Browsing by Author "Smitha Baby"

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Adoption of good agricultural practices (GAP) among vegetable farmers of Palakkad District
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture ,Vellanikkara, 2021) Nagadevi, G; Smitha Baby
Quality of food will ensure the healthy life of human beings. Vegetables play a major role in human health and nutrition. People are now focused on the benefits of consumption of fresh and residue-free fruits and vegetables. Quality of vegetables greatly depends on the production system as well as handling procedures before and after harvest. The concept of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) evolved recently as a result of the big concern about food safety and quality and the environmental sustainability of agriculture. The study entitled “Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices among vegetable farmers of Palakkad district” was aimed to examine the extent of adoption of GAP in vegetables. Palakkad district was purposively selected for the study based on the highest area under vegetable cultivation in Kerala. The respondents were selected using multistage proportional random sampling method. Four blocks namely Nenmara, Alathur, Chittur and Kollengode representing more area of vegetable cultivation were selected from the district and 30 farmers with a minimum of 30 cents of vegetable cultivation were selected randomly from each block. Based on the total area of cultivation of vegetables in the district, bitter gourd, vegetable cowpea and bhindi were selected for the study. Thus, a total of 120 vegetable farmers in Palakkad district constituted the sample for the study. Analysis of the profile characteristics of vegetable farmers showed that majority of the vegetable farmers (67 per cent) belonged to middle age category. Most of the vegetable farmers (42.50 per cent) had secondary school education. Fifty-four per cent of the respondents were having high level of experience in vegetable cultivation. Most of the vegetable farmers (56 per cent) belonged to marginal farmers with respect to area under vegetable cultivation. Majority of the farmers had medium level of annual income (65 per cent). Around 89 per cent of the vegetable farmers had undergone training in GAP. Fifty-seven per cent of the vegetable farmers belonged to medium category with respect to mass media exposure. More than half of the vegetable farmers (52 per cent) had medium level of extension contact. Most of the farmers belonged to medium category of social participation (58 per cent), economic motivation (52 per cent) and market perception (47 per cent) followed by forty-eight per cent of the farmers belonged to the category of low risk-taking ability. Nearly sixty per cent of the respondents (59 per cent) had high environmental orientation. 97 Assessment of the Awareness level of GAP among vegetable farmers showed that majority of the respondents had medium (77 percent) level of awareness, while 12 per cent of them had low level of awareness and 11 per cent had high level of awareness. Regarding the awareness level on various components of GAP, farmers were highly aware about land preparation and soil management (81.42) as well as harvesting and post -harvest handling (84.32) practices. Awareness level on the remaining practices viz. seed quality parameters, sowing and intercultural operations, irrigation management and drainage, nutrient management and plant protection measures were found to be medium level. Overall Adoption Index of GAP in vegetable cultivation was found to be medium (73.21). The Adoption Score on components of GAP viz. land preparation and soil management (79.56) and harvesting and post -harvest handling (81.05) was high, while that on seed quality parameters, sowing and intercultural operations, nutrient management and plant protection measures were medium. The component that had lowest level of Adoption Score was irrigation management and drainage (54.04). Comparing the overall adoption of GAP among three categories of vegetable farmers by using Kruskal Wallis One way Analysis, it was found that there was no significant difference between bitter gourd, vegetable cowpea and bhindi farmers. The socio-economic and psychological characteristics of vegetable farmers played a vital role in determining their adoption of GAP. The results of Karl Pearson correlation analysis showed that area under cultivation, experience in vegetable cultivation, training received, mass media exposure, extension contact, economic motivation, market perception and environmental orientation had positive and significant relationship with the adoption of GAP. Major constraints in adoption of GAP were identified as difficulty in management of pests and diseases, high cost and the complicated process involved in GAP certification and increased cost of bio-inputs. It could be concluded that adoption of GAP will be a viable option for the vegetable farmers, if their awareness and capacity building is enhanced and ensure specialized markets for GAP products. Increased access to subsidized bio inputs and motivating farmers in following cost-effective certification process like Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) will also contribute to improved adoption of Good Agricultural Practices.
