RESEARCH
ARTICLE
MARKETING BEHAVIOUR OF FARMERS IN CULTIVATION OF GLORY LILY
Muthukumar,
R and Thiyagarajan, S*
Department
of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University,
Annamalainagar
– 608 002, Tamil Nadu.
ARTICLE
INFO ABSTRACT
As
the globe is awakened to the calls of environmental problems and health
hazards, more and more people are showing interest in natural, safer and economical
herbal medicines rather than the expensive chemical drugs that have many side
effects. World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 80.00 per cent of
the populations in developing countries rely on traditional medicines, mostly
plant drugs, for their primary health care needs. The studies were conducted in
Dindigul and Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu. The sample size of 100 glory
lily farmers. They were selected from the respective villages by employing
random sampling technique. The data were collected through a well structured
interview schedule. It was found that high fluctuation in marketing process,
marketing channels, distribution of buyers of the glory lily seeds, method of
price fixation, post harvest management, mode of transport, sources of market
information for glory lily were the major marketing behaviour of farmers cultivating
glory lily
INTRODUCTION
As
the globe is awakened to the calls of environmental problems and health
hazards, more and more people are showing interest in natural, safer and
economical herbal medicines rather than the expensive chemical drugs that have
many side effects. World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 80.00 per
cent of the population in developing countries rely on traditional medicines,
mostly plant drugs, for their primary health care needs. India has about seven
lakh-registered practitioners belonging to Ayurveda, Unani, Sidha, Tibertian,
etc. These systems of medicine solely depend upon herbal products for
medicinal treatment. Total global market for medicinal plants is worth about
150 billion dollars and India’s share is only 1.3 billion dollars (0.9%). India’s
dismal performance in the global trade can be attributed to many factors. Among
these, the major problem is that India exports only 30.00 per cent of the commodity in the processed form and
bulk of 70.00 per cent in raw form thereby causing loss in employment as well
as foreign exchange reserves. Besides, over 90.00 per cent of medicinal plants
are collected
from the wild source, very often in a destructive and unsustainable manner
(Natesh and Ram, 1999). In this paper we are discussion about the marketing
behaviour of farmers cultivating glory lily
.
METHODOLOGY
Selection
of the study area
The
state of Tamil Nadu was selected for the present investigation. The selected
medicinal plants, glory lily, are grown in this state in large geographical
area. Dindigul and Tuticorin districts were selected purposively from each
district selected one taluk from each taluk selected one block namely.
Oddanchatram was selected from among the blocks, as it has the largest area
under glory lily cultivation. Paraivalasu, Ambilikai,
Selection
of farmers
Selection
of respondents using random sampling technique was used to select farmers
cultivating the selected medicinal plants. Hundred farmers were selected
randomly from the selected villages. The percentage analysis used for simple
comparison.
Marketing
channel for glory lily
The
marketing channels for tubers and seeds were indentified. The tuber is the
propagating material for glory lily. The seed was not preferred due to late flowering
of seed propagated plants. There were two major channels available for purchase
of tubers. The predominant one was ‘collector - broker - local trader - farmer.’
The collectors were persons in the forest or villages who collected the tubers
from the wild. The tubers were collected during January to March. The major
source areas for collection were near Dharmapuri border Viralimalai,
Pudukottai, and Sathyamangalam. Besides, tubers were also collected from
throughout the Tamil Nadu state.
Marketing
channels for tubers of glory lily
I.
Collector Broker
Local Trader Farmer
II.
Collector Broker
Farmer
The
collectors sold tubers to brokers based in the small towns or amidst villages.
The brokers purchased it daily or on weekdays in shanties. Most of the brokers
used to give advances to collectors to ensure the regular supply of tubers. The
brokers formed one of the main links in
passing
on tubers to farmers. Local traders were part of the chain connecting brokers
and farmers. The local traders supplied tubers to farmers on receiving
advances. The local traders made the delivery at a farm. The tubers were packed
in cardboard boxes and safely transported. The local traders provided
information related to area under the crop, expected yield and price in the
current and future years. The local traders used to fix the price based on
demand. The second popular channel was 'collector – broker farmer'. In this,
farmers go to the places of collectors and stay there for few days. The
advantage was that they could get tubers at comparatively lower prices.
Further, farmers could select the type of planting material they
wished.
At the same time the farmers could not find suitable and sufficient quantity of
tubers. Therefore, they had to return without purchasing or with little
quantity of material.
Marketing
channels for seeds of glory
There
were mainly three kinds of channels used to market the seeds of glory lily.
Among, them, the most widely used channel was ‘farmer - broker - exporter'. Fifty
per cent cent of the respondents were following the A bbove channel. The
brokers had their residences in the local area and were well known to farmers.
Further, the brokers used to provide the required planting material. Farmers
perceived the brokers to be more credible rather than anybody else.
I.
Farmer Broker
Exporter
II.
Farmer Exporter
III.
