Participatory guarantee system (PGS) certification for production of organic vegetables :an analytical study

Abstract

The study entitled ‘Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification for production of organic vegetables: An analytical study’ was undertaken during 2019-2020. The objectives were to study the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification for production of organic vegetables and to analyze the role of PGS farmers in the certification procedure, production and marketing among the VFPCK farmers in Kerala. The constraints faced during the implementation of PGS were also studied and appropriate suggestions are given to overcome the problems. The study was conducted in Kasargod, Idukki, Kottayam and Thrissur districts of Kerala which have maximum active number of PGS local groups under VFPCK. The sample comprised of 80 PGS farmers, out of which 20 respondents were selected from each district. Thirteen independent variables were selected through judge’s rating and role performance and adoption behaviour were the dependent variables selected. On analysis, it was found that 67.5 per cent of PGS farmers belonged to middle age (47-60) category, and 60 per cent of the respondents had education up to high school level. Majority of the respondents (55%) belonged to medium category of land holding with medium farming experience in organic farming (68.75%). About half (47.5%) of the organic farmers had medium level of annual income. More than half (53.75%) of PGS farmers did not possess organic certificate and majority of the PGS farmers belonged to the medium category of Information seeking behavior(66.25), environmental orientation (80%), attitude (77.25%), Knowledge (55%), sustainability (55%), market orientation (53.75%) and trainings acquired (68.75%). The analysis of PGS farmers based on their individual role performance revealed that 75 per cent of them belonged to medium category followed by 15 per cent in the high category and remaining 10 per cent in the low category. The distribution of farmers based on their role performance in the PGS group revealed that 72.5 per cent of them belonged to medium category and high and low category have equal (13.75%) respondents. The mean value of Individual role performance (38.86) is greater than mean value of group role performance (22.9), indicating a higher individual role performance among the PGS farmers. The results of factor analysis revealed that among the individual roles, respondents from all four districts showed characteristics of Individual task proficiency, Individual task adaptivity and individual task proactivity. Among the group roles, group member proactivity was displayed in all four districts, group member proficiency was displayed among the farmers of Kottayam and Kasargod and group member adaptivity was displayed among the farmers of Kasargod and Thrissur. The results of the adoption quotient revealed, that majority of PGS farmers i.e. 67.54 per cent belonged to medium category of adoption, followed by 17.5 and 15 per cent in low and high category of adoption. The mean adoption quotient (AQ) was 67.54 per cent with a maximum and minimum AQ of 81.66 and 51.94 per cent respectively. In case of the recommended practices, nine out of twenty four practices had an overall adoption percentage greater than 90. The results of the correlation revealed that out of 13 independent variables selected for the study, 10 variables were significantly related to the dependent variable adoption of organic methods recommended by PGS. The independent variables, viz., age and sustainability were significant at 1% level of significance followed by certificate status, experience in organic farming, training, information seeking behavior, market orientation, environmental orientation, attitude and knowledge at 5% level of significance The major constraints faced by the PGS farmers were lack of market linkage and satisfactory price for organic products. Unawareness of consumers about PGS certification remains as a barrier to farmers for proper marketing. Pest and wild animal attack and lack of government support are another constraints faced by farmers. The strategy to overcome these constraints is to develop proper market linkage by VFPCK and to recognize and brand the products as PGS organic among consumers. Moreover, Crop insurance and other incentives should be provided to the farmers who have suffered pest and animal attack. It could be concluded that, PGS was initiated as a credible, relevant and cost-effective mechanism through which farmers can provide a trust or guarantee of their products as organic to consumers. The findings of this study indicate that the individual role performance among registered PGS farmers is greater than group role performance. Also, the intensity of total adoption of organic practices was significantly high (67.5%) among the PGS farmers. For effective functioning, VFPCK should review their existing PGS in order to build their systems procedures that enable and encourage all their key stakeholders to take part in the design and implementation of their PGS.