Analysis of marketing management practices of cosmetic products in Oushadhi
(College of Co-operation Banking and Management, Vellanikkara, 2017) Aswini, V S; Smitha Baby
Consumer preference towards edible oils
(College of Co-operation, Banking & Management, Vellanikkara, 2021-10-08) Ranjitha Maxy; Smitha Baby
Effectiveness of HACCP system in marine food export industry with reference to MPEDA
(College of Co-operation Banking and Management, Vellanikkara, 2017) Aashique, P J; Smitha Baby
HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, physical hazards from raw materials production and handling to manufacture, distribution and consumption of the finished products. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) has now been recognized as the best system for ensuring food safety. HACCP is a preventive strategy with shared responsibility from farm to table. HACCP allows manufacturers to identify hazards as they could occur through the stages of production so that adequate measures can be implemented so they can be prevented. HACCP system is a mandatory factor for exporting industry, especially for marine food industry. The system put forward the importance of hygiene, quality and hazard free products. The HACCP system runs on the seven basic principles starting rom identification of the hazards to documentation of the activities. The activities of the system is been carried out by a HACCP team which includes Technical Managers, Company Engineers, Microbiologist, Quality Manager, supervisors, External specialists. Marine Products Export Development Authority(MPEDA) being a governing authority for marine products export industry, works for the welfare of marine products exporting companies. MPEDA guides the export companies for implementing and maintaining HACCP system. The study had the following objectives. iv. To understand the HACCP protocols implemented in marine food export under MPEDA. v. To evaluate the perception of the management on HACCP implementation in marine food export under MPEDA vi. To study the constraints in HACCP implementation in marine food export and suggest solutions. The study on the topic was carried out in Ernakulam district. The respondents of the study were the managers of the marine food exporting companies.
Effectiveness of learning and development programmes in marico limited,Kanjikode
(College of co-operation, banking and management, Vellanikkara, 2016) Anaga Krishnan, U; Smitha Baby
Entrepreneurial behaviour of Hi-Tech farmers in Kerala
(Department of Agricultural extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2019) Shilpa Karat; Smitha Baby
The conventional farming system in Kerala witnessed a path breaking change in the recent years with the adoption of hi-tech farming, which is a promising venture for the educated youth and part time farmers who are progressively attracted to agriculture. Keeping in view of this increasing acceptance of hi-tech farming, Kerala State Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare Department has initiated many programs to promote protected cultivation and precision farming in the state. However, the success of hi-tech farming is determined by crucial aspects such as the entrepreneurial attributes and marketing behavior of the farmer. With this background, the present study was undertaken to analyse the entrepreneurial and marketing behavior of the hi-tech farmers, their linkages with other sectors, constraints faced by them along with a SWOC analysis of the hi-tech farming sector. The results of the study would be greatly helpful for the policy makers, government and extension workers in formulating plans for hi-tech farming sector in Kerala. A total of 60 hi-tech farmers, 30 each of polyhouse and open precision were selected from Trissur and Palakkad districts through multistage sampling method. Entrepreneurial behavior was quantified using Entrepreneurial Behavior Index. The index was found to be higher (68.98) for open precision farmers compared to that of polyhouse farmers (64.87). Indices were formed separately for each of the nine selected dimensions of entrepreneurial behavior viz., innovativeness, decision making ability, achievement motivation, risk taking ability, planning ability, cosmopoliteness, self-confidence and information seeking behavior. Information seeking behavior gained highest index for both polyhouse and open precision farmers. Further, Mann-Whitney U test was performed to ascertain significance of the difference between two groups and it was found that the two groups were significantly different in their entrepreneurial behavior with respect to decision making ability, achievement motivation and self-confidence. The marketing behavior of hi-tech famers was studied for polyhouse and open precision farmers. The components selected were marketed surplus, marketing channels, distance to market, mode of transport, price satisfaction, access to market information, access to storage and post-harvest handling or value addition. Since 12 of the 30 polyhouse farmers had quit commercial production, only 18 polyhouse farmers were considered in studying the marketing behavior. The results of Discriminant Function Analysis revealed that there was significant XXV discrimination in marketing behavior of polyhouse and open precision farmers, particularly with respect to marketed surplus and distance to the market. The study also revealed that the hi-tech farmers had different types of backward linkages but their forward linkages were limited to linkages for market information and finance for marketing and did not have any kind of forward linkage with processing industries. The major constraints faced by the polyhouse farmers were technical and financial in nature, namely, lack of knowledge on repair and maintenance, inadequate skilled labor, low income and inadequate guidance on production. The open precision farmers also faced technical and financial constraints such as high cost of infrastructure, repair and maintenance and lack of services for repair and maintenance. Inadequate access to post-harvest handling and processing facilities was found to be the major constraint in marketing for both polyhouse and open precision farmers. SWOC analysis was conducted separately for the polyhouse and open precision farmers. It was found that the primary strength, weakness, opportunity and challenge in polyhouse farming were cultivation of unconventional crops that can fetch higher price in market, lack of knowledge on repair and maintenance, popularization of unconventional crops and limited sources of inputs in local markets respectively while that of open precision farmers were higher input use efficiency, high cost of infrastructure, large scale production to achieve self-sufficiency and difficulties in attaining new markets respectively. The hi-tech farming sector can be uplifted by providing better training and consultancy services to the farmers as the results showed strong correlation between their entrepreneurial behavior and extension contact. Trainings can enhance their technical know-how to generate skilled labor in the hi-tech farming sector. The linkages of the farmers with processing industries has to be strengthened to substantially increase the income of farmers and prevent losses.