Farmer Traderbroker
Broker Exporter
Brokers
sold the glory lily seeds to exporters. As far as export was concerned, very
few exporting companies were in the market. The brokers had the advantage of selling
in higher quantity. This provided them power in bargaining for price with
exporters. The second major channel was 'farmer - exporter'. More than
two-fifth of the farmers (42.00 per cent) were found to be selling seeds
directly to exporters. Generally, this category of farmers were organised as a
group in selling their produce to exporters. They were of the opinion that
complete dependence on broker would not serve the interest of the farmers. The
broker might make a huge profit as an intermediary. Further, they were of the
opinion that the settlement of transaction and payment of money were quicker in
channel II compared to channel I.
Table
1. Distribution of buyers of the glory lily seeds
(n=100)
Categories
Number Per cent
Broker
50 50.00
Exporter
42 42.00
Trader
cum broker 08 08.00
Only
eight cent of the farmers were found to market their produce through the
channel III. The channel involved passing on the commodity from ‘farmers through
trader-cum-broker to broker and to exporter’. These farmers might have opted
for input dealers as their buyer, owing to several reasons. The input dealer
might have been perceived to be more credible than anybody
else.
This arrangement helped in getting pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers on
loan and to pay back the debt to the dealer. Further, the farmer took least
risk in getting I he payment. In this channel, the input dealer further sold
the seeds to big brokers.
Method
of price fixation
The
farmers felt it to be the most delicate and difficult activity in the
cultivation and marketing of glory lily. The respondents adopted two major
practices, i.e. negotiation with exporters or farmers receiving the determined
price from brokers. In the first case, a group of farmers used to come together
and assess the expected yield of the group and that of the area. Thus, they
decided
the quantum to be made available for sale. The exporters sent directly their
representatives/ brokers to villages to get the pulse of the market situation.
A group of farmers selected a few individuals for negotiation of prices with
the exporters. In the first meeting, both the parties discussed the demand and
supply situations and the expected price in the current year. Farmers started
quoting an initial price considering the availability of quantity with them,
cost of cultivation, price of the previous year and expectations of the
exporters. The exporters also offered their price to the farmers and the terms
and conditions. In the first meeting, normally there would not be any formal
and concrete negotiation of price, but both of them assessed the situation. The
first meeting normally took place in the month of January during harvest. Then
a series of meetings for negotiations were held either directly in the village
or on phone. The designated individuals carried on the negotiation. During the
month of March -April they concluded their negotiations to arrive at a final
price. As the time went on, both the parties got the real picture of the demand
and supply. Therefore, it lead to a settlement. In this negotiation, farmers
did not have the real picture of the demand figures. Therefore, they were not able
to hold on to their position firmly. Their grip was weakened due to their own
apprehensions that it could not be sold to
anybody else. In addition, the commodity does not find anywise domestically and
there was no other buyer. The farmers felt that the price negotiation was a complicated
and difficult process. At times, the details of supply level, needs of the
companies, and international price of the commodity were not available with the
farmers. Therefore, they could not bargain for a better price for their
produce. They carried out the physical transactions of the commodity without
finalising the price. So the exporters could process the initial orders making
it convenient for them in negotiation. These farmers were paid a certain amount
with an assurance that the remaining amount would be settled in the future
based
on the final market price. In this context, if the negotiation got prolonged,
the farmers in the group became desperate being afraid of their commodity being
rejected this year. This anxiety along with transaction prior to finalisation
of the price weakened the farmers' position in price negotiations. At times
farmers could not find appropriate / reliable translators to carry out negotiations.
The whole scenario reflected the lack of transparency and an institutionalised
mechanism for price fixation.
The
second method of price fixation was that farmers placed their glory lily seeds
at brokers' godown or sold seeds to exporters. The farmers were assured to be
paid the price that would be fixed in the current year. These farmers were
assured of a certain minimum price irrespective of the market condition.
Besides, they received certain portion of the amount in advance. Further, they
would not have to face the risk of their commodity not being sold in the
current year. This category of farmers preferred low risk rather than high price.
Further, they would also get the price as the other farmers would from the
exporters. However, their practice undermined the bargaining power of all the farmers.
Post-harvest
management
The
matured pods were harvested manually and sun dried for a week. The glory lily
seeds were separated from the pods by beating up with sticks. The glory lily seeds
were easily separated as pods were dried. Further, the seeds were spread over
cement floors or on empty fertiliser bags. The seeds were dried until the
moisture content came down to 10-12 per cent. The seeds were
winnowed
to remove stubble, roots, leaves, etc. Most of the farmers followed the uniform
practice of post-harvest management. The farmers did face difficulties in
finding enough space for drying glory lily seeds during peak seasons of harvesting.
This problem got aggravated during the rainy days. It became very difficult to
keep dried seeds of various stages separately. In addition, it had to be dried for
a longer time. If the seeds were not properly dried,
they
got blackened resulting in the loss of the quality of seeds. In this
connection, farmers opined to have common concrete drying floor. Few farmers
expressed willingness to buy solar driers of the suitable type. Fabrication of
suitable device would be of great help to the farmers.
