An Analytical Study on Marketing Behaviour of Coconut Growers in Coimbatore District

Abstract

Coimbatore tops in area and production of coconuts in Tamil Nadu. Though production had been increased in the recent years. Farmers are facing difficulties in finding new marketing channels for their produce and also facing hardships in fetching fair and remunerative price for their nuts. Coconut copra, coconut oil price had also fallen drastically recently. The study was undertaken with the objective of analysing marketing behaviour of coconut growers in Coimbatore district. An Ex- post facto research design was used for this study. The study was taken-up in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. Out of the twelve blocks in Coimbatore district, “Sulthanpet block”, “Pollachi (North)”, “Pollachi (South) block” were selected. A sample size of 120 coconut cultivating farmers was selected by using simple random sampling technique. The required data was collected by personal interview using a well-structured and pretested interview schedule. The result revealed that nearly sixty percent of the respondents (58.33 per cent) had medium level of marketing behaviour, 21.67 per cent of the respondents had low level of marketing behaviour, only 20 per cent of the respondents possessed high level of marketing behaviour. Majority of the respondents sold their produce in village itself; cent percent of the respondents graded and counted their produce. Most of the respondents sold their produce through middlemen. The coconut growers are found to possess medium level of marketing behaviour. Hence, it should be definitely noted down by planners and policy makers at state and district level to make arrangement for marketing the products for maximum price.