MSc

The present study entitled "Scenario analysis of cardamom growers in cardamom hill reserve of Kerala "was conducted on March 2018 to April 2018 in three blocks of Idukki district with the objectives: to study the current scenario of cardamom production system and analysis of the socio-economic situation among growers and good agricultural practices (GAP) and to enumerate the present challenges with respect to ecological, climatic changes as well as to explore the health externalities of cardamom growers and labourers.
The study was carried out in three blocks of Idduki district namely Kattappana, Nedumkandam and Adimali, which comes under Cardamom Hills Reserve (CHR) zone. Twenty growers and ten agricultural labourers were randomly selected from each of these blocks making a sample of ninety respondents. Data was collected using a of pre- tested and well- structured interview schedule. The data’s were analysed using different statistical tools.
On the analysis of data, it was found that the area under cardamom cultivation has significantly reduced in the past years. Cardamom was cultivated in an area of 40,867 ha in 1997 and it declined to 39,080 ha by the year 2017. The productivity of cardamom had increased tremendously from 130 Kg/ha to 400 Kg/ha over a decade. The major findings of the study was that majority of the farmer respondents were middle aged with sufficient farming experience, with agriculture as their primary occupation and none of them were illiterate.
Majority (65.00 %) of the respondent farmers had an annual income of more than four lakh and 56 per cent of agricultural labourers had an annual income less than one lakh. Majority (66.66%) of the growers were in medium category of economic motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation. Nearly three fourth of the growers had medium level of innovative proneness and decision making ability. As high as (81.66 %) of the growers had medium level of credit orientation and market orientation (83.33%).
Less than half (48.00 %) and 11.67 per cent of the growers had low and high level of adoption respectively. The data subjected to correlation analysis between good agricultural practices and fifteen independent variables revealed that two variables viz., age and farming experience had negative and significant correlation and education status and credit orientation had positive and significant correlation.
The major constraints faced by cardamom growers are: not getting the cardamom registration card was a great concern among the growers, non-availability and high cost of labour, price fluctuation and marketing problem, lack of cardamom grading facilities, lack of support price based on the cardamom production, uneven rainfall pattern and changing climate, lack of irrigation facilities, man- animal conflicts, high production cost, inadequate extension services at village level.
The suggestion to improve the cardamom cultivation were, establishment of cooperative societies for the procurement of cardamom will increase the direct selling of the produce through auction centers, minimum support price based on the production of cardamom as like of other food crops, then the cultivation of cardamom will increase and the farmer get the premium price, crop demonstration about improved variety and improved technologies, which will increase the adoption of new technologies and reduce the cost of cultivation of cardamom, subsidies on inputs like bio- fertilizers and pest control agent and to promote microbial products that are much cheaper and more sustainable and give best products and protect environment and the health of labourers and the local public, establishment of cardamom dryers and grading machines, introduction of the oil extraction facilities or factories, eco-tourism/ Farm tourism.