Farmers satisfaction towards Neem based bio-pesticides
(College of Co-operation, Banking & Management, Vellanikkara, 2021-10-12) Archana Jayarajan; Smitha Baby
Job satisfaction of employees at Kitex limited, Kizhakkambalam
(College of co-operation, banking and management, Vellanikkara, 2016) Thomas Babu; Smitha Baby
Paddy procurement in major rice growing tracts of Kerala : an exploratory analysis
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2025-02-22) Reshma Siju.; Smitha Baby
The Food Corporation of India (FCI), in collaboration with the State agencies, serves as the central organization for paddy procurement in India. FCI purchases paddy at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) set by the Government of India (GOI) to protect farmers' interests, maintain buffer stocks for national food security, and ensure the timely and affordable distribution of food grains to intended beneficiaries. Paddy procurement in India operates under two primary systems: the Centralized Procurement System, where FCI directly handles procurement, and the Decentralized Procurement (DCP) System, where State governments and their agencies manage the procurement, storage, and distribution of food grains. In Kerala, the DCP system has been in place since 2006, with the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (SupplyCo) serving as the State agency for paddy procurement. SupplyCo assigns private rice millers to specific regions to carry out the procurement process. These millers process the paddy into Custom Milled Rice (CMR) and deliver it to SupplyCo for distribution through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The study adopted an exploratory research design with specific objectives of assessing farmers’ perception on the effectiveness of paddy procurement, farmers’ satisfaction with the online procurement system, the role of different agencies involved in paddy procurement, and exploring the constraints in paddy procurement in the State. Palakkad and Alappuzha districts of Kerala, the leading paddy-producing regions, were purposively selected for the study. Two procurement centres with the highest procurement volumes were purposefully selected within each district. Four Panchayats were randomly chosen from these centres, resulting in sixteen Panchayats forming the study area. Ten farmers were randomly selected from each Panchayat to constitute a total sample of 160 farmers. Additionally, 20 officials were selected to examine the roles of various stakeholders involved in the procurement process. These stakeholders included the Paddy Marketing Officer (PMO), Paddy Quality Assurance Officer (PQAO), Paddy Payment Officer (PPO), Agricultural Officers (AO), mill owners or mill agents, and Padasekara Samithi members. The farmers’ perception on the effectiveness of procurement was studied using the semi structured interview schedule developed based on the scale developed for the study. The results of the study showed that the effectiveness parameters such as Price Risk Mitigation (84.16), and State Policy Intervention (86.62) gained a very high percentage score, and Market perception (74.18), institutional support (62.64), and Influence on crop choice and Decision making (74.35), had a high percentage score. The effectiveness was found to be less in relation to the procedural formalities in procurement, indicated by its very low score (39.46). This shows the various procedural glitches related to payment mechanisms, quality management aspects and lengthy and tiresome procurement process. The farmers’ satisfaction with the online procurement system was analysed using, the parameters, such as farmers’ satisfaction with the SupplyCo website and the online registration process showed a satisfaction score of 86.64 and 89.84, respectively, indicating famers’ high satisfaction with the online procurement process. Eighty five percent of farmers have done online registration through the Akshaya Centres, and fifteen percent registered on their own. The Paddy Marketing Officer (PMO) is the technical