PhD

The study on "Marketing of planting materials for selected commercial crops
111 Kerala" was undertaken to analyze the various aspects of marketing of planting
materials by the organizations engaged in the commercial production and distribution of
planting materials of coconut, rubber, cashew and pepper. The source and variety
preference of the farmers as well as the problems and constraints experienced by the
producers and the farmer-consumers were also identified. The preference to source was
measured in terms of quality, preferred variety, price, local availability and confirmed
availability of planting material from the source. Based on the findings of the study
appropriate models have been suggested for the marketing of planting materials.
The study was conducted in the districts of Kozhikkode, Kottayam, Kannur
and Idukki, which represented the four selected crops. The sample size was 300 farmers
consisting of 75 farmers each of the selected crop. All the farms in the Government
sector and 30 private nurseries in the study area were also subjected to in-depth study.
Data were collected using interview schedules and suitable statistical techniques were
employed in the analysis of the data.
The study revealed that all the agencies in the Government sector, the Kerala
Agricultural University, Agricultural Department Farms and the Rubber Board and 87
per cent of the private nurseries followed centralized production. None of the agencies
undertook market survey before planning their production strategy. The Government
sector agencies followed the Break-even method of pricing, whereas the private
nurseries followed the production cost plus concept.
The extension and field network of the Rubber Board was the most efficient
one among the agencies studied generally disseminating the technology when compared
to similar agencies in the field. The agencies did not make any systematic attempt to
collect the feed back from the farmers. The farmers' preference for the sources varied
with the crops. Most of the selected explanatory variables did not contribute
substantially to farmers' preference to source, except the factor 'quality'.

The awareness of farmers about the varieties and cultivars of crops was 'low
to moderate' except for rubber. The visual indicators for selecting quality planting
materials developed by the researchers had not percolated to the farmers yet. There is
no existing quality control and certification mechanism to prevent unscrupulous
elements in the field of planting material production and marketing. The analysis of the
constraints experienced by the agencies revealed that labour related issues, difficulty in
getting quality parent materials and lack of sufficient infrastructure facilities to
undertake production were their major problems. The major problems felt by the
farmers were 'lack of sufficient information', 'insufficiency of technical advice from
the agencies' and' low quality of planting materials'.
The results point out vividly to the prime need for a more systematic and
effective marketing of planting materials with sufficient room for ensuring quality
control and better coordination and supervision at all levels of production and
distribution of planting materials by the scientists as well as extension personnel in
order to improve the agricultural production, and ultimately the income of the farmer.