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International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)


ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087
Vol. 6, Issue 3, Jun 2016, 245-250
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

MARKETING OF PADDY- A STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE


TO ALANGANALLUR BLOCK, MADURAI DISTRICT
T. SATHIYA SHEILA
Assistant Professor, Department of BBA, E.M.G. Yadava Womens College, Madurai, Tami, Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
Agricultural play an important role in Indian economy. India has dominant position in production of paddy next
to China in the world level. Tamil Nadu is one of the major paddy producing states in India. About 20.84 percentage of
land is used for paddy cultivation in Madurai district. Especially four blocks of the same district set to record good paddy
yield such as Madurai West, Madurai East, Vadipatti and Alanganallur .Economy of the Alanganallur block is dependent
an agriculture. The cultivated area of this block is about 3046.87 hectares. Agricultural marketing plays a vital role in
agricultural development which is a pre-requisite for development in other sectors and also for the overall development of
economy. Therefore this paper attempts to analyse the production and marketing system of paddy like marketing channels
and marketing problems faced by the farmers in the study area.

Received: Apr 21, 2016; Accepted: May 03, 2016; Published: May 11, 2016: Paper Id.: IJASRJUN2016029

INTRODUCTION
Indian economy is primarily dependent on the agricultural economy. The very existence of the economic

Original Article

KEYWORDS: Paddy Production, Channels of Marketing, Problems Faced by the Farmers

activities of the entire people is bound up with the health of the agricultural sector. Various activities connected with
agriculture contribution are the largest share to our national income. It is the contributor of the largest amount of
goods and services in the current production of our country. Agriculture provides employment and work for living
to an over whelming the majority of the Indian masses. Besides these a large number of people earn their livelihood
by working in occupations dependent upon agriculture like storage, processing, trade and transport of agricultural
products. In India more than 80% of the village people earn from cultivation and allied agro-industries. A
considerable part of the lab our forces in town, and cities also find jobs in marketing, export etc.
Among the various food crops cultivated, paddy has got worldwide importance. Rice (miller paddy) has 80
percent of starch, 12 percent of water, 7percent of protein and contains B vitamins. Rice is non-allergic one.
Chinese and Japanese use the various parts of the rice plant to cure wounds and minor ailments. Rice is reportedly
originated from wild grass.
Paddy and rice play the most important role in the life of every human being , viz food, clothing and
shelter. Food grains are the basic items of food in mass consumption. People all over the world toil and moil, from
dawn to dusk, day by day out for keeping their body and soul together.. Man lives for bread alone. It is said that
man eats to live and he lives to eat. The importance of food for human existence needs not to be over-emphasised.
Food is required for a lot of purposes. First and foremost it gives energy to the body. No one can imagine living
without food.
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246

T. Sathiya Sheila

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS


In south India, especially in Tamil Nadu, Andrapradesh, Kerala and Karnataka more than 80 percent of the people
use rice as their major food items. Though rice is used for the preparations of a very large number of food items, a few
specialties for the preparation of a delicacy food which is called Biriyani. In short, one can unhesitatingly say that all
human activities such as economic, social, political, cultural activities cultimate in bread and butter philosophy which
provides the mankind food to eat and food for thought. Madurai, popularly known as the temple city, is one of the largest
cities, next to Chennai in Tamil Nadu. As the River Vaigai flows through the most of the taluks in the district, the
irrigational facilities are found in a number of villages. Hence they are made as fertile regions such as Alanganallur,
Sholavandan, Samayanallur, Vadippatti where paddy cultivation makes these area as well profitable position. About
3046.87 hecters of land are used for paddy cultivation during the year 2013-14 in Alanganallur block. Madurai is one of the
important market centres in Tamil Nadu. The important commodities transacted in Madurai markets are paddy, rice, jower,
ragi, groundnuts, chillies, etc. A recent survey states that the production of paddy in these areas are increasing year by year
due to the good climate, sufficient rain fall, suitable fertile soil and so on. Hence these areas are turned as one of the
leading areas of the paddy production and experiencing a good marketing potentialities. Though these areas are
experienced well in these things for the production of the paddy, a new problem arises against the real farmers that the
amount of profits to be gained by them are only the minimum or sometimes negligible. Therefore the present study
attempts to analyse the problems encountered with the cost of producing and selling of the paddy, sharing the profit and
profitability of marketing the paddy in and around the Alanganallur block.

OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the study are:

To analyse the various factors which determine the production of paddy.

To find out the cultivation cost and price of the paddy.

To know the various problems connected with marketing of the paddy in the study area.

To offer suggestions for the improvement of the marketing of the paddy.

METHODOLOGY
The present study is based on the empirical nature. For the purpose of the study, data was collected both from the
primary and the secondary sources. The secondary data have been collected from books, journals, news papers and reports.
Primary data have been collected by conducting sample survey of the paddy cultivators with the help of an interview
schedule. Various officials from the Department of agriculture, Government of Tamil Nadu, were consulted and their expert
opinion obtained and useful datas were collected from the Department of Economics and Statistics, Madurai district.
Sampling Design
Madurai district consists of 13 blocks. The researcher has selected the Alanganallur Block for her study.
The Alanganallur block consists of 38 revenue villages. The researcher has randomly selected only the 5 revenue villages
such as Alagapuri, Achampatty, Pannaikudi, Kondayampatty, and Thanichiyam, . About 20 farmer were selected for this
study from each revenue village which are mentioned before. Hence sample size is 100.

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

Marketing of Paddy- A Study with Special Reference


to Alanganallur Block, Madurai District

247

Analysis of Data
After the completion of the interview, the researcher had verified the data thoroughly. Afterwards the data were
edited and coded successfully. The statistical tools like percentage, Likertss Scaling Techniques have been employed.
Reference Period
The study was conducted during the period of six months viz; June 2015 to November 2015.
Limitations
The data were collected through the interview schedule, some amount of recall bias bound to be associated with, since the
cultivators did not maintain any record about the cultivation expenses.
Marketing Channel
The number of middlemen involved in the marketing process depend upon the nature of the crop. Paddy
marketers includes four middlemen such as village merchants, mill owners, wholesalers and retailers. The existence of a
large number of superfluous middlemen reduce the share of the farmers profit.
The yielded paddy are assembled for selling after the harvest. But the assembling is done in an unsystematic
manner. In the study area, farmers had complaints against the commission agents and their weights. Virtually there is no
agency for regulating the commission agents activities. Hence, they indulge their malpractice such as false accounting,
under invoicing, false weighing and so on. Each regulated market is facilitated with communication facility. So that the
cultivators may get the information about the rates prevailing in nearby markets.
Sales are made in commission mandies at Madurai Market. Here Nellupettai was one of the important
assembling market of paddy. This market was shifted to Mattuthavani in the year 2006. Now it has 125 mandies and it is
called paddy trading centre(Nel Vanika Valagam) It functions as the daily market between 7 a.m and 9 p.m.
The commission agents fix the price of the paddy according to the supply and demand conditions in the market. This price
fluctuations are caused by these causes frequently. Generally the commissions depend upon the volume of sales and differ
from place to place.
Survey and Findings
There is an attempt has been made to know about the influences on the producer- cultivators of paddy under
different situation in this study. The behavior of the producers when they are facing the problems during the cultivation
also being taken into consideration. As a matter of the fact, it is very essential to study the problems of the producers by
obtaining their individual views and difficulties faced by them in order to find out a solution for successful cultivation.
The information was gathered through personal interview method.
Table 1: Classification of Farmers on the Basis of their Age
Sl. No
1
2
3
4

Age
Number of Farmers
20-30
8
30-40
14
40-50
30
ABOVE 50
48
Total
100
Source: Computed data
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Percentage
8
14
30
48
100

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248

T. Sathiya Sheila

It is the evident that more than 48 percent of farmers are involved in paddy cultivation in the age group of 50
years and above. Mostly, only the aged people are still reposing their faith in agriculture and involve themselves in the
agricultural activities.
Table 2: Classification on the Basis of Nature of Farmers
Sl. No
1
2
3