Mode
of transport
The
harvested pods were transported to the drying floor by the labourers or
tractors. The dried seeds were transported to the godown of the broker or
exporters by
(Muthukumar
and Thiyagarajan, Marketing behaviour of farmers in cultivation of glory lily
003) farmers. As the commodity was not bulky, there was no problem
at all with transport.
Sources
of market information for glory lily Fellow formers and
friends were the most important sources for getting marketing related
information with a mean score of 2.51 out of 3.00 followed by brokers
(2.10), local merchants (1.56), exporters (0.90), input dealers
(0.75), university sources (0.20), and Internet (0.09), whereas
the sources like extension personnel, print media, television and radio
were not at all considered sources of market information.
Table
2. Sources of market information for glory lily
(n=100)
S.
No. Sources Number Rank
1
Fellow farmers and friends 2.51 I
2
Brokers 2.10 II
3
Local Merchants 1.56 III
4
Exporters 0.90 IV
5
Input Dealers 0.75 V
6
University sources 0.20 VI
7
Internet 0.09 VII
8
Extension personnel 0.00 VIII
9
Print media 0.00 IX
10
TV/Radio 0.00 X
The
localite sources like fellow farmers and friends and brokers obtained the mean
score of above two. This might be due to the fact that they were informal in nature,
interacted frequently, easily accessible and credible. Especially the
innovative farmers and persons having contact with exporters and brokers were
the most frequently used sources of information for marketing of seeds. Brokers
were also important because they maintained a close contact with the exporters
and farmers cultivating glory lily in that area. They also took keen interest
in supplying vital information to farmers, to keep their business with farmers.
Followed by local
merchants
were also major sources as they supplied tubers for planting. They provided
information related to availability and quantity of tubers and expected price
for tubers.
Cosmopolitan
sources like exporters and input dealers, university and the internet were the
other sources of information with a score ranging between 0-1.0. Exporters were
the key sources for all the stakeholders. The information on marketing of seeds
originated from exporters only. However, farmers consulted them only during
harvesting (January- April). The accessibility of exporters to farmers was
limitedbecause of language barrier, manipulation of information bv local agents
of the exporters and tendency of the exporters not to disclose all the
information. These impediments affected the development of a healthy economic
relation between farmers and exporters and promotion of glory lily cultivation
and trade. Input dealers were also consulted by farmers for getting information
related to supply of tubers, pest and disease incidence and predicted yield,
expected price and position of various farmer groups about selling the seeds. As
input shop served as a hub for congregation of farmers from the nearby
villages, the input dealer was able to provide a variety of information related
to cultivation and marketing of glory lily. University sources were of minor
importance. The farmers, young, educated and innovative, used to visit
scientists in Department of Horticulture at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
(TNAU), Coimbatore to get clarification about insect pest and disease problems.
They could not provide specific information on marketing of glory lily
effectively.
Further, the accessibility to these sources was limited because of long
distance, difficulty in getting appointment with scientists and relevancy of
the information to farmers' needs. Interestingly, the Internet did find a
place, though a minor one, among the list of marketing information sources for
glory lily. The young and educated farmers not satisfied with prevailing marketing,
conditions used to browse the Internet to know about buyers offering attractive
prices. They had limited access to Internet facilities and unable to meticulously
use the Internet tool. Ironically and shockingly, the cosmopolitan sourceslike
extension personnel, print media and television and radio did not find a place
among information sources. Though they were readily accessible to farmers, they
did not provide any information on marketing.
CONCLUSION
From
the above findings and discussion, it could be concluded that exporters were
the only key sources from who marketing information emanated to others. They might
not provide accurate information to cultivators owing to their vested interests
fro maximizing the profit and not providing chance for others to enter the
trade. The localite sources topped the list of information source, but were not
capable enough to provide details on export-oriented crop like glory lily. The
government source and mass media had minimal or some time performed no role.
The medicinal plants boards, at center and state, should take initiatives to
promote marketing. Extension personnel too should gear up to meet the divergent
needs of the farming sector.
REFERENCES
Natesh,
S. and Ram. H.Y. 1999. An update of Green
Medicine,
J. Indian Bot. Soc., 78: 13-23.
004
International Journal of Current Research, Vol. 9, pp.001-004, October, 2010
*Corresponding
author: bhuvana_sankar@ymail.com
ISSN:
0975-833X
Available
online at http://www.journalcra.com
International
Journal of Current Research
Vol.
9, pp.001-004, October, 2010
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
OF
CURRENT RESEARCH
Key
words:
Traditional
medicines
Plant
drugs
Lily
farmers
Article
History:
Received
18th August, 2010
Received
in revised form
19th
September, 2010
Accepted
23rd September, 2010
Published
online 1st October, 2010
©
Copy Right, IJCR, 2010 Academic Journals. All rights reserved.
Kallimandayam,
Rotupudur and Kappalpatty having
large
area under glory lily were the five selected villages
in
Oddanchatram block.
002
International Journal of Current Research, Vol. 9, pp.001-004, October, 2010
