1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://localhost:4000/handle/123456789/1
Browse
7 results
Search Results
Item Economic analysis of cut foliage in Malappuram and Ernakulam district(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2024-01-18) Shamna, P; Chitra ParayilThe floriculture sector has seen tremendous growth and development in recent decades, and has established itself as a lucrative business with high potential for returns. The total area under floriculture in India has increased from 106 to 307 thousand hectares between 2000 to 2020, along with an increase in production from 505 to 2994 metric tonnes. India is bestowed with diverse agro-climatic zones conducive to the production of various floriculture products including cut foliage, which are directly used for decoration purpose as well as fillers in floral arrangements. The export value of fresh foliage, branches, grasses, mosses, dried and dyed flowers (₹311.5 crores) accounted to 44 per cent of the total export value of floriculture products (₹707.8 crores) from India in the year 2022-23. The highly congenial tropical climatic conditions in Kerala characterized by adequate sunshine, high levels of humidity and abundant rainfall has favoured the commercial cultivation of cut foliage in the state. The present study was carried out with the objectives of analysing the economics and resource use efficiency in cut foliage production; identifying the marketing channels and working out the economics in marketing, and determining the major constraints in production and marketing of cut foliage. Three major cut foliage crops grown in Kerala were selected for the study, namely, Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Drcaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’. The study was based on primary data collected from 30 sample respondents from each crop in Malappuram and Ernakulam districts, making the total sample size to 90. Primary data was also collected from 5 traders and 2 exporters through personal interview method using a structured and pre-tested interview schedule. The cost and returns for the three cut foliage crops were estimated by separately working out the establishment and maintenance costs. The crops were perennial in nature with an economic life span of around 15 years with the first year as the establishment phase and the remaining as the maintenance period which was further divided into yield increasing phase (2 to 5 years), yield stabilizing phase (5 to 10 years) and yield declining phase (10 to 15 years). The total cost of cultivation was worked out as ₹2,83,866, ₹1,92,074 and ₹1,90,326 per hectare for Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’ respectively. While, the net returns for these crops were ₹6,76,092, ₹4,47,926 and ₹5,09,674 per hectare respectively. The resource use efficiency in cut foliage production was analysed using Cobb- Douglas production function. The age of plants and human labour were found to be significant and positively influencing the yield of all the three crops. The value of coefficient of determination (R2) were 0.77, 0.72 and 0.73 for Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Drcaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’, respectively, which indicated an overall good fit model for all the three crops. The ratio of Marginal Value Product (MVP) to Marginal Factor Cost (MFC) was found to be less than one for all the significant inputs in the three crops which denoted excess utilization of the inputs. Four marketing channels were identified for Dracaena fragrans cv. massangeana, while three channels were identified for Drcaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ and Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of Jamaica’. The marketing efficiency was worked out using Shepherd’s index and for all the three crops, channel II (Producers- Florists outside the state- consumers) was found to be the most efficient one with highest marketing efficiency with values 2.49, 4.09 and 3.26 for the three crops respectively. The constraints faced in the production and marketing of cut foliage were analysed using Garett ranking technique. The major constraints confronted by cut foliage farmers in production were high cost of planting materials, followed by high labour charges and lack of training and technical expertise. The major marketing constraints included non-availability of cold storage facilities, irregular demand and low price for the produce. In order to overcome these constraints and strengthen the cut foliage industry, ensuring the availability of quality planting materials at affordable rates, better infrastructure for cold storage, packing and transportation, providing practical trainings on the production techniques, financial and technical support from the Government to the sector are suggested.Item Economic analysis on the production and marketing of Tirur betel leaf(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2024-01-16) Binu, V