Type
SMALL FARMER
MEDIUM FARMER
BIG FARMERS
Total
Source: Computed data

Number of Farmers
42
34
24
100

Percentage
42
34
24
100

The farmers holding less than 2.5acres of land are designated as small farmers. Farmers holding up to 5acres of
land are designated as medium farmers and farmers holding more than 5 acres of land are considered as big farmer. It is a
crystal clear that most of the paddy cultivators are small farmers (ie. 42%)
Table 3: Problems Faced by the Paddy Cultivators in Marketing
Sl. No
Problems
1
HIGH COMMISSION CHARGES
2
LACK OF FINANCE
3
FREQUENT CHAGES IN PRICES
4
LACK OF STORAGE FACILITIES
5
HIGHER TRANSPORTATION COST
6
REGULAR PAYMENT IS NEEDED
Source: Computed data

Mean Score
53.54
30.81
40.91
10.76
21.98
14.61

Rank
I
III
II
VI
IV
V

It reveal that among the various problems faced by the farmers, high commission charges secured first rank,
second one frequent changes in prices, following these lack of finance, higher transportation cost , Regular payment is
needed and lack of storage facilities secured third ,fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The cost of the manures and fertilizers are very high. Their cost comes to 55 percent in the production\ cost of
paddy. Hence it is required subsidy from the government.

Financial assistance may be extended to satisfy the various requirements of the growers to prepare field for
cultivation, such as planting, maturing, irrigation and other similar cultural operations.

Government may take steps to prevent malpractice such as defective weights and measures, exploitation
manipulation of price caused by the agents, brokers and so on. Thus the government saves the farmers from the
clutches of the unscrupulous elements.

Most of the farmers are unaware of the regulated market. So publicity may be made to aware the farmers about
the existence and the functioning of regulated market in the area.

Government may take steps to set up vast warehouses and processing units for storage and processing of the
paddy.

Water is the life blood of every plant. The scarcity of water is found in this study area during the summer season
which hamper the production of paddy. Hence Government may introduce favourable schemes and extend loans

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

Marketing of Paddy- A Study with Special Reference


to Alanganallur Block, Madurai District

249

to the paddy cultivators for digging well or bore well in this area.
The vast majority of total working forces in this area are depending only upon the agriculture for their lively hood.
If the suggestions given by the researcher are taken into consideration, the standard of living of the farmers can be
improved and the marketing practice can be made more effectively and efficiently.

CONCLUSIONS
Regulated Market played a vital role in the paddy procurement operation and thereby for the welfare of paddy
production in Madurai District. As the same time the performance of the Regulated Market has its own short coming in
certain aspect, such as delayed payment, refuse to buy paddy when quality of paddy is not good(grading system not
performed systematically). Here farmers are very poor and orthodox, there is no scope for machines used for grading the
paddy. Hence they are forced to sell their yielded paddy to the commission Mandies (paddy Trading Centre ) in
Mattuthavani, Madurai. These short comings are to be overcome through suitable actions. The officials involved in the
procurement operation should be honest, sincere and cordial to the paddy producers to win their confidence. Then only, the
objectives of our Government to evolve a sound procurement policy through sound marketing system can be achieved by
eliminating inherent defects in paddy marketing and makes the procurement system a farmer friendly one.
REFERENCES
1.

Acharya, S.S and Agarwal, N.T Agricultural Marketing in India Oxford LIBH Publishing company private Ltd . pp.15-18

2.

Agarwal A.N and Lal,kundan (1996) Agricultural problems of India,Vikas publishing House, New Delhi pp 69-72.

3.

Agarwal A.N (2002) Indian Economy- problems of Development and planning, Wishwa prakashan, New Delhi , pp 346-348.

4.

Khols Richard,L and Joseph, N-Uhl Marketing of agricultural production Macmillian publishing Co. Inc. New York 1980 pp
76-85.

5.

Rajeer,P.V Poverty and food security in India. Southern Economist, Volume 35,Number 18, January 15,1997. Pp 47-52.

6.

Nagarajan,S.S Farmers are induced to go in for Bapatla 5204 Kissan World A Journal of Agriculture and Rural
Development,September 2013, vol -40, No.9 p -18.

7.

Mathivanan .R and Sasikala Devi, .D Crop Insurance in India Kissan World - A Journal of Agriculture and Rural
Development, March: 2012 , vol.39, No.3 p-44.

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