MSc

The present study on marketing of coconuts in Calicut district done in 1985 used the method of multistage stratified random sampling. Six panchayats were randomly selected and from these, one ward each was again randomly selected. Lists of coconut growers were classified into four on the basis of land holding size. Twenty-five growers were selected from each ward, the number from each strata being roughly in proportion to the total number of bearing trees. Tabular method was the main analytical tool for data interpretation. Apart from this, correlation coefficients were calculated to estimate degree of interrelationship among various market prices and the method of twelve month moving averages was used to compute seasonal indices in respect of coconut oil prices. For working out the marketing margins, a variant of the concurrent method was used.
It was seen that the average size of land holding was very low, being 0.23 hectare. As much as 70.53 per cent of the gross cropped area was occupied by coconuts. Agriculture was mostly combined with other activities. Farm sales of coconut was the main method of sale adopted by sample farmers mainly due to the convenience and advances received. Mature nuts were harvested by the farmers who sold it to copra makers in the viscinity as such, who converted it to copra, by sun drying as well as smoke drying and sold it to oil mills at Calicut who sold it to retailers, which was identified as the main marketing channel. The ruling wholesale market rates for copra and oil were the main criteria for price determination at farmers level.
The proportion of marketed surplus varied directly with size, ranging from 30.46 per cent to 81.68 per cent among the different size groups.
Structural characteristics of the market at the farmer level did not indicate any possibility of conduct which was unfavourable to the farmers.
Marketing margins were worked out using the prices received by farmers in the Malayalam month of Meenam (15th March to 15th April) from the sale of nuts and the corresponding retail prices of oil in Calicut and wholesale prices of oil in Bombay. Farmers’ share was 76.48 per cent of total realization from different products at wholesale price.
On an average the total marketing costs came to Rs.29.92 (for 100 nuts and equivalent quantity of products) from copra maker to the retailer of oil at Calicut market, accounting to 9.98 per cent and 9.38 per cent of the average realization from sale of different products at wholesale and retail prices of oil respectively. The total marketing margins came to 23.52 per cent and 28.14 per cent respectively at the retail stage of oil and wholesale stage of oil. The net margin of oil millers constituted 1.21 per cent of total realization from all products at wholesale prices and the same was 1.36 per cent of their purchase price of copra. Net margins of retailers worked out to 6.77 per cent of their buying price of oil.
There was no price discrimination against the very small farmers. The average prices received for nuts was almost equal in all size classes.
On sale to Bombay the costs of millers averaged Rs.18.02 for oil equivalent of 100 nuts, their net margin being 6.69 per cent of total realization from wholesale price of oil in Bombay together with the wholesale prices in Calicut for the other products.
Correlation coefficients of monthly prices of coconut in villages and Calicut market were found to be very high indicating that primary markets and the terminal market was highly integrated. Spatial price differences of coconuts between villages on the one hand and Calicut market on the other were not significant.
Seasonality in production was seen concentrated in the peak months of the Malayalam year, namely, Makaram, Medam and Meenam. Seasonality was observed to be more pronounced in the monthly sales of coconuts, based on the data obtained from sample farmers. The pattern of seasonal price movements revealed that the marketing system cannot be considered to have performed efficiently.
The corporation’s role was seen as rather insignificant.