K; Chitra ParayilBetel vine (Piper betle L., family Piperaceae) is a traditional, widely cultivated, economically and medicinally important crop of India. In Kerala, the production of betel vine was 9150 tonnes and the area occupied by betel vine cultivation was 256.11 ha during the period 2020-2021(Farm Guide, 2023). Tirur and nearby areas of Malappuram district are famous for betel vine cultivation with an area of 100.81 ha (Farm Guide,2023). Tirur vettila, as it is commonly called, obtained a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in the year 2019. Tirur betel leaf is more pungent than betel leaf produced in other areas. It’s freshness is retained for a longer period due to leaf thickness. The most common cultivars of betel vine in this region are Puthukodi and Nadan. Betel vine farmers in the study area commonly followed two major planting systems, i.e., Koottakodi and Ottakodi. The present study entitled “Economic analysis on the production and marketing of Tirur Betel leaf” analyzed the costs and returns of Tirur betel leaves, identified the marketing channels, estimated marketing margin, price spread and marketing efficiency and documented the cultural practices followed by farmers. The largest area under Tirur betel leaf cultivation in Kerala was reported in Malappuram and therefore the district was selected purposively as the study area. Forty farmers from Kuttipuram block, 22 farmers from Malappuram block and 16 farmers from Tanur block were randomly selected from the list of farmers and thus making a total sample size of 78 farmers. A total of 30 traders were also selected to study and analyze the marketing aspects of this cash crop. The major socio- economic characteristics studied were age, gender, educational level, experience in farming, family size, occupational status, annual income and land holding size of the sample farmers. It was observed that majority of the sample respondents fell under the age group of 45-60 years & above 60 years and no respondents fell under the age group of less than 30 years. This showed that the younger generation were not taking up Betel vine cultivation in the study area. Male farmers dominated in Betel vine cultivation (94 per cent). This may be due to the fact that it involved relatively laborious cultivation practices. Majority (74 per cent) of the farmers had education up to SSLC. It could also be observed that nearly 90 per cent of the farmers had an experience between 10-30 years and 10 per cent of them had more than 30 years of experience in cultivation of Betel vine. Thus, majority of the farmers possessed at least 10 years of experience in cultivation. About 69 per cent of the sample respondents had a family size between 4-6 and 31 per cent had a relatively larger family size of more than six which is greater than the state’s average (3.9 NSSO,2018). The occupational status showed that 89 per cent depended solely on agriculture. It could be observed that 51 per cent of the sample respondents earned a relatively higher income of above 2 lakhs per annum. Compound annual growth rate was computed using Logest formula in excel. Analysis of area, production and productivity of Betel vine in Kerala showed that the compound growth rates from 2012-13 to 2020-21 was -4.66 percent. The growth rate for production and productivity were -8.72 and -4.26 respectively. Though both Ottakodi and Koottakodi systems were followed among farmers of the study area, most of them cultivated betel vine by Ottakodi system (92 per cent). The cost of cultivation was analyzed using tabular and percentage analysis. The cost of cultivation in Koottakodi system was estimated as Rs.86,823 ha-1 and the net returns was Rs.1,38,177 ha-1. The cost of production was worked out to be Rs.57.88 Kg-1. The average price received by the farmer was Rs.150 Kg-1. The Benefit-cost ratio in Koottakodi system was calculated as 2.6. The cost of cultivation of Betel vine in Ottakkodi system was estimated as Rs.62,579 ha-1 and the net returns was Rs.1,32,421 ha-1. The average cost of production was Rs.48.14 Kg-1. The Ottakodi method was determined to have a benefit-cost ratio of 3.1, which was relatively more remunerative when compared to Koottakodi because of the fact that the initial establishment cost was higher in the latter system and also the total cost of cultivation was found to be lower in Ottakodi system compared to Koottakodi system. Tirur paan bazar is a famous market in Tirur which was established exclusively for the marketing of Tirur Betel leaf. Among the four marketing channels studied, channel IV was found to be most efficient. The total marketing cost and total marketing margin were found to be lower (Rs.15Kg-1 and Rs.30Kg-1) in this channel. Channel IV: Producer Wholesaler Ayurvedic medicine producers The analysis of the constraints in Betel vine cultivation was done using Garrett ranking technique. The major constraint faced by the farmers in Betel vine cultivation