and to suggest value chain enhancement measures in favor of producer farmers. Survey was carried out among the mango growers and other stakeholders in Muthalamada Panchayat. About 60 farmers and 30 stakeholders were randomly selected for the study. Stakeholder analysis, SWOC matrix analysis and Scenario analysis were carried out through group discussions. The results of the baseline information of the respondents revealed that the farmers with age in between 51 and 70 years depended on agriculture alone (64.70 per cent) and hence they were more cautious about marketing their produce. They marketed more than 75 per cent of their produce to distant markets such as Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, etc. The respondents had good educational status with experience of more than 20 years and medium extension contact. The farmers cultivating in leased land along with their own orchard (78.26 per cent) tend to go for combined cultivation practices. Two third of the respondents (68.62 per cent) possessing different areas relied on collection agent for marketing their produce as they are easily approachable and the farmers had to incur only transportation cost. The mango growers were well organized, with about 51 respondents (49 per cent) having membership in Farmer Producer Organization (FPO). Alphonso, Banganpally, Bennett Alphonso and Tottapuri are mainly preferred for cultivation as these varieties are having huge demand in both international as well as domestic markets. Stakeholder analysis according to importance- influence scoring revealed that intermediaries like mandi walas, trader, collection agent and pre-harvest contractor had more influence in the mango sector. The major institutions involved in mango value chain include Krishi Bhavan, State Horticulture Mission (SHM), APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority), FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations), Chittur Agro Park and NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development). The marketing channel utilized by the farmers varies according to the grade of the produce, grade 1 is the export quality, grade 2 is usually the undersized mangoes that does not fulfil the export requirement and grade 3 is malformed mangoes or mangoes having external discoloration, etc. In case of grade 1 mangoes both channel 1 and channel 2 were having marketing efficiency 0.14. Margin was highest for the wholesaler and the exporting agency for channel 1 and channel 2 respectively. For grade 2 mangoes, channel 4 was found to be more efficient (0.24) due to absence of an intermediary. Grade 3 mangoes are mainly sold at the local markets and for processing, wherein marketing of mangoes directly to local market was found to be efficient (0.4) whereas in case of processing involvement of too many intermediaries affects the efficiency of the marketing channel. The important factors affecting marketing efficiency according to binary logistic regression include experience, ownership, income source, type of cultivation, orchard type, credit source and marketing channel. A comparative study was made among two groups of farmers, group I comprising of farmers with less than 5 acres of land and group II encompassing farmers with more than 5 acres. The result highlighted that, cultivation type was significantly different for the respondents of the two groups. Major constraints faced by the farmers during marketing include poor availability of market information, absence of a common collection center, over dominance of middle men and deficit of timely labor. Finally, SWOC analysis and scenario analysis were conducted to arrive at strategic options. The strategic options developed from the study are enhancing value addition and product development, promotion of branding of the produce, to educate the farmers on building competitiveness and to increase export potential by addressing quality parameters.
Sustainability and challenges in cultivation of traditional rice varieties in Kerala
(Department of Agriculturel Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2019) Ahaljith, R; Jayasree Krishnankutty