staff involved in the procurement process. The PMO plays a major role in creating awareness among the farmers about the quality of the paddy produced, conducting random inspections at fields, allotment of mills, grievances redressal between the mill agents and farmers on quality standards, and issuing of Paddy Receipt Slip (PRS). The Paddy Quality Assurances Officer (PQAO) is the staff dealing with the quality assurances of the milled rice and record maintenance at the mills. Paddy Payment Officer (PPO) authorises the payment order to individual farmers through banks, coordinating the activity between the SupplyCo head office and banks. The Agricultural Officer (AO) verifies the field and approve the applications for procurement and issues the excess yield certificate, if needed. After fixing the rejection rate by considering the quality parameters, the Mill agent collects and transports the procured paddy and supply the processed rice to NFSA godowns. Padasekhara Samithi facilitates synchronised farming, coordinates the online registration, field verification and deals with the mill agents. The constraints faced by the farmers in procurement were identified using focus group discussions and literature review. The Garrett ranking technique was used to rank the ten identified constraints based on their relevance. The major constraint identified was the absence of ready payment; the paddy in the state is procured at Rs. 28.20 per Kg, out of which the central government give Rs. 21.36 as MSP and the State provides a State Incentive Bonus of Rs. 6.70. The central government pays the state government only after the procured paddy reaches the consumers through PDS. Hence, the State government makes arrangements with banks for paying the farmers as PRS loans. Difficulty in meeting the quality standards was identified as the second major problem faced by the farmers due to the varying climatic
Quality management in agricultural research in Kerala Agricultural University - a critical analysis
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2001) Smitha Baby; Joy Mathew
Study on human resource development climate in plantation corporation of Kerala Ltd., Kanjikuzhi, Kottayam
(College of co-operation, banking and management, Vellanikkara, 2016) Haripriya, H; Smitha Baby
Study on marketing management of Sitaram ayurveda pharmacy Ltd. for Narasimham oil
(College of Co-operation Banking and Management, Vellanikkara, 2017) Bhagyasree, K G; Smitha Baby
Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Marketing management employs tools from economics and competitive strategy to analyze the industry context in which the firm operates. The scope of a business' marketing management depends on the size of the business and the industry in which the business operates. Effective marketing management will use a company's resources to increase its customer base, improve customer opinions of the company's products and services, and increase the company's perceived value. The project entitled “A study on marketing management of Sitaram Ayurveda Pharmacy Ltd. for Narasimham oil” were undertaken with the objectives vii. To understand the marketing management practices followed by Sitaram Ayurveda Pharmacy Ltd for the promotion of Sitaram Narasimham oil. viii. To evaluate consumers, retailers and dealers perception towards the maketing of Sitaram Narasimham oil. ix. To suggest improved marketing strategies for Sitaram Narasimham oil. The sample size of the study was 60 consumers, 8 distributors and 15 retailres of Sitaram Narasimham oil , in Thrissur Corporation. Consumers were selected by using convenience sampling method. The study was based on primary data and secondary data, the primary data were collected from the sample respondents through personal interview. The collected data were analyzed using percentage and ranking index method. In order to keep the company vibrant and responsive to the needs of the customers, it is vital to regularly monitor the level of consumer satisfaction and marketing management practices.