was the high labour cost. This was followed by climate change, price fluctuations, low yield, post-harvest losses and pest and disease attack. Specific cultural practices in Betel vine include staking, trailing the vines and mulching in Koottakodi system whereas in Ottakodi system trailing the vines and lowering of vines were the most common cultural practices followed in the area. It can thus be concluded that branding of Tirur betel leaf would help the farmers to fetch premium price due to the GI tag. Also, value addition activities should be taken up by the FPO like preparation of medicines, mouth freshners, essential oils etc. in order to fully tap the potential of Tirur betel leaf.Item Production and marketing of groundnut in Palghat District(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1984) Ayyasamy, M; Mukundan, KA study on economics of production and marketing was taken up in Palghat District with reference to the first season (April – August) of the year 1982-83 to estimate costs and returns, resource use efficiency of groundnut cultivation, marketing cost and price spread in groundnut marketing and to identify the problems of the groundnut cultivators. Eighty cultivators were selected by multistage random sampling method. Data were collected from samples of groundnut cultivators, traders and oil millers by personal interview method. It was found that the average family size was 5.71. Only 76.25 per cent of the respondents were literate. The average size of land holding was 3.40 hectares. The cropping intensity was 178.90. The average capital investment including the value of land was Rs.55740 per holding and Rs. 17160 per hectare. The capital investment excluding land value was Rs.8790 per holding and Rs. 2700 per hectare. Costs of cultivation per hectare of groundnut based on cost A, cost B and cost C were Rs. 2340.93, Rs.3203.13 and Rs.3240 respectively. The average costs of production per quintal of groundnut pods based on cost A, cost B and cost C were Rs. 181.73, Rs.261.05 and Rs.264.40 respectively. The major item of cost was human labour which accounted 31.02 per cent (Rs. 1004.88) of the total cost followed by seeds 22.49 per cent (Rs.728.80),bullock labour and machinery 7.12 per cent (Rs.249.13), fertilizers and manures 7.12 per cent (Rs.230.82) and plant protection chemicals 0.91 per cent (Rs.29.63).The average seed rate was 133.10 kg per hectare. The average amount of fertilizers used per hectare was 6.45 kg of nitrogen, 7.89 kg of phosphorous and 12.35 kg of potash. The average human labour utilized per hectare was 100.49 mandays. The average bullock labour used per hectare was 10.50 bullock pair days. Seed sowing was the most important operation which accounted for 25.65 per cent (Rs.831.83) of the total cost of cultivation followed by harvesting 15.78 per cent (Rs.511.32), manuring 9.87 per cent (Rs.320.51), after cultivation 9.70 per cent (Rs.314.51), preparatory cultivation 7.78 per cent (Rs.229.48) and plant protection 1.10 per cent (Rs.35.73). The average yield per hectare was 1087 kg of groundnut pods. Gross income, farm business income, family income, net income and farm investment income per hectare were Rs.3739.43, Rs.1398.50, Rs.536.30, Rs.499.43 and Rs.1361.63 respectively. The benefit cost ratios based on cost A, cost B and cost C were 1.60, 1.17 and 1.15 respectively. Cobb-Douglas production functions were fitted to test the resource use efficiency. Marginal productivity analysis revealed that land and human labour had positive and significant influence on gross income. Three channels were identified in groundnut marketing and most commonly used channel was producer- village merchant- oil miller. The producer’s share in the miller’s price was 87.83 per cent in Chittur Block and 89.55 per cent in Kollengode Block. The marketing margin for the village merchant was 5.23 per cent in Chittur Block and 3.45 per cent in Kollengode Block. The marketing cost incurred by the village merchant was 6.94 per cent in Chittur Block and 7.10 per cent in Kollengode Block. Four channels were identified in the groundnut oil marketing and most commonly used channel was oil miller – wholesaler – retailer – consumer. The marketing margins were 4.66 per cent to the miller, 1.55 per cent to the wholesaler and 0.85 per cent to the retailer. The marketing costs were 5.58 per cent to the oil miller, 0.45 per cent to the wholesaler and 0.21 per cent to the retailer. Farmers faced many problems such as incidences of pests and diseases, low price, lack of drying facilities and absence of proper marketing system.Item Production and marketing of pineapple in Trichur District(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1982) Jesy Thomas, K; Mukundan, KA study on the production and marketing of pineapple in Trichur district was conducted during March-April, 1982 to evaluate the costs and returns of pineapple production, the marketing costs and price spread as well as the problems faced by the