Anil Bhat

Diagnostic Study of Farmers in Context of Cost and Return Analysis, Price Spread Analysis and Marketing Pattern in Mantalai Village of Udhampur District

The study on Diagnostic Study of Farmers in context of cost and return analysis, the price spread analysis and marketing pattern in Mantalai village of Udhampur district is conducted during the year 2015. Cereal crops do not provide much return to the farmers of the area. Moreover, vegetables are most profitable crops in the area and farmers are getting better returns from these. Farmers of the area are also trying to get returns from the growing of fruit crops. The climate of the area is also suitable for growing walnut, bei, apricot, plum, apple etc. It is the cumbersome and little bit difficult for them to market the produce to Jammu. Farmers are facing a specific problem that is road connectivity from their fields to the roadside. The fields are not well connected to the road and the link is in dilapidated conditions which force them to transport the produce through human labor which in turn increases their marketing cost resulting in a decline in their profit. They are demanding proper road connectivity from their fields to the road.

Role of Floriculture Sector in Livelihood Security of Small Scale Family Farming in Intermediate Region of Jammu

The study was conducted in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir state (J&K) with 30 marigold growers to examine the production practices being practised. Ten flower growing farmers were selected randomly each from three blocks of district for collection of primary data by personal interview schedule method. The results revealed that majority of the farmers were young having age less than 45 years and are matriculate. The main occupation of majority (73.33%) of the respondents was flower farming with crop production and animal husbandry enterprises. Flower farming as a sole source of occupation was practised by none of the farmer. The average quantity of urea, DAP and MOP applied by the flower farmers was 0.84, 0.38 and 0.24 q/ha, respectively that was far less than recommendations. Very less number of farmers know about the diseases in marigold crop whereas only 13.3% farmers have knowledge of sucking pests and 10 percent each know about leaf eaters and stem borer insects. This study recommends that for encouraging results to improve farmers socioeconomic condition, increase self-employment opportunity and to promote entrepreneurship as potential tool for poverty alleviation, more number of extension training programmes and exposure visits of the floriculturists should be organised on regular intervals.

Resource Use Efficiency of Major Field Crops in Reasi District of Jammu Region of Jammu and Kashmir State

The present investigation conducted in the Reasi district of J&K state during the year 2015 has observed that the sample holding under study area comprise maize-wheat cropping system. By using Cobb-Douglas production function it is predicted that resource used in maize and wheat production like human labour, farmyard manure + fertilizer are underutilized indicating that there is further scope to increase their quantity which in turn will boost the returns. On the basis of regression analysis the value of regression coefficient of wheat for human labour, seed, FYM, urea, DAP and plant protection measures was 0.859, -0.321, 0.002, 0.067, 0.009 and 0.004 and for maize it was 0.522, -0.046, 0.095, 0.046, 0.016 and -0.015, respectively, which were found to be statistically significant. The positive sign indicated that one percent increase in the use of these inputs could increase the returns from crop. The negative sign shows that one percent additional expenditure on these inputs would reduce the return of crops. The marginal value productivity of farmyard manure and human labour of dry land wheat was positive and it was 0.312 and 1.231, respectively. This indicates that there still existed a scope to invest more on farmyard manure and human labour. The negative marginal value productivity estimated for seed at ` -5.150 showed that use of seed was more than optimum leading to fall in returns with each additional unit of this input. As far as maize is concerned, positive marginal value productivity of FYM, human labour, urea, DAP and pesticide indicates that there still existed a scope to invest more on these inputs. The negative marginal value productivity estimated for seed at ` -1.192 showed that use of seed was more than optimum leading to fall in returns with each additional unit of this input. The crop production function for wheat and maize with R2 value at 0.74 and 0.87, respectively was statistically significant meaning thereby that 74% of wheat and 87% of maize production of this area was being explained by the mentioned variables in the study.

Association of Cropping System over the Period in Dharwad District of Karnataka

Global warming is projected to have significant impacts on conditions affecting agriculture, including temperature, carbon dioxide, glacial run-off, precipitation and the interaction of these elements. Assessment of the effects of global climate changes on agriculture might help to properly anticipate and adapt suitable farming practices to maximize agricultural production. Hence, present study were conducted with the objective to know association of cropping system over the period in Dharwad district of Karnataka. Data used for the study were collected from Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore for the crops like chilli, maize, groundnut, sorghum, cotton and soybean. Only two parameters considered namely area and price and the method used is co-efficient of concordance/Kendall w-co-efficient. Both area and price study revealed the association in cropping system over the years.