Urban and peri- urban agri enterprises : a multidimensional analysis of entrepreneurial potential
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2025-05-29) Suhana, N; Smitha Baby
Urban agriculture acts as an indicator of economic development that fosters food and nutritional security, employment, and urban ecological improvement. It is estimated that 68 per cent of the world's population and 50 per cent of the Indian population will be urbanised by 2050, such that it may project up to 400 million urbanised Indian people. Thus, dwindling resources, ecological breakdown and food scarcity could be the major challenges in urban areas towards sustainable development. Kerala, with its rapid urbanization, being a consumer state with high demand for agricultural products and limited availability of land since the late 20th century, provides substantial prospects for sustainable agri enterprises. It was in this rationale, the study was undertaken to examine the entrepreneurial potential of agri-enterprises in urban and peri-urban areas of Kerala. Entrepreneurial potential is operationalised in the study as the perceived desirability, feasibility and propensity of the enterprises in urban and peri-urban areas to evolve as a sustainable business. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design with specific objectives of assessing the entrepreneurial potential of urban and peri-urban agri enterprises in terms of social, economic, and ecological dimensions, delineating the factors affecting the entrepreneurial potential, identifying challenges and suggesting suitable strategies for the development of agripreneurship in urban and peri-urban areas. The study was conducted in the Ernakulam and Thrissur districts of Central Kerala, which were purposively selected based on the criteria that these districts have maximum urban and peri-urban populations. Samples were collected from Kochi and Thrissur corporations and nearby municipalities. Based on the data on agri enterprises that were established within the last three to ten years, 50 enterprises were selected from each district among the three major categories of agri enterprises such as value addition (20 units), mushroom enterprises (15 units) and aquaponics (15 units) to constitute a total sample size of 100. The primary data were collected using a structured interview schedule. The analysis of the socio-economic profile of urban and peri-urban agripreneurs revealed that the majority belonged to the middle age group (44%), male (63%), and the majority (57% each) had a graduation level of education and family occupation (occupational diverisification) as a combination of agri enterprise and service jobs. The majority of the agripreneurs had a medium level of social participation (80%)), training received (68%), mass media exposure (61%), extension contact (63%), annual income ranging between nine to twelve lakh Rupees (37%), entrepreneurial orientation(51%), managerial competency (65%) and economic motivation (62%). The results on socio-economic characteristics of the urban and peri-urban agri enterprises revealed that the majority had sole proprietorship (81%), and 42 per cent belonged to the category of ‘nano’ enterprises (according to MSME classification of enterprises based on investment). Most (45%) of urban and peri-urban agri enterprises have established separate setups on rented buildings. Also majority of the enterprises had an investment ranging between three lakhs to nine lakhs rupees (27%) and nine lakhs to twenty-four lakhs rupees(27%), annual turnover of up to five lakhs rupees (31%), self-finance as major source of capital (62%), engaged both family labour and hired employees (38%), partial credit availing (68%) and medium level of social contribution (73%). The majority of the urban and peri-urban agri enterprises had a medium level of scaling readiness (51%), profitability (38%), product diversification strategies (56%), marketing competence (56%), employment generation (57%), capacity utilization (56%) and ecological sustainability (84%). The results of the Principal Component Analysis to identify the significant components of entrepreneurial potential pointed out that marketing competence (4.11) had the highest weightage, which revealed that strong marketing competence enables entrepreneurs in competitive positioning, where the least weightage (1.14) gained for ecological sustainability suggested that the sustainability aspect has not emerged as a significant component of entrepreneurial potential in this study. The entrepreneurial potential index of each enterprise was computed using Principal Component Analysis. The majority of urban and peri-urban agri enterprises (66%) had a medium level of entrepreneurial potential with index (EPI) ranging from 15.93 to 56.96. Moreover, 15 per cent of them had a low level, and 19 per cent of them had a high level of EPI. The distribution of EPI of value-addition enterprises showed that the majority of the enterprises (72.5%) had a medium level of entrepreneurial potential with index ranging from 38.17 to 68.72. The majority of mushroom enterprises (63.33%) and aquaponics enterprises (53.33%) had a medium level of entrepreneurial potential. Based on the Kruskal-Wallis H test, the value-addition enterprises showed significantly higher entrepreneurial potential with the highest mean index (74.73), followed by mushroom (46.83) and aquaponics (21.87) enterprises. The results of the correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the entrepreneurial potential and the socio-personal, economic, and psychological factors. Factor analysis revealed that among the significant factors, the entrepreneurial potential is significantly influenced by the three categories of factors:1) entrepreneurial competence and economic drive (entrepreneurial orientation, economic motivation, managerial competency and extension contact) 2) financial factors (investment, annual turnover, annual income and asset ownership) 3) Social aspects (social participation, training received and mass media exposure). Poor market access, high cost of raw materials, risk in scaling the business, shortage of working capital and insufficient market awareness were the top-ranked challenges faced by urban and peri-urban agri enterprises. Enhancing market access through providing market promotion skills; building local partnerships for mitigating raw material costs, facilitating scaling up through financial and networking support; ensuring the availability of working capital through customized financial services; backward linkage for high-quality inputs; developing business management skills; advancing technological consultancy for product diversification and developing skilled workforce will help in the growth of agripreneurship in urban and peri-urban areas. Improvement in the entrepreneurial potential to evolve as a sustainable agri-business would largely depend upon addressing these issues and putting focused initiatives into place.
Work stress of sales staff in retail industry :A study of big bazar, Calicut
(College of co-operation, banking and management, Vellanikkara, 2016) Chinnu Monica James; Smitha Baby