cultivators. Simple random sampling was adopted for selecting the sample and fifty cultivators were surveyed by personal interview method. The total cost of cultivation per hectare of pineapple for four years for the district was found to be Rs.30334.92 and cost was highest for the first year being Rs.13289.92 (42.55 per cent).The major item of expenditure was human labour constituting about 59.32 per cent (Rs.17995) of the total costs. Expenditure on fertilizer accounted for 24.25 per cent (Rs.7356) and that for suckers 6.78 per cent (Rs.2056) for the district. With regard to the operation-wise cost of cultivation, manuring and earthing occupied a major share of 39.48 per cent (Rs.11976) and for weeding the expenditure was Rs.6656 (24.04 per cent). Pineapple starts yielding in the second year and maximum returns was found to obtain in the third year with Rs.18934 per hectare for the district. The returns in the second and fourth year were Rs.11626 and Rs.12476 respectively. Cost of production per quintal of pineapple fruits was highest in the second year (Rs.79.26) and lowest in the third year with Rs.54.82 for the district. The pay-back period was 2.77 years, with a benefit cost ratio of 1.31, net present worth of Rs.8258.09 and internal rate of return of 43.37 per cent. The number of suckers per hectare was the factor which was found to be significant in the regression analysis. The main marketing channel in the case of pineapple was producer Commission/agent wholesaler ----Retailer ---- consumer channel. The marketing efficiency assessed on the basis of price-spread and marketing costs revealed that there was a high price spread of Rs.94 per quintal and the producers got only 51.79 per cent of the consumer’s price, while wholesalers and retailers got 17.69 per cent and 20.77 per cent margins respectively. Pineapple was marketed as fresh fruit commonly, but the canning industries in Trichur make a number of canned products such as squash, slices, titbits etc. High cost of inputs, fluctuation in prices and improper marketing facilities etc. are the problems faced by the cultivators in this district. Non-availability of sufficient fruits to factories become a serious problem in the case of canning units.Item Economics of production and marketing of vegetables in Ollukkara block in Thrissur district(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1992) Sandhya, V; Radhakrishnan, VThe present investigation on the production and marketing of vegetables (bittergourd and ashgourd) in Ollukkara block in Thrissur district was undertaken during the year 1990-91. The study aimed at estimating the cost of cultivation, cost of production, input-output ratio, resource use efficiency' and marketing efficiency of the two vegetables. The study also aimed at identifying the important marketing channels. Multistage random sampling was adopted for the study. Cost A1 , cost. A2, cost B1, cost B2, cost C1 and cost C2 per hectare were Rs .13,584.55, Rs. 13,914.53, Rs.13,954.23, Rs.15,958.24, Rs.20,563.37 and Rs.22,556.38 respectively for bitter gourd and Rs.6,630.22, Rs.6,910.22, Rs.7,012.22, Rs.8,689.80, Rs.9,360.07 and Rs.11,037.67 respectively for ashgourd. The largest single item of input was human labour for both bittergourd and ashgourd. The output of bittergourd was 13830 kg per hectare and 16509 kg per hectare for ashgourd. The gross value of output at the prevailing price was Rs. 42,364.63 for bittergourd and Rs.24,763.50 for ashgourd. Cost of production per quintal of bittergourd based on cost A1, cost A2 , cost B 1, cost B2 , cost C1 and cost C2 were Rs.98.00, Rs. 100.60, Rs.100.90, Rs.115.00, Rs.148.00 and Rs. 163.00 respectively. For ashgourd they were Rs.40.00, Rs.42.00, Rs.42.00, Rs.53.09, Rs. 56.00 and Rs. 66.00 in the same order Input-output ratios based on cost A1, cost A2 cost B1, cost B2 , cost C2 and cost C2 were 3.11, 3.04, 3.03, 2.65, 2.06 and 1.88 for bittergourd and 3.73, 3.58, 3.53, 2.84, 2.64 and 2.24 for ashgourd respectively. Bulkline cost per quintal for bittergourd was Rs.220 and Rs.85 for ashgourd. Farm business income for bittergourd and ashgourd were Rs.28,779.40 and Rs.18,133.28 respectively for the aggregate sample. Own farm business income for bittergourd and ashgourd were Rs.28,450.10 and Rs.17,853.28. Family labour income was Rs.26,406.40 for bittergourd and Rs.16,073.70 for ashgourd. Net income for bittergourd and ashgourd were Rs. 19,808.25 and Rs.13,725.83 respectively. Farm investment income was Rs.22,181.26 and Rs. 15,785.40 respectively for bittergourd and ashgourd.Item Effectiveness of distribution channel of eastern condiments Pvt. Ltd. at Okkal depot(College of Co-operation Banking and Management, Vellanikkara, 2018) Sudhi Chandran; Ajesh Babu, K PItem Stakeholder analysis for enhancing the role primary producers in mango value chains(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2017) Nadhika, K; Jayasree KrishnankuttyIndia 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.