Cost and return analysis of different treatments of mulching and herbicide application on Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) cv. Shan-e-Punjab

The trees of peach cv. Shan-e-Punjab were treated with different orchard floor management practices (mulching and herbicidal treatment) in the month of February 2014. In all, there were 14 treatments including mulches viz., black polythene, paddy straw, saw dust, white polythene and herbicides viz., atrazine 50 WP (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 Kg a.i. per hectare), oxyflurofen 23.5 EC (0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 l a.i. per ha) and pendimethalin 30 EC (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 l a.i. per ha) and control which were replicated thrice. The total cost of cultivation per hectare was found to be highest (` 207480.00) in treatments T1 and T2 i.e. black polythene mulch and white polythene mulch, respectively whereas, it was found to be lowest of ` 185240.00 in the treatment (T14) i.e. control. Among all the treatments, the benefit: cost ratio was found highest with black polythene mulch (1:1.89) followed by atrazine 2.0 kg a.i/ha (1:1.86) and lowest in control (1:1.55). Thus, for improving growth, yield and fruit quality of peach cv Shan-e-Punjab, black polythene mulch and atrazine 2.0 kg a.i/ha are found to be most suitable and economically feasible under the Jammu subtropics.

Cause Importance and Cause Familiarity of the “Aashirvaad-Boond Se Sagar Initiative” of ITC in Jammu City

The present study is an investigation of cause related marketing initiative “Aashirvaad-Boond Se Sagar” of Indian Tobacco Company Ltd. The Agri-business companies are increasingly undertaking the CRM initiatives (a type of CSR), wherein these companies have a scope of undertaking social causes along with achievement of their marketing objectives. Therefore, through this study an attempt has been made to understand consumer perception towards such campaigns. For the same, it was undertaken to study the cause familiarity and cause importance of ITCs-“Aashirvaad-Boond Se Sagar” initiative. The second objective undertaken was to analyze the input of cause familiarity and cause importance on attitude towards the brand and further in the third objective the impact of attitude on purchase intentions was studied. The present study was undertaken in the Jammu City and the data was collected from 200 consumers of Aashirvaad brand. Sequential Sampling was used to collect the data through survey method. The data collected was analyzed using Descriptive Statistics and Regression Analysis. The result of the study indicated that the respondents were of the opinion that ITC has promoted an important cause, but the familiarity to the same was somewhat low. There was a clear indication from the analysis that cause familiarity and cause importance have a significant impact on the attitude towards the brand and also the attitude thus formed through CRM initiative further leads to enhanced purchase intentions. Thus signaling the overall effectiveness of the CRM initiative of ITCs Aashirvaad brand.

Constraints in Production and Marketing of Citrus Fruit in Jammu region of J&K State

The various production and marketing constraints faced by the Citrus growers of various districts of Jammu region were studied by selecting a sample of 192 citrus growers from four districts of Jammu region and suggestions were also made to overcome the said constraints. The data revealed that in Jammu region as a whole it was observed that in the cultivation of citrus several constraints such as lack of finance and credit facilities, inadequate irrigation facilities, non availability of good quality seedlings, farmyard manure, educated members of their family go outside and lack of latest technical knowledge were predominant and expressed by most of the farmers. In the process of marketing, lack of processing units and marketing societies was the major constraint as expressed by almost all the respondents. Moreover, not getting remunerative price for the produce, un-organized marketing, low price paid to farmers, less demand of fruits, lack of market information and cheating in marketing by the middlemen in the form of malpractices, high and undue marketing margins and deductions in the market were the other major problems expressed by the farmers. To overcome the constraints the 100 per cent respondents suggested that government should take initiative to establish fruit processing units in rural areas. There were other large number of respondents who demanded the bank loan facility at nominal interest rates and at proper time. The majority of the farmers also expressed that adequate provision for obtaining remunerative prices be made available and market information regarding market prices by opening of information centre at village level should be made available to them were also few suggestions given by them.

Income and Livelihood Issues of Farmers: A Field Study in Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State

The study has been conducted in five districts of Jammu region to discuss the income and livelihood issues of farmers. The overall household income from agriculture has been estimated to be 56034.24 with highest of 97876.02 from Kathua district and lowest of 34491.78 earned by the farmers in the Doda district.It has been found that the large farmers earn only 33.04 per cent of income from agriculture followed by 29.26 per cent, 25.30 per cent and 25.24 per cent by medium, small and marginal farmers, respectively. Livestock contributes highest of 11.03 per cent in case of marginal farmers followed by 10.86 per cent, 8.51 per cent and 5.63 per cent in case of small, medium and large farmers. The per day per capita income from agriculture has been found to be 15.43, 17.77, 26.42 and 36.12 for marginal, small, medium and large farmers, respectively, with an overall average of 20.55. As the poverty line fixed by the government is 22.00 which shows that only medium and large farmers fall above the poverty line whereas marginal and small farmers are below poverty line if they depend exclusively on agricultural income. Service sector has been found the important one as it contributes 34.59 per cent of to the total household income of all the farmers. Therefore the farmers of Jammu region have to develop livelihood strategy for their existence.

Cost and return analysis of phalsa (Grewia asiaticaL.) propagation by semi-hard wood cuttings

Phalsa (Grewia asiatica L.) belongs to family Tiliaceae and is native to the Indian sub-continent and South-East Asia. But there is hardly any work which has analysed its costs and returns.In order to evaluate the most profitable treatment, economic analysis of treatments was worked out in terms of net returns and benefit cost (B:C) ratio. The cost and analysis structure of production of 1000 plants through rooting of cuttings was worked out for 15th July, 30th July, 15th August and 30th August planting in combination with IBA (150 ppm, 300 ppm and 450 ppm), NAA (150 ppm, 300 ppm and 450 ppm) and untreated cuttings planted i.e., treatment seven on different dates of planting. The cost incurred on preparation of land (500.00), labour charges (515.00), Farm yard manure (180.00), planting material ( 1500.00), irrigation (560.00) and depreciation on assets ( 79.80) was found to be same in all the treatments. The cost incurred on the preparation of different solutions of IBA in various treatments was found to be 403.20 for 450 ppm IBA followed by 269.00 for 300 ppm IBA and 134.40 for 150 ppm IBA and in case of preparation of NAA it was found to be 378.00, 252.00 and 126.00, respectively. It was found that 30th July was best date of planting of phalsa cuttings and IBA treatment was best among growth regulators treatment. Also phalsa cuttings treated with IBA 300 ppm and planted on 30th July showed highest survival percentage (71%) and net returns ( 3496.20) Thus, planting of phalsa cuttings on 30th July and treated with IBA 300 ppm was found to be best treatment combination as evidenced by the cost: benefit ratio of 1:1.97.

Marketing costs and Price Spread Analysis for Citrus in Samba district of Jammu region

The present study made a detailed analysis of citrus fruit by studying its marketing costs and price spread which is the important researchable issue for the said crop in Samba district. The marketing chain of three types mainly Producer → Forwarding/Commission agent → Retailer → Consumer, Producer → Retailer → Consumer and Producer → Consumer were followed in the sample area. The average per quintal marketing cost at producers’ level varied to the extent of 438.65, 264.00 and 226.67 per quintal for channel I, II and III, respectively. The average per quintal marketing cost borne by the retailer was found to be 30.95 and 19.40 in channel I and II, respectively whereas in channel III whole of the marketing cost i.e., 226.67 was borne by the producer as there was the direct marketing of produce. As far as the price spread analysis is concerned, the per quintal net price received by the producer was about 945.90, 1036.00 and 1073.33 which was about 44.00 per cent, 51.29 per cent and 82.56 per cent of the price paid by the consumer for channel I, II and III, respectively. A comparison of different channels thus showed that producers’ share in the consumers’ rupee was the highest in case of channel III as compared to other channels. Where in the consumer also paid the lowest price i.e., 1300.00 per quintal in channel III as compared to 2150.00 per quintal and 2020.00 per quintal in channel I and II, respectively which revealed that direct sale from producer to ultimate consumer was beneficial for both producer and consumer. The channel-III with marketing efficiency 4.74 was most efficient followed by Channel-II (1.05) and channel